This is U2’s With or Without You in Irish, sung by a girls’ choir from Coláiste Lurgan, the Irish summer college in Connemara. TG Lurgan posted the video on 18 March 2019. Below I cover who made it, what the Irish title means, the story of U2’s original and more Irish-language covers worth a listen.
I have said it before but songs like this are saving the Irish language.
It’s brilliant to see what TG Lurgan have put together. I’ve also written about their breathtaking version of Adele’s Hello.
They posted this video on 18 March 2019. I got a lovely notification on my phone that day and was blown away by how great (again) it was.
They are an incredibly talented bunch of kids. Turn up your volume for this one.
Here is TG Lurgan’s version of With or Without You as Gaeilge.
Who sings With or Without You in Irish?
The YouTube description credits the girls’ choir from Course D in 2017, directed by Rút and Saidbhe. No surnames are given.
Today the college website lists Course D as a 15-night August course for fourth and fifth years.
The credit suggests it was recorded in summer 2017. The audio went on Spotify in March 2018, on an album called Lurgan 2k17, Vol. 2. The video followed on YouTube a year later.
What the Irish version is like
The choir carries this one, and it suits the song.
The original is a slow build. Here a girls’ choir does the building.
What is With or Without You called in Irish?
On Spotify, TG Lurgan list the track as “Liomsa Nó Leat Fhéin”. It means roughly with me, or on your own.
That’s not a word-for-word translation of the English title. Song translators usually aim for something you can sing, and this one keeps the same either-or choice.
TG Lurgan put the Irish words in the YouTube description. U2’s official English lyrics are on u2.com.
Who are TG Lurgan?
TG Lurgan is the music and YouTube project of Coláiste Lurgan. It’s an independent Irish-language summer college in Indreabhán, in the Connemara Gaeltacht in Co. Galway.
The Irish Times reported in 2013 that the college was founded by Pól Ó Foighil. His son Mícheál has run it since 1996. RTÉ now describes Mícheál as director of TG Lurgan.
According to the same Irish Times piece, the videos began during a very rainy summer in 2009. Students and staff perform, the work is voluntary and everything is done through Irish.
The story of U2’s With or Without You
With or Without You is the third track on The Joshua Tree, released in 1987. It was the first single from the album.
It’s a love song about being torn. Wanting someone, and feeling trapped by that same want.
U2’s first US number one
Billboard’s archive shows it at number one on the Hot 100 for three weeks, from the chart dated 16 May 1987. It was U2’s first US number one.
RTÉ says With or Without You spent two weeks at number one in Ireland. The Official Charts Company lists a UK peak of number 4, in March 1987.
RTÉ also reports that The Joshua Tree has sold more than 20 million copies. It put U2 on the cover of Time magazine in April 1987.
U2 in Irish life
U2 have 21 Irish number ones, more than any other act, according to RTÉ.
- Croke Park, 1985. RTÉ lists a homecoming show there on 29 June 1985, to almost 60,000 people.
- Croke Park, 2017. They brought The Joshua Tree back on 22 July 2017 for its 30th anniversary. RTÉ’s review described four jets trailing green, white and orange overhead.
- Freedom of Dublin, 2000. U2 and manager Paul McGuinness received it at Smithfield on 18 March 2000. Aung San Suu Kyi was honoured at the same ceremony. The council stripped her of it in 2017 over the Rohingya crisis, after U2 wrote to councillors asking them to.
- Fifty years, 2026. On 25 September 2026, RTÉ reported surprise sets at Mount Temple school and on the balcony of Bewley’s on Grafton Street. They played With or Without You at both, and closed the Mount Temple set with it. The Central Bank also issued a commemorative €2 coin.
The band first met in Larry Mullen Jr’s kitchen in Artane on 25 September 1976. RTÉ says it followed his notice at Mount Temple looking for musicians.
Their 1980 debut album Boy even has a track with an Irish title, An Cat Dubh (The Black Cat). It’s sung in English, mind.
Bonus: This Is Me in Irish
I was also browsing and came across the lovely version of The Greatest Showman’s This Is Me, and all I can say is WOW!
TG Lurgan posted it on 24 September 2018. The description credits Course B 2018, with Aimee Banks on lead vocals and Liam Óg Ó hÓistín as music director.
Here is This Is Me as Gaeilge.
More Irish-language covers worth hearing
- Avicii’s Wake Me Up (2013). The breakthrough. By 2016 the Irish Times put it past five million YouTube views. It got them onto The Late Late Show, RTÉ said.
- Adele’s Hello (2016). The Irish Times put it past half a million views by December 2016.
- OMI’s Cheerleader (2015). Covered by RTÉ in July 2015.
- Welsh and Irish duets. With Wales’ Urdd Gobaith Cymru they’ve done Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams and Beyoncé’s Texas Hold ‘Em. RTÉ counted seven co-productions by 2025.
Wake Me Up’s lead singer, Stiofán Ó Fearail, went on to front Seo Linn. The Irish Times says that band formed at Lurgan, and it recorded the Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2016 song, The Irish Roar.
The Ceol albums
RTÉ 2FM and Conradh na Gaeilge have also released Ceol albums, where Irish acts record well-known songs in Irish, sometimes their own. RTÉ said Ceol 2018 was delivered to every school in the country in September 2018.
That album included The Cranberries’ Linger, sung in Irish by Sibéal, plus tracks from Kodaline and Wheatus. Picture This are on Ceol 2018 too.
With or Without You in Irish: FAQ
Who sang With or Without You in Irish?
The girls’ choir from Course D 2017 at Coláiste Lurgan, directed by Rút and Saidbhe. TG Lurgan posted the video on YouTube on 18 March 2019.
What is With or Without You called in Irish?
TG Lurgan’s version is listed on Spotify as Liomsa Nó Leat Fhéin. It means roughly with me, or on your own.
Where can I find the Irish lyrics?
TG Lurgan put the Irish words in the YouTube video description. The official English lyrics are on u2.com.
What is TG Lurgan?
It’s the music and YouTube project of Coláiste Lurgan, an Irish-language summer college in Indreabhán, Connemara.
Was With or Without You U2’s first US number one?
Yes. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, starting with the chart dated 16 May 1987.
More Irish reading
- Adele’s Hello sung in Irish by TG Lurgan
- Celtic Thunder sing Amazing Grace
- St Patrick’s Day music
- Irish greetings and how to say them
- English words that come from Irish
- Irish slang words
Featured photo: Dry stone walls at the Connemara coast near Carna by JoachimKohler-HB, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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