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*Óró, sé do bheatha abhaile*
Óró, sé do bheatha abhaile
Folk song
English	Oh, 'tis you are welcome home
Genre	Traditional Irish music
Form	Ballad
Language	Irish

Óró, sé do bheatha abhaile or Óró, sé do bheatha 'bhaile ([ˈoːɾˠoː ʃeː d̪ˠə ˈvʲahə ˈwalʲə]) is a traditional Irish song that came to be known as a rebel song in the early twentieth century. Óró is a cheer, whilst sé do bheatha 'bhaile means "you are welcome home".

History

Similarly to many folk songs, the origins of this song are obscure. While the melody bears a resemblance to the nineteenth century English sea shanty "Drunken Sailor", several versions of the Irish tune and chorus are identifiable.

In 1884, Francis Hogan of Brenormore, near Carrick-on-Suir, then "well over seventy years of age", reported that "this song used to be played at the 'Hauling Home', or the bringing home of a wife". The "hauling home" was a ceremony that took place a month after a wedding when a bride was brought to live in her new husband's home. This version consists only of the chorus.^[1]

Énrí Ó Muirġeasa also records a similar refrain in 1915 from the Barony of Farney, "but the song to which it belonged was lost before my time". There is no mention of "hauling home" and the line that P. W. Joyce gives as thá tu maith le rátha (Irish for ''tis you are happy with prosperity [in store for you]') is instead Tá tú amuiġ le ráiṫċe (Irish for 'You've been gone three months').^[2]

This song has also been associated with the Jacobite cause as the traditional version mentions Séarlas Óg (Irish for 'Young Charles'), referring to Bonnie Prince Charlie and dating the song to the third Jacobite rising of 1745–1746.^[2]^[3]

The tune appears as number 1425 in George Petrie's The Complete Collection of Irish Music (1855) under the title Ó ro! 'sé do ḃeaṫa a ḃaile (modern script: Ó ro! 'sé do bheatha a bhaile) and is marked "Ancient clan march". It can also be found at number 983 (also marked "Ancient Clan March") and as a fragment at number 1056, titled "Welcome home Prince Charley".^[4]

In the early twentieth century, it received new verses by the nationalist poet Patrick Pearse and was often sung by members of the Irish Volunteers during the Easter Rising. It was also sung as a fast march during the Irish War of Independence.^[5]

Since 1916, it has also been known under various other titles, notably Dord na bhFiann (Irish for 'Call of the Fighters') or An Dord Féinne. The latter title is associated with Pearse in particular as the Irish Volunteers chanted the song during the Easter Rising. This version features the pirate or "Great Sea Warrior" Grace O'Malley, a formidable power on the west coast of Ireland in the late sixteenth century. Pearse shows his knowledge of the Jacobite version in the way he adapts it to the new independence cause. He emphasises the Irishness of the fighters by substituting native Grace for foreign Prince Charlie and changing Béidh siad leis-sean Franncaigh is Spáinnigh (Irish for 'They’ll be with him, French and Spanish') to Gaeil féin 's ní Francaigh ná Spáinnigh (Irish for 'Gaels they, and neither French nor Spaniard').

Recordings

The song was recorded by The Dubliners on their 1987 album 25 Years Celebration, by Cruachan on their 1995 album Tuatha na Gael, by Sinéad O'Connor on her 2002 album Sean-Nós Nua as well as her 2003 album She Who Dwells in the Secret Place of the Most High Shall Abide Under the Shadow of the Almighty, and by the Irish band Seo Linn in 2023.

Lyrics

Original version

Óró, sé do bheatha a bhaile, is fearr liom tú ná céad bó bainne:
Óró, sé do bheatha a bhaile, tha tu maith le ratha.

Oro, welcome home, I would rather have you than a hundred milk cows:
Oro, welcome home, 'tis you are happy with prosperity [in store for you]).^[6]

Jacobite version

Chorus:
Óró, sé do bheatha 'bhaile,
Óró, sé do bheatha 'bhaile,^[7]
Óró, sé do bheatha 'bhaile
Anois ar theacht an tsamhraidh.

A Shéarlais Óig,^[8] a mhic Rí Shéamais^[9]
'Sé mo mhór-chreach do thriall as Éirinn
Gan tuinnte bróig' ort, stoca nó leinidh
Ach do chascairt leis na Gallaibh

Chorus

'Sé mo léan géar nach bhfeicim
Mur mbéinn beo 'na dhiaidh ach seachtain
Séarlas Óg is míle gaiscidheach
Ag fógairt fáin ar Ghallaibh

Chorus

Tá Séarlas Óg ag triall thar sáile
Béidh siad leisean, Franncaigh is Spáinnigh
Óglaigh armtha leis mar gharda
'S bainfidh siad rinnce as éiricigh!

Chorus

Chorus:
Oh-ro, You're welcome home,
Oh-ro, You're welcome home,
Oh-ro, You're welcome home,
Now that summer's coming!

Young Charles, son of King James
It's a great distress – your exile from Ireland
Without thread of shoe on you, socks or shirt
Overthrown by the foreigners

Chorus

Alas that I do not see
If I were alive afterwards only for a week
Young Charles and one thousand warriors
Banishing all the foreigners

Chorus

Young Charles is coming over the sea
They will be with him, French and Spanish
Armed Volunteers with him as a guard
And they'll make the heretics dance!

Chorus

Pádraig Pearse version

Chorus
Óró, sé do bheatha 'bhaile,
Óró, sé do bheatha 'bhaile,^[7]
Óró, sé do bheatha 'bhaile
Anois ar theacht an tsamhraidh.

'Sé do bheatha, a bhean ba léanmhar,
Do b' é ár gcreach tú bheith i ngéibheann,
Do dhúiche bhreá i seilbh méirleach,
Is tú díolta leis na Gallaibh.

Chorus

Tá Gráinne Mhaol ag teacht thar sáile,
Óglaigh armtha léi mar gharda,
Gaeil iad féin is ní Gaill^[10] ná Spáinnigh,
Is cuirfidh siad ruaig ar Ghallaibh.

Chorus

A bhuí le Rí na bhFeart go bhfeiceam,
Mura mbeam beo ina dhiaidh ach seachtain,
Gráinne Mhaol agus míle gaiscíoch,
Ag fógairt fáin ar Ghallaibh.

Chorus

Chorus:
Oh-ro You're welcome home,
Oh-ro You're welcome home,
Oh-ro You're welcome home...
Now that summer's coming!

Welcome oh woman who was so afflicted,
It was our ruin that you were in bondage,
Our fine land in the possession of thieves...
And you sold to the foreigners!

Chorus

Gráinne O'Malley is coming over the sea,
Armed warriors along with her as her guard,
They are Gaels, not invaders [British] nor Spanish...
And they will rout the foreigners!

Chorus

May it please the King of Miracles that we might see,
Although we may live for a week once after,
Gráinne O'Malley and a thousand warriors...
Dispersing the foreigners!

Chorus

Notes

^ Joyce, Patrick Weston (1909). Old Irish Folk Music and Songs. London (Dublin): Longmans, Green and Co. (Hodges, Figgis & Co.). pp. 121, 130. "The following 34 airs (to "She’s the dear Maid to me") were sent to me from time to time during 1884 by Mr. Francis Hogan of South Lodge, Brenormore, near Carrick-on-Suir, a good musician and a great enthusiast in Irish music and songs. He must have been then well over seventy years of age. Some of these he wrote from memory, and others he copied from MSS."
p. 130 "275. ORO, 'SE DO BHEATHA A BHAILE: ORO, WELCOME HOME! A Hauling-home Song. The "Hauling home" was bringing home the bride to her husband’s house after marriage. It was usually a month or so after the wedding, and was celebrated as an occasion next only in importance to the wedding itself. The bridegroom brought home his bride at the head of a triumphal procession—all on cars or on horseback. I well remember one where the bride rode on a pillion behind her husband. As they enter the house the bridegroom is supposed to speak or sing:—
"Oro, sé do bheatha a bhaile, is fearr liom tu ná céad bo bainne
Oro, sé do bheatha a bhaile, thá tu maith le rátha.
Oro, welcome home, I would rather have you than a hundred milch cows:
Oro, welcome home, 'tis you are happy with prosperity [in store for you]."
"Here is Mr. Hogan’s note on this air:---"This song used to be played at the 'Hauling Home,’ or the bringing home of a wife. The piper, seated outside the house at the arrival of the party, playing hard [i.e. with great spirit]: nearly all who were at the wedding a month previous being in the procession. Oh, for the good old times!” This tune is called in Stanford-Petrie an "ancient clan march": and it is set in the Major, with many accidentals, but another setting is given in the Minor. I give it here as Mr. Hogan wrote it, in its proper Minor form. In several particulars this setting differs from Dr. Petrie’s two versions. It was a march tune, as he calls it: but the March was home to the husband’s house. Dr. Petrie does not state where he procured his two versions."
^ ^a ^b Ó Muirġeasa, Énrí (1915). Céad de Ċeoltaiḃ Ulaḋ. Baile Áṫa Cliaṫ: M. H. Mac Giolla agus a Ṁac. pp. 151, 303. hdl:2027/uc1.b4068544. p. 303 87. Óró, 'sé do ḃeaṫa aḃaile (See page 151.) "This little Jacobite relic I got from Nancy Tracey, Co. Tyrone, and also from Cáit Ní Ċeallaċáin, an old woman 90 years of age in Ballor, Fanad, Co. Donegal. It has a catchy, popular air. A refrain somewhat similar to this one was common in Farney, but the song to which it belonged was lost before my time.
"Hó, ró, ró, 'sé do ḃeaṫa un a' ḃaile,
Hó, ró, ró, ós cionn duine eile;
Hó, ró, ró, 'sé do ḃeaṫa un a' ḃaile,
Tá tú amuiġ le ráiṫċe."
^ Souchon, Christian (24 July 2010). "Oro! Se Do Bheatha Bhaile". Jacobite Songs. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
^ Petrie, George (1903) [1855]. Stanford, Charles Villiers (ed.). The Complete Collection of Irish Music. London: Boosey & Co. pp. 251, 268, 356. p. 251, No. 983 Ancient Clan March, p. 268, No. 1056 Welcome home Prince Charley, p. 356, No. 1425 Ó ro! 'sé do ḃeaṫa a ḃaile.
^ Pearse, Pádraic H. (2010) [1998]. The Dord Feinne. CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts. University College, Cork. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
^ "Ceolas: The Fiddler's Companion".
^ ^a ^b Some versions have "B'fhearr liom thú ná céad bó bhainne", which translates as "I'd prefer you to a hundred milk cows"
^ Bonnie Prince Charlie, Charles Edward Stuart
^ James, Prince of Wales, James Francis Edward Stuart
^ Some versions have Frainc, i.e. French, instead of Gaill.