In the ongoing quest to find period Welsh folk songs, I ran across a possible example from Owain Phyfe’s album Tales from the Vineyard1 Ddoi Di Dai. The lyrics as presented in the album (credited as “Traditional Welsh”) are:
Ddoi di Dai i blith dy flodau? Ddoi di Dai?
Ddoi di Dai i blith dy flodau? Ddoi di Dai?
Dyma flodyn bach yn wylo
Lliw un hwyrach wedi ei ddrigo
Dagrau aur sydd ar ei rudd o. Weld di Dai?
Pwy fy’r plannu’r blodau gwylltion? Wy’st di Dai?
Pwy fy’r plannu’r blodau gwylltion? Wy’st di Dai?
Nhad sy’bua’r Rhos a’r Tansi
Fo a fi fy’yn eu plannu
Bodau’r ddol, pwy blannodd rheini? Wy’st di Dai?
Translation (by me – brackets represent improper or nonsense Welsh in this transcription):
Will you come among your flowers, will you come, Dai?
Here is a little flower crying,
[An older one’s color lingered],
Golden tears are what is on his cheek, do you see, Dai?
Who [my] planting the wild flowers, Do you know, Dai?
Father [owns?] the Rose and Tansy,
He and I [my] planting them,
The meadow flowers, who planted those? Do you know, Dai?
Owain Phyffe in his liner notes and in his introduction to the song when preformed live has said that he sings the song “as a tribute to David, the last prince of Wales” (Dafydd ap Gryffudd, younger brother of Llewelyn the Last.) Later performers have extended this to mean that the song was *written* in the 13th Century as a lament for Dafydd ap Gryffudd.
Was it?
Searching for anything titled “Ddoi Di, Dai” results in a rather circular set of references, as all lyrics, references, or covers of a song with that title ultimately point back to Owain Phyfe as the source. This includes versions by Brian Kay,2 the group Ayreheart (Ronn McFarlane sometimes with Brian Kay,)3 and Silent Lion.4
In the course of searching for the spelling “Ddoi di Dai” another version comes up, by Leah Owen5, spelled “Ddoi di Dei” – which is the same melody with slightly different lyrics (including additional lyrics) and is credited to lyricist RH Jones and composer WS Gwynn Williams.
William Sydney Gwynn Williams (1896-1978) was a very well known composer and collector of Welsh folk tunes, setting lyrics of many Welsh poets to music and publishing collections of others.6
Next actions for this research are to track down the WS Gwynn Williams setting (I have lists of works he published but no specific as to which one contains the setting) and look at a copy of the book the poem was published in (Drysau Eraill, 1923, Liverpool: Hugh Evans & Sons – available as print copy from the National Library of Wales). Until I can locate them, here is a version of the lyrics directly attributed to R. H. Jones (but with a different tune than that used by Owain Phyfe et al) from a Cerdd Dant songbook7:
‘Ddoi di, Dei, i blith y flodau? ‘Ddoi di Dei?
Dyma flodyn bach yn wylo
Rhywun hwyrach wedi ‘i frifo.
Dagrau mawr sydd ar ei rudd o. ‘Wel di Dei?
Pwy fu’n plannu’r blodau gwylltion? Wy’st di Dei?
Dada bïau’r rhos a’r pansi
Fo a fi fu yn eu plannu
Bodau’r maes, pwy blannodd rheiny? Wy’st di Dai?
Dacw nhw yn mynd i’r gwely. ‘Wel di, Dei?
Can eu llygaid mor ddibryder;
Plygu ‘u pen i ddweyd eu pader.
‘Ddoi di adre? Nawr yw’r amser. ‘Ddoi di Dei?
Translation (by me):
Will you come among the flowers, will you come, Dei?
Here is a little flower crying,
Someone recently has hurt him,
Large tears are what is on his cheek, do you see, Dei?
Who was planting the wild flowers, Do you know, Dei?
Dad owns the rose and pansy,
He and I were planting them,
The meadow flowers, who planted those? Do you know, Dei?
See there, they are going to bed, Do you see, Dei?
With their eyes so carefree,
Bowing their heads to say their paternoster,
Will you come home? Now is the time. Will you come, Dei?
- Owen Phyfe and The New World Renaissance Band, Nightwatch NW 1009, 2002 ↩︎
- Three Ravens https://www.briankaymusic.com/store ↩︎
- Concert program for Ayreheart http://www.chambermusicfriends.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Ayreheart.pdf credits Ddoi di dai to “c. 13th Century Welsh” and describes the piece using the same words in the liner notes for Tales from the Vineyard. ↩︎
- “They learned this song from Owain Phyfe” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzZVIN1PvII ↩︎
- From the album Leah Ar Ei Gorau, Sain Records, 2001, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIp7zwoTkEs ↩︎
- Dictionary of Welsh Biography https://biography.wales/article/s10-WILL-GWY-1896 ↩︎
- Cymdeithas Cerdd Dant Cymru, Cerdd Dant, Y Lolfa, 1993, p. 40 ↩︎
