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It was Christmas Eve babe in the
drunk tank
An old man said to me, won't see another one
And then he sang a song, The Rare Old Mountain Dew
And I turned my face away and dreamed about you
Got on a lucky one, came in eighteen to one
I've got a feeling this year's for me and you
So happy Christmas, I love you baby
I can see a better time when all our dreams come
true
They've got cars big as bars, they've got rivers of
gold
But the wind goes right through you It's no place
for the old
When you first took my hand on a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me Broadway was waiting for me
You were handsome, You were pretty, Queen of New
York City
When the band finished playing they howled out for
more
Sinatra was swinging, all the drunks they were
singing
We kissed on the corner then danced through the
night
The boys of the NYPD choir were singing 'Galway Bay'
And the bells were ringing out for Christmas day
You're a bum, You're a punk, You're an old slut on
junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scum bag, You maggot, You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse, I pray God It's our last
I could have been someone, well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me when I first found you
I kept them with me babe, I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone I've built my dreams around
you
Sweetheart I'm bidding you fond
farewell
Murmured a youth one day
I'm off to a new land my fortune to try
And I'm ready to sail away
Far away in Australia
Soon will fate be kind
And I will be ready to welcome the lass
The girl I left behind
Must we be parted?! his fairer one cried
I cannot let you go
Still I must leave you, the young man replied
But for only a while you know
Far away in Australia
Soon will fate be kind
And I will be ready to welcome the lass
The girl I left behind
Whether in success or failure
I will always be true
Proudly each day in that land far away
I'll be building a home for you
Far away in Australia
Soon will fate be kind
And I will be ready to welcome the lass
The girl I left behind
Daily she waits at the old cottage gate
Watching the whole day through
Till that sweet message comes over the wave
And in the new world they're joined as two
Far away in Australia
Soon will fate be kind
And I will be ready to welcome the lass
The girl I left behind
Children's laughter children
tears
Childish joys of childhood years
Are just memories of our once happy home
Its not death that brings the pain
I would face it all again
But it grieves me so to leave you all along
Do the wee ones still sigh when they hear their
daddy's name
Do they sadly ask you why I won't be home again
How hard it is to know I'll never see them grow
Let my dying bring for them a better land
May they never know the fears
That blighted my young years
Of the shackles that have bound my native land
May they see the joy of life
And not cruel civil strife
Foreign laws imposed by brutal strangers hands
Let them grow in love and truth
Let them blossom into youth
Guided by their mother's loving hand
Let them cherish Ireland's pride
For this Joe McDonnell died
Let them know their father loved them and his
land
Wee Willie John McFadden was
a loyal Ulster Prod
Who thought that Ian Paisley was one step down
from God
He scorned the little children, in the
backstreets of Ardoyne
And he thought that history started with the
Battle of the Boyne
And he thought that history started with the
Battle of the Boyne
One day he took the brick in his hands and
dandered up the Falls
He was singing "Up the Rangers" and
hummin' Derry's Walls
He broke the big shop window to annoy the Pope
of Rome
He took the record player and then he started
home
He took the record player and then he started
home
Next night they had a hooley at the local
Orange Hall
Wee Willie took his player to make music for
the boys
He chose a stack of records of a very loyal
kind
But when the music started he nearly lost his
mind
But when the music started he nearly lost his
mind
This Fenian record player was a rebel to the
core
It played out songs the Orange Hall had never
heard before
For Golly's Brae and Derry's Walls it didn't
give a fig
It speeded up God Save the Queen till it
sounded like a jig
It speeded up God Save the Queen till it
sounded like a jig
Well the boys were plain demented, to the
ground Wee Will was thrown
They kicked his ribs in one by one to the tune
of Garryowen
They threw him out the window to the song of
Old Sinn Fein
They kicked him all down Sandy Row to a Nation
Once Again
They kicked him all down Sandy Row to a Nation
Once Again
There's a moral to this story, what it is I
cannot say
Oh maybe its the ancient curse, crime it will
not pay
If you ask Wee Willie McFadden, he'll say
"You're kind, you know"
If you want to pinch a record player, do it up
the Shankill Road
If you want to pinch a record player, do it up
the Shankill Road
Pump your fist if you love
freedom
Pump your fist if you love culture
For 150 years you've been creatin us
Be hatin like Satan
By beratin us in Punch cartoons
You depicted us as swill
And wack TV shows like that dead fool Benny
Hill
Amazing you never came to your senses
Figured out you would have to face the
consequences
Sent us across the water but you didn't
scope the tide
And now the tide is rising worldwide
From Devoy to O'Neill and John O'Mahoney
To Joe McGarrity and Michael Flannery
Seditions are tradition and it won't just go
away
Say it loud say it proud I will stay an
Unrepentant Fenian bastard
Unrepentant Fenian bastard
Unrepentant Fenian bastard
Respect to all who refuse to be mastered
Now boys, if you will
listen, a story I'll relate
I'll tell you of the noble men who from
their foe escaped.
Though bound with Saxon fetters in the dark
Australian jail,
They struck a blow for freedom and for
Yankeeland set sail.
On the seventeenth of April last the Stars
and Stripes did fly
On board the bark Catalpa, waving proudly to
the sky;
She showed the green above the red as she
did calmly lay
Prepared to take the Fenian boys in safety
o'er the sea.
When Breslin and brave Desmond brought the
prisoners to the shore,
They gave one shout for freedom; soon to
bless them evermore.
And manned by gallant Irish hearts, pulled
towards the Yankee shore,
For well they knew, from its proud folds, no
tyrant could them drag.
They had nearly reached in safety the
Catalpa taut and trim,
When fast approaching them they saw a vision
dark and dim.
It was the gunboat Georgette, and on her
deck there stood,
One hundred hired assassins, to shed each
patriot's blood.
The gunboat reached the bounding bark and
fired across her bow,
Then in loud voice commanded that the vessel
should heave to.
But noble Captain Anthony in thunder tones
did cry,
"You dare not fire a shot at that
bright flag that floats on high."
"My ship is sailing peacefully beneath
that flag of stars,
It's manned by Irish hearts of oak and manly
Yankee tars;
And that dear emblem near the fore, so plain
to be seen,
Is is the banner I'll protect, old Ireland's
flag of green."
The Britisher he sailed away, from the Stars
and Stripes he ran,
He knew his chance was slim to fight the
boys of Uncle Sam;
So Hogan, Wilson, Harrington, with Darragh
off did go;
With Hassett and bold Cranston, soon to whip
the Saxon foe.
Here's luck to Captain Anthony who well
these men did free,
He dared the English man-o'-war to fight him
on the sea;
And here's to that dear emblem which in
triumph shall be seen
The flag for which our heroes fought, old
Ireland's flag of green
As I walked by the
dockside one evening so fair
To view the salt waters and take in the salt
air
I heard an old fisherman singing a song
Oh, take me away boys me time is not long
Wrap me up in me oilskins and jumper
No more on the docks I'll be seen
Just tell me old shipmates, I'm taking a
trip mates
And I'll see you someday on Fiddlers Green
Now Fiddlers Green is a place I've heard
tell
Where the fishermen go if they don't go to
hell
Where the skies are all clear and the
dolphins do play
And the cold coast of Greenland is far, far
away
Wrap me up in me oilskins and jumper
No more on the docks I'll be seen
Just tell me old shipmates, I'm taking a
trip mates
And I'll see you someday on Fiddlers Green
Where the skies are all clear and there's
never a gail
And the fish jump on board with one swish on
their tail
Where you lie at your leisure, there's no
work to do
And the skipper's below making tea for the
crew
Wrap me up in me oilskins and jumper
No more on the docks I'll be seen
Just tell me old shipmates, I'm taking a
trip mates
And I'll see you someday on Fiddlers Green
Now I don't want a harp nor a halo, not me
Just give me a breeze on a good rolling sea
I'll play me old squeeze-box as we sail
along
With the wind in the riggin' to sing me a
song
Wrap me up in me oilskins and jumper
No more on the docks I'll be seen
Just tell me old shipmates, I'm taking a
trip mates
And I'll see you someday on Fiddlers Green
By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young girl calling
Micheal they are taking you away
For you stole Trevelyn's corn
So the young might see the morn.
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay.
Low lie the Fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds
fly.
Our love was on the wing we had dreams and
songs to sing
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.
By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young man calling
Nothing matter Mary when your free,
Against the Famine and the Crown
I rebelled they ran me down
Now you must raise our child with dignity.
Low lie the Fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds
fly.
Our love was on the wing we had dreams and
songs to sing
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.
By a lonely harbor wall
She watched the last star falling
As that prison ship sailed out against the
sky
Sure she'll wait and hope and pray
For her love in Botany Bay
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.
Low lie the Fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds
fly.
Our love was on the wing we had dreams and
songs to sing
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.
Tim Finnegan lived in
Walkin Street, a gentle Irishman mighty odd
He had a brogue both rich and sweet, an' to
rise in the world he carried a hod
You see he'd a sort of a tipplers way but
the love for the liquor poor Tim was born
To help him on his way each day, he'd a drop
of the craythur every morn
Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
around the flure yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told you? Lots of fun
at Finnegan's Wake
One morning Tim got rather full, his head
felt heavy which made him shake
Fell from a ladder and he broke his skull,
and they carried him home his corpse to wake
Rolled him up in a nice clean sheet, and
laid him out upon the bed
A bottle of whiskey at his feet and a barrel
of porter at his head
Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
around the flure yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told you? Lots of fun
at Finnegan's Wake
His friends assembled at the wake, and Mrs
Finnegan called for lunch
First she brought in tay and cake, then
pipes, tobacco and whiskey punch
Biddy O'Brien began to cry, "Such a
nice clean corpse, did you ever see,
Tim avourneen, why did you die?",
"Will ye hould your gob?" said
Paddy McGee
Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
around the flure yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told you? Lots of fun
at Finnegan's Wake
Then Maggie O'Connor took up the job,
"Biddy" says she "you're
wrong, I'm sure"
Biddy gave her a belt in the gob and left
her sprawling on the floor
Then the war did soon engage, t'was woman to
woman and man to man
Shillelagh law was all the rage and a row
and a ruction soon began
Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
around the flure yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told you? Lots of fun
at Finnegan's Wake
Mickey Maloney ducked his head when a bucket
of whiskey flew at him
It missed, and falling on the bed, the
liquor scattered over Tim
Bedad he revives, see how he rises, Timothy
rising from the bed
Saying "Whittle your whiskey around
like blazes, t'underin' Jaysus, do ye think
I'm dead?"
Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
around the flure yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told you? Lots of fun
at Finnegan's Wake
Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
around the flure yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told you? Lots of fun
at Finnegan's Wake
The flags are gaily
flying o'er Celtic Park today
Because the lads of Celtic have shown the
World the way
They played the game in Lisbon and here is
how they won
They didn't play defensive, attack is what
they done
The flags are out for Celtic, they know
just what to do
And Scottish hearts and Irish hearts are
mighty proud of you
In all the big World over the name of
Celtic rung
And in our heart of Glasgow our Celtic
song was sung
God bless you great eleven, this is your
greatest day
Next season Jock from Greenock we're with
you all the way
The flags are out for Celtic, they know
just what to do
And Scottish hearts and Irish hearts are
mighty proud of you
You won so many cups this year, 4 or 5 or
6
You should give one to Rangers, they're
really in a fix
John Lawrence shook your hands lads as you
came off the plane
And everyone is proud of you, your
football brought you fame
The flags are out for Celtic, they know
just what to do
And Scottish hearts and Irish hearts are
mighty proud of you
Foggy
Dew, The
As down the glen one
Easter morn to a city fair rode I
There Armed lines of marching men in
squadrons passed me by
No fife did hum nor battle drum did sound
it's dread tatoo
But the Angelus bell o'er the Liffey swell
rang out through the foggy dew
Right proudly high over Dublin Town they
hung out the flag of war
'Twas better to die 'neath an Irish sky than
at Sulva or Sud El Bar
And from the plains of Royal Meath strong
men came hurrying through
While Britannia's Huns, with their long
range guns
sailed in through the foggy dew
'Twas Britannia bade our Wild Geese go that
small nations might be free
But their lonely graves are by Sulva's waves
or the shore of the Great North Sea
Oh, had they died by Pearse's side or fought
with Cathal Brugha
Their names we will keep where the fenians
sleep
'neath the shroud of the foggy dew
But the bravest fell, and the requiem bell
rang mournfully and clear
For those who died that Eastertide in the
springing of the year
And the world did gaze, in deep amaze, at
those fearless men, but few
Who bore the fight that freedom's light
might shine through the foggy dew
Lift Mac Cahir Og your
face,
Brooding o´er the old disgrace,
That black Fitzwilliam stormed your place
And drove you to the Fern
Grey said victory was sure,
Soon the firebrand he´d secure
Until he met at Glenmalure,
Feach Mac Hugh O´Byrne
See the swords of Glen Imayle,
Flashing o´er the English Pale
See all the children of the Gael,
Beneath O´Byrne´s banners
Rooster of the fighting stock,
Would you let a Saxon cock
Crow out upon an Irish rock,
Fly up and teach him manners
Curse and swear Lord Kildare
Feach will do what Feach will dare
Now Fitzwilliam, have a care
Fallen is your star low
Up with halbert, out with sword
On we go for by the Lord
Feach Mac Hugh has given his word
Follow me up to Carlow
From Tassagart to Clonmore,
Flows a stream of Saxon gore
Och, great is Rory Oge O´More,
At sending loons to Hades
White is sick and Lane is fled,
Now for black Fitzwilliam´s head
We´ll send it over, dripping red,
To Liza and the ladies
I close my eyes and
picture the emerald of the sea
from the fishin boats at Dingle to the
shores at Dunehea
I miss the River Shannon and the folks at
Skibbereen
the moorlands and meadows and their Forty
Shades of Green
But most of all I miss a girl in Tipperary
town
and most of all I miss her lips as soft as
eiderdown
I long again to see and do the things
we´ve done and seen
where the breeze is sweet as shalimar and
there´s Forty Shades of Green
I wish that I could spend an hour at
Dublin´s churning suft
I long to watch the farmers drain the bogs
and spade the turf
to see again the thatching of the straw
the women clean
I´d walk from Cork to Larne to see those
Forty Shades of Green
But most of all I miss a girl in Tipperary
town
and most of all I miss her lips as soft as
eiderdown
I long again to see and do the things
we´ve done and seen
where the breeze is sweet as shalimar and
there´s Forty Shades of Green
"What did I
have?", said the fine old woman
"What did I have?", this proud
old woman did say
"I had four green fields, each one
was a jewel
But strangers came and tried to take them
from me
I had fine, strong sons, they fought to
save my jewels
They fought and died and that was my
grief", said she
"Long time ago", said the fine
old woman
"Long time ago", this proud old
woman did say
"There was war and death, plundering
and pillage
My children starved by mountain, valley
and sea
And their wailing cries, they shook the
very heavens
My four green fields ran red with their
blood", said she
"What have I now?", said the
fine old woman
"What have I now?", this proud
old woman did say
"I have four green fields, one of
them's in bondage
In strangers hands that tried to take it
from me
But my sons have sons, as brave as were
their fathers
My fourth green field will bloom once
again", said she
Laws were made for
people
And the law can never scorn
The right of a man to be free
Free the people!
Let them have their say
Free the people!
Let them see the light of day
A dismal dawn was breaking when they took
her man away
Not knowing what was his crime
Just what he was guilty of not one of them
could say
But they'll think of something in time
He says: "Goodbye and remember
We shall overcome"
Free the people!
Let them have their say
Free the people!
Let them see the light of day
Comforting her children softly crying in
the night
She tries very hard to explain
You know, your Daddy never did a thing
that wasn't right
So soon he's bound to be home again
He is a good man
And he shall overcome
Free the people!
Let them have their say
Free the people!
Let them see the light of day
What does it profit him
The right to be born
If he suffers the loss of liberty?
Laws were made for people
And the law can never scorn
The right of a man to be free
We are the people
And we shall overcome
We are the people
And we shall overcome
Free the people!
Let them have their say
Free the people!
Let them see the light of day!
Free the people!
Let them have their say
Free the people!
Let them see the light of day
Flight of earls
Liam Rielly
I can hear the bells of Dublin in this lonely waiting room
And the paperboys are singin' in the rain
Not too long before they take us to the airport and the noise
To get on board a transatlantic plane
We've got nothin' left to stay for,
We had no more left to say
And there isn't any work for us to do
So farewell ye boys and girls;
Another bloody Flight of Earls
Our best asset is our best export, too....
It's not murder, fear or famine that makes us leave this time
We're not going to join McAlpine's Fusileers
We've got brains, and we've got visions; we've got education, too!
But we just can't throw away these precious years
So we walk the streets of London,
And the streets of Baltimore
And we meet at night in several Boston bars
We're the leaders of the future
But we're far away from home
And we dream of you beneath the Irish stars
As we look on Ellis Island, and the Lady in the bay
And Manhattan turns to face another Sunday
We just wonder what you're doing to bring us all back home
As we look forward to another Monday
Because it's not the work that scares us;
We don't mind an arduous job
And we know things will get better once again
So a thousand times adieu,
We've got Bono and U2!
All we're missin' is the Guiness, and the rain
So switch off your new computers, cause the writing's on the wall
We're leaving as our fathers did before
Take a look at Dublin airport, or the boat that leaves North Wall
There'll be no Youth Unemployment any more....
Because we're over here in Queensland,
And in parts of New South Wales
We're on the seas and airways and the trains
But if we see better days,
Those big airplanes go both ways
And we'll all be comin' back to you again!
The Ferryman
Pete St John
The little boats have gone
from the breast of Anna Liffey
And the ferrymen are stranded on the quay
sure the Dublin docks are dying
and a way of life is gone
And Molly it was part of you and me
Chorus
Where the strawberry beds
Sweep down to the Liffey
You’ll kiss away the worries from my brow
I love you well today
and I love you more tomorrow
If you ever loved me Molly love me now
twas the only job I knew
It was hard but never lonely
The Liffey Ferry made a man of me
Now its gone without a whisper
ah Forgotten even now
Sure its over Molly over can’t you see
Chorus
Well now I tell my yarns
And I’ll spend my days in talking
And I’ll hear them whisper Charlies on the Dole
But Molly we’re still living
And darlin' we're still young
And that river never owned me heart or soul
Chorus
Farewell my Green Valleys
Glen Reid
The seagulls are calling and the wind is in the sails
And she’s fast moving over the sea
On a ship bound for St John three thousand miles away
A human cargo my comrades and me
Chorus
Farewell my green valleys god keep you the same
If in only my mind you’ll beI’m sailing dark water to far America
Never more my green valley I’ll see
It hurts me to think of the things I left behind
And the famine has blackened our land
And to look now for something that I might never find
Is a problem that now is at hand
Chorus
There’s a fever a raging and the wind has died away
And the journey can no longer be
And the plague is a shadow that lingers night and day
For more thoughts of green valleys I’ll see
Chorus
Freedom Sons
Tommy Makem
Chorus
They were the men with the vision the men with the cause
The men who defied their oppressors laws
The men who traded their chains for guns
Born into slavery they were freedoms sons
At Easter time 1916
When flowers bloomed and leaves were green
There dawned a day when freedoms cry
Called on brave men come fight or die
Chorus
In Dublin town they fought and died
With Pearse McDermott and McBride
Ourselves alone their battle cry
And freedom rang through that Easter sky
Chorus
A poets dream had sparked that flame
A raging fire it soon became
And from that fire of destiny
Arose a nation proud and free
Chorus
Six counties are in bondage still
They died brave men was this their will
Until we’re free and oppression ceased
Only then brave men shall sleep in peace
Chorus
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