Bean Pháidín is a traditional Irish language song from Conamara.
It’s a song I grew up with hearing it at home and at school, and I’ve sung it with my kids.
The song is from the perspective of a woman who laments that she’s not with Páidín. However the name suggests that Páidín isn’t even her main focus, rather it’s of Páidín’s wife.
The singer first laments she’s not Páidín’s wife, but then goes on to wish violence upon his current wife.
The lyrics are surprisingly violent, and the contrast between the soft melody and the harsher meaning of the song sparked my interest. It’s like the song brings together hot and cold, and makes the story more interesting by featuring these contrasts.
In producing this version of the song, I used “chopping” sounds to amplify the violent undertones of the song.
Finally, in fairness to the narrator, she doesn’t carry out any violence that would show she’s overcome with the anger and jealousy.
My version of Bean Pháidín is available to stream on Spotify.
One more track
Uilleann Overload is my own composition. I used an uilleann pipes synthesiser to compose it.