“A Ógánaigh An Chúil Chraobhaigh” (O Young Man of the Flowing Hair) Madelyn Monaghan

“A Ógánaigh An Chúil Chraobhaigh” (O Young Man of the Flowing Hair) was collected by Martin Freeman in 1914 in the Muscraí Gaeltacht. Interestingly, it seems to have come from an old English song called “The Unquiet Grave”. It’s a rare POV—the first two verses are the young woman’s voice calling out from her grave. The second two are the inconsolable man she’s left behind, now “stretched over [her] grave” to quote another Irish song—gosh, the Irish really loved to write and sing about death, didn’t they? Or they had a deep need to understand it, to capture it in words so as to face it, to do what they do best: craft beauty out of sorrow. The song is indeed beautiful: astonishingly raw, intense, poetic. I’ll never forget how I felt discovering it (Éilís Kennedy’s version) as a kid exploring my dad’s CD collection. Even with my limited Irish at the time, I “knew” what the song was about in the same way that so many people now write to me saying that they “understand” the meaning of songs I share even if they don’t understand the words. This is only the first verse…we’ll have to warm up to the whole thing in increments, singer and listener both. 🥺♥️
TikTok/Instagram: @madelyn_monaghan