Sail to the Stars (The Pirate Queen)

Different cultures commemorate the deaths of loved ones in different ways... Midway through Claude-Michel Schönberg & Alain Boublil’s Pirate Queen, the Irish hero Grace O’Malley’s father Dubhdara is mortally wounded in battle.  Given a sailor’s funeral, his body sent out to sea in a flaming boat as Evleen, the elderly spiritual leader of the clan, sings the first half of this tribute song in Irish; she is joined by the assembled crowd for the rest of the song, sung in English:

Seol chun farriage                             (Sail to the sea

Go Glaitheas de agus                         To God’s Heaven

Glor ne heireann                               And the glory of Ireland

Seol, seol leat                                     Sail away with you

Doite sa tine                                       Burned in fire

O eirigh in eineach le dia                 Rise together with God

O seol go samh le dia                        Sail peacefully with God

Chun na realta                                  To the stars)

Sail to the stars

Off to glory, God

And the grace of Ireland

Go on your way

To your journey’s end

In a veil of fire

A chieftain dies

A chieftain’s born

As hearts are torn

A new light shines

Upon the morn…

And sail to the stars

Off to glory, God

And the grace of Ireland

Go on your way

To your journey’s end

In a veil of fire

And take your place

In Heaven’s light

Upon this night…

Go forth to the dawn

In the years ahead

They will tell the tale

Of you, of us all

On this night

Made one with the stars; set sail!

(Note:  Schönberg & Boublil are best know for their musical adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables for the stage.  You may recall another tearful – and lovely – father-daughter goodbye at the end of that show, which you can find here.)

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