I Am Stretched on Your Grave

"I Am Stretched on Your Grave" is a translation of an anonymous 17th-century Irish poem titled "Táim sínte ar do thuama".^[1] It was translated into English several times, most notably by Frank O'Connor.^[2] It was put to music by musician Philip King in 1979.^[3]

The tune had existed since at least 1928 and been associated with the poem as a song, since it is to the tune of "Taim Sinte ar do Thuamba" that Hymn #47 in Danta De: Idir Sean agus Nuad (the Trinity Sunday hymn "Dia an t-Athair do shealbhaig flaitheas naomhtha") is set. The hymnal says the tune is from Munster.^[4][5]

While the translation and tune had both existed prior to its first recording as a whole, and in various versions of melody and lyric (and all or most likely possessing a strong similarity), the popular and current versions are influenced or rely heavily on the adapted version by King, which was recorded on the group Scullion's first album from 1979 on the Mulligan Records label (called Scullion), and titled "I Am Stretched on Your Grave."

Since then it has been played on recordings and in performances by many professional, semi-professional, and amateur musicians, students, and hobbyists.

Album recordings

• Scullion, on their self-titled first album in 1979
• Sinéad O'Connor, crediting King, on the album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, 1990
• The Voice Squad, on the album Holly Wood (TARA 4013)^[6], 1992
• Dead Can Dance, on the album Toward the Within, 1993
• The Lennon Family, on their album Dúchas Ceoil (CEFCD 167), 1995
• The band Eden, on the album Fire and Rain, 1997
• Kate Rusby, crediting King/O'Connor but altering it melodically, on the album Hourglass, 1997
• Blood Axis and In Gowan Ring, on their live collaborative album Witch-Hunt: The Rites of Samhain, 1999
• Peta Webb (of the band "Oak") and Ken Hall, crediting P.King/F.O'Connor/Trad, on the album As Close As Can Be (Fellside Records), 2000
• Iarla Ó Lionáird, on his soundtrack to the film I Could Read the Sky^[7], 2000
• Charlotte Martin, on her album Reproductions, 2007
• Abney Park, on the album Lost Horizons, 2008
• City of The Asleep, on their album Transcendissonance, 2011

References

1. ^ "Walsh's Irish Popular Songs", 1847, as "A Taim Sinte air do Thuamba"
2. ^ O'Connor, Frank (trans). "I am Stretched on Your Grave". Lucy, Seán, (ed). Love Poems of the Irish, Cork: Mercier, 1967
3. ^ Sleeve notes to 1979 Album Scullion
4. ^ An Lóchrann March, 1918, 2, noted by Fionán Mac Coilm from "Tadhg MacCarthy of Emlagh", Prior, Co. Kerry
5. ^ "Danta De: Idir Sean agus Nuad", 1928; tune of hymn #47 credited as "Taim Sinte ar do Thuamba", from Munster
6. ^ Sleeve notes to the album Holly Wood, 1992, TARA 4013
7. ^ Real World Records