Shwmae! Dw i wedi bod yn dysgu Cymraeg am biti mis nawr. Dw i wedi dechrau trio dysgu hi achos wnes i weld Only Boys Aloud canu “Calon Lan” ar “Britain’s Got Talent” a wnes i ei hoffi e.
Mae eisiau i fi siarad Saesneg nawr…
Well I hope that all made sense.
Since I first became interested in learning Welsh because of “Calon Lan” (I looked up the lyrics after hearing the song - Welsh is very different from the other languages I know), I’ve been trying to learn more songs in Welsh. I now know the words (yn Gymraeg) to “Calon Lan” and “Sosban Fach”. I’m trying now to learn the words to “Gwahoddiad” I find that this has helped me to better learn Welsh vocabulary and pronunciation and I’ve been able to pick up more words from the SSiW lessons more quickly as a result.
I looked up Only Boys Aloud on Youtube and found two more Welsh songs by them, but they appear to have been written for OBA and as such there aren’t any lyrics that I can find anywhere. I can understand a few words here and there, but was wondering if any of you might be able to transcribe part of the songs for me?
They are “Dal i Fynd” (Still Going?) and “Y Cymoedd yn Gan” (The Valleys are Singing?). I know the English version of “Dal i Fynd”, called “Try Again”, but since the English doesn’t literally translate into Welsh, I’m a bit lost. Please see the links below.
Well, as you haven’t had much luck elsewhere, here’s my take on the first few solo verses. Until you get something better, It might be something along these lines. Don’t take any of this as right until someone else confirms it. And apologies, I’m somewhere where I can’t input accents on the letters.
1st soloist - I can’t make out what he’s singing in the third line, unfortunately.
Wn i ddim i ble a fi
Ond gwn i o ble rwyf yn dod
Mae (pob peth?) [???] mor dywyll
A mae fel 'na mae hi fod
2nd soloist - excellent enunciation! Well done that man, carry on!
Ac fi ceisio’n ddringo’r mynydd
Ond mae nghorff i gyd rhy wan
Ni geisio nofio’r moroedd
Ond methu gweld y lan
3rd soloist -
Ond wrth i fynd fy ffordd fy hunan
A mynd beth bynnag ddaw
Gallwn rhedeg tua’r pen
A gallwn weld yr ochor draw
(Creszcendo, cheres and teres me deres and Peason hit Fotheringay-Thomas into the orckestra pit where he get stuck in the base drum with a Crash bang wollup, and an absent-mindid perkushonist softly bete his hed with hammers til Grimes pull him out by his eres boo chiz!)
I was a bit disappointed at not understanding it better until I listened to the English version and realised I could understand even less of of that!
As normal, spent so much time typing that in that Aran added a post by the time I hit reply!
Wait for a response for Aran rather than putting any faith in the gibberish I write. I wouldn’t have replied had I known he was on the case!
Oh, I enjoyed it! Just remember it is probably gibberish
I just wrote what I heard rather than trying to write what I thought they were saying, so a lot of it is definitely wrong! It does seem though, from my limited understanding of both the Welsh and English lyrics, that the gist of the song is the same in both.
[“Gist”? “Gyst”? You know, I don’t think I have ever written that word before in my life!]
I’ve been put in touch on Twitter with someone who works with OBA - she’s out of the office today, but asked me to email in the meantime, and promised to answer as soon as she can…
Yes - slightly mixed - they say that the lyrics were written for OBA ‘so they can’t share them’ (which strikes me as a bit daft, since they can, er, be heard) - but that they’re going to be releasing an EP before too long which will have a booklet with the lyrics on them.
I’m going to try one last ‘are you sure?’ email, but don’t hold your breath…
As soon as you write music down and try to copy/distribute it, antediluvian sheet music copyright laws apply. You could claim fair use on a quote, but that’s more difficult on the whole piece. If the writer has a publishing deal, especially with one of the bigger firms, it’s not worth the hassle.
