(How I wish blogs would work in reverse order so that, like books, the older posts would appear above rather than below the newer ones.)
So back to the question.
It's not easy to translate.
Especially for the Kraut-challenged like yours truly.
When some people read it only via Eliot, they assume that, because Isolde is an Irish princess, this must be Tristan singing up some kind of grief for her.
Like that McCartney and "Yesterday" or some such sent-mental bollocks.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
It's sung by an Irish sailor aboard T and I's ship as they sail to his domain (Cornwall).
They're both on board -- so neither is missing the other.
In fact, if they weren't both there, they wouldn't take the (ultimately) fatal love potion and the whole plot would be lost.
So ... to the plot.
Here's the best synopsis of Act 1 Scene 1 (abridged and edited) I could find on the web.
====================
The opening scene shows Isolde reclining on a couch, her face hidden in soft pillows, in a tent-like apartment on the forward deck of a vessel. It is hung with rich tapestries, which hide the rest of the ship from view. Brangäne has partially drawn aside one of the hangings and is gazing out upon the sea. From above, as though from the rigging, is heard the voice of a young Sailor singing a farewell song to his "Irish maid". It has a wild charm and is a capital example of Wagner’s skill in giving local colouring to his music. The words, Frisch weht der Wind der Heimath zu ("The wind blows freshly toward our home") are sung to a phrase which occurs frequently in the course of this scene. It represents most graphically the heaving of the sea and may be appropriately termed the "Ocean Motive". It undulates gracefully through Brangäne’s reply to Isolde’s question as to the vessel’s course, surges wildly around Isolde’s outburst of impotent anger when she learns that Cornwall’s shore is not far distant, and breaks itself in savage fury against her despairing wrath as she invokes the elements to destroy the ship and all upon it.====================
So, it's your common-or-garden sailing Paddy who happens to be overheard by the main characters.
Maybe he's a kind of surrogate for Tristan ... who knows?
To the translation, then, in this context:
"Ferk, we've got a headwind
"Blowing us back to Auld Sod;
"What chance
"Of a shag, then, baby?"
Sledge
