Siúil A Rúin

"Siúil a Rún" is a traditional Irish song, sung from the point of view of a woman lamenting a lover who has embarked on a military career, and indicating her willingness to support him. The song has English language verses and an Irish language chorus, a style known as macaronic.

The title translates to "go, my love" (or variants): siúil is an imperative, literally translating to "walk!", a rún is a term of endearment.

The history of the song is unclear. It has been suggested that the song refers to the "Wild Geese" of the Glorious Revolution. If it does, however, the original version has probably been lost. It is not uncommon that Irish songs were translated into English, with their chorus surviving in Irish, or being transformed into nonsense words (see Caleno custure me), but in most of these cases, some of the Irish version still survives. It is possible that the song was composed in the 1800s with the conscious intention of styling it after older songs.

Some in Ireland say that after the British occupied the island, they gave Irish men the choice of either joining the army or being exiled forever. In the American rendition of the song, the young man referred to in the song chooses the army. In the Irish rendition, however, he chooses permanent exile. As is common in folk music, many lyrical variants of the song exist. One verse commonly sung goes "I wish the king would return to reign, and bring my lover home again, I wish I wish I wish in vain, 's go dteigh tú a mhúirnín slán". This has led to thinking that the song has Jacobite meanings and origins, the "king" being James II or James VII.

Robert Louis Stevenson refers to the song twice in his novel The Master of Ballantrae (1889). Referred to as "the pathetic air of 'Shule Aroon'", it is whistled by the Irish Jacobite exile Francis Burke and later sung by the Master of Ballantrae himself to impress his younger brother's wife. The Master describes it as "very moving" and describes it being sung by Jacobite exiles in France: "it is a pathetic sight when a score of rough Irish ... get to this song; and you may see, by their falling tears, how it strikes home to them".

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