The song tends to be most popular among children learning to speak, and is taught to people studying Irish Gaelic.
[2][3] In the lyrics, a young girl is asking her mother's permission to travel to a fair the following day in County Clare, Ireland, but also saying how pointless it is to discuss, as she likely will not even be going.
Irish singer Joe Heaney claimed that, in the original song, the girl says she is in love with the cobbler because she does not own any shoes, and was enticed as soon as she saw the man's handiwork.
"Beidh aonach amárach in gContae an Chláir (x3); cén mhaith domh é ní bheidh mé ann."
(Chorus) "B'fhearr liom féin mo ghreasaí bróg (x3), 'n fir na n'arm, faoina lascú óir."