The intro song - 'Wela i efo llygad bach i'

[aran]

It occurred to me that we ought to have a post/thread for the intro song/s, with words/translation…

Here’s Lleuwen:

'O, tania fatshan - mi wela i rywun yma tu allan i’r dafarn, yn tanio matshan…
O, sgen ti dân? Mae’r nos yn ddu a dwi 'di colli fy ffordd yn lân - sgen ti dân?

Ti’n sbio arna i, i weld os ydw i yn sbio arnach chdi yn sbio arna i a fedra i ddim gwadu…
Sgwrs hir, heb eiriau, siarad cyfrolau mewn eiliada…
Mi wela i efo llygad bach i rywbeth yn dechrau efo chdi…

O, adlewyrchiad… yma yn fflama cannwyll y llygad… adlewyrchiad…
O, gobaith gwych… syllu yn syn i fyw y llygaid drych… gobaith gwych…

Ti’n sbio arna i, i weld os ydw i yn sbio arnach chdi yn sbio arna i a fedra i ddim gwadu…
Sgwrs hir, heb eiriau, siarad cyfrolau mewn eiliada…
Mi wela i efo llygad bach i rywbeth yn dechrau efo chdi…
Mi wela i efo llygad bach i rywbeth yn dechrau efo chdi…’

aka

O, light a match - I see someone here outside the pub, lighting a match…
O, have you got a light? The night is dark and I’ve lost my way completely… have you got a light?

You’re looking at me to see if I’m looking at you looking at me and I can’t deny…
A long conversation, without words, speaking volumes in moments…
I see with my little eye something beginning with you…

O, a reflection… here in the flames of the candle of the eye… a reflection…
O, wonderful hope… staring in surprise at the quick of the mirror’s eyes… wonderful hope…

Notes:

‘sgen ti dân’ is literally ‘do you have a fire’, which is how we say ‘do you have a light’.
‘cannwyll fy llygad’ - the candle of my eye - is equivalent to ‘the apple of my eye’ in English
‘i fyw y llygaid’ - in Welsh, you look ‘i fyw fy/dy/ei llygaid’ when you’re looking right to the centre of their eye… couldn’t really think how to say that in English… ‘into the life of the eyes’, Lleuwen offers.
‘i fyw y llygaid drych’ - we’re all a bit stuck on this - drych is mirror, of course - so you could go for sort of ‘into the heart of the mirror-like eyes’… I’ll update if we get any better suggestions…

[AnnaC]

This is great - diolch yn fawr iawn, @aran! I’m learning a lot from listening to music, trying to understand the lyrics, and looking at the written lyrics. (Not to mention enjoying myself immensely ) But there are lots of songs I can’t find written lyrics for, so I’m always happy to discover more!

[sororp]

But there are lots of songs I can’t find written lyrics for, so I’m always happy to discover more!

Look up “Brigyn” on YouTube; there’s a ton of their work. And for lyrics, there are lots of them posted on their website. Or, if you’d prefer to visit yn y Gymraeg, here.

Edit: And hey, check this out: a whole YouTube channel of songs with lyrics!

[AnnaC]

Thanks, I’ll check out the Brigyn website! I’m very familiar with the Distant Dreamer channel on YouTube - I came across that fairly soon after I started learning Welsh, and I’ve discovered lots of music there. Thanks for posting the info!

[Toffidil]

adlewyrchiad… yma yn fflama cannwyll y llygad… adlewyrchiad…
O, gobaith gwych… syllu yn syn i fyw y llygaid drych… gobaith gwych…

I think she say tan cannwyll here, not fflamio, which i suppose is the same thing.

Ive been trying to listen carefully to the drych as well and it drifts off on the ch, but it is there and must be drych i suppose - i was trying to think of a play on words, but can’t (dru 'ch gobaith gwych)

[aran]

I think she say tan cannwyll here, not fflamio, which i suppose is the same thing.

It’s entertainingly tricky to be absolutely certain about individual words, and entirely normal to feel as though you’re hearing something different - we do it all the time with songs in our first languages, too - but Lleuwen says it’s ‘fflama’ (which is probably why I now hear it as ‘fflama’, priming and all that)…

[nigelh]

yes! I love her music. She’s so versatile. The folk stuff is magic. There’s also a much different Lleuwen in a contemporary jazz trio (a la ECM) album called Duw a Wyr on Bandcamp.

[daeld-daeldia]

Mi wela i efo llygad bach i rywbeth yn dechrau efo chdi

Just a quick question on grammar if that’s OK:
If I were to say wela’i gyda llygad bach i rhywbeth yn dechrau gyda chi (instead of efo), would that be really strange? Or is this a North/South thing? (I ask because I just finished a hangout with someone who has learned the North version and she was using efo a lot where I would have used gyda).

Also, I love this song!

[aran]

Or is this a North/South thing?

Probably this… ‘gyda’ sounds very odd there to me, because it’s such a formulaic phrase, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if that felt the other way round to @Iestyn…?

[Toffidil]

“Mi wela i efo llygad bach i rywbeth yn dechrau efo” reminds me of “I spy” - Rightly or wrongly this is the wording I’m now used to for “I spy” - “dw i’n gweld gyda’n llygad bach i rywbeth sy’n dechre gyda”. It’s a different tense of Gweld, but similar overall meaning?

[robbruce]

“Mi wela i efo llygad bach i rywbeth yn dechrau efo” reminds me of “I spy” - Rightly or wrongly this is the wording I’m now used to for “I spy” - “dw i’n gweld gyda’n llygad bach i rywbeth sy’n dechre gyda”. It’s a different tense of Gweld, but similar overall meaning?

Mi wela i and dwi’n gweld are equivalent. The former uses the short form present tense, which is seldom heard in speech (although it is used for the short form future, but that’s another discussion entirely). So, since song writing is both a musical and literary pursuit, Lleuwen has decided naturally to use the literary mi wela i form.

[Toffidil]

Thanks - well I’ve learned some literary Welsh today then - not something I really know very much about, which is why I thought it was different.

[andreaeynon]

Thanks for that - You must have been reading my mind 'cos I’ve been trying to work some of it out and was going to write and ask about it. Diolch.

[daeld-daeldia]

Thanks for all the replies. That really helps.

[jonathan-stockley]

Diolch, dw i’n joio gwrando ar y gân hon. Great end to a really testing week

[Catriona]

Ooh, I just came across ‘i fyw y llygaid’ in Llyfr Glas Nebo, and I thought it must mean looking someone right in the eye. Thanks for the confirmation.

My mum used to say “cannwyll fy llygaid” to me. Always made me tear up. Beautiful image.

[allthelakes]

Diolch, mae’n da iawn gwrando y stori. Hofen i dysgu y canu (song?), maen diddoral!

[aran]

A very warm welcome to the forum, @allthelakes

We tend to use English on the forum, unexpectedly enough, so that all our learners feel part of all the conversations (although we do have one thread for practising written Welsh: Be' 'dach chi'n gwneud rwan? A phethau arall yn Gymraeg - A topic to practice Welsh, open to all!)

[anne-rodgers]

Sometimes we say that if we are looking straight into someone’s eyes, which would be the same as looking directly into the center of their eye, then we are looking into the person’s soul or essence. I’m guessing that if these two are speaking volumes with their eyes only, they are looking at more than the superficial. This is my singer’s two cents worth.

[CaroleB]

Brilliant! Tried to translate it before reading the notes and got loads more than i expected…love the notes at the bottom…diolch!