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I'll tell me ma when I get
home, the boys won't leave the girls alone
Pulled me hair, stole me comb but that's all
right till I go home
She is handsome, she is pretty, she is the
Belle of Dublin city
She is a courtin' a one two three, Pray can
you tell me who is she
Albert Mooney says he loves her, all the
boys are fightin' for her
Knock at the door and ring at the bell, and
Oh, me true love, are you well
Out she comes, white as snow, rings on her
fingers, bells on her toes
Ould Johnny Morrissey says she'll die if she
doesn't get the fella with the roving eye
Let the wind and the rain and the hail blow
high and the snow come travellin' through
the sky
She's as sweet as apple pie, she'll get her
own lad by and by
When she gets a lad of her own she won't
tell her ma when she gets home
Let them all come as they will for it's
Albert Mooney she loves still
I'm A
Rover
I'm a rover, seldom sober,
I'm a rover of high degree
It's when I'm drinkin' I'm always thinkin' how
to gain my love's company
Though the night be as dark as dungeon, not a
star can be seen above
I will be guided without a stumble, into the
arms of my own true love
I'm a rover, seldom sober, I'm a rover of high
degree
It's when I'm drinkin' I'm always thinkin' how
to gain my love's company
He stepped up to her bedroom window, kneeling
gently upon a stone
He whispers through her bedroom window, my
darling dear do you lie alone
I'm a rover, seldom sober, I'm a rover of high
degree
It's when I'm drinkin' I'm always thinkin' how
to gain my love's company
It's only me your own true lover, open the
door and let me in
For I have come on a long nights journey and
I'm near drenched to the skin
I'm a rover, seldom sober, I'm a rover of high
degree
It's when I'm drinkin' I'm always thinkin' how
to gain my love's company
She opened the door with the greatest
pleasure, she opened the door and she let him
in
They both shook hands and embraced each other,
until the morning they lay as one
I'm a rover, seldom sober, I'm a rover of high
degree
It's when I'm drinkin' I'm always thinkin' how
to gain my love's company
Says I: My love I must go and leave you, to
climb the hills they are far above
But I will climb with the greatest pleasure,
since I've been in the arms of my love
I'm a rover, seldom sober, I'm a rover of high
degree
It's when I'm drinkin' I'm always thinkin' how
to gain my love's company
I.R.E.L.A.N.D
Come all ye lads and lassies
and sit you down with me,
And I will tell the truth about a land that`s
dear to me,
You`ve read it in the papers and you`ve seen it
on TV,
But I will spell it out for you, what Ireland
means to me.
I is for internment of the innocent and free
R is for resistance to the laws of tryany
E is for the English who have torn our land
apart
L is for the love of freedom in every Irish
heart
A is for the answer we`re all searching for
N is for one nation and an end to this long war
D is for the dream of millions longing to be
free.
That`s how I spell Ireland, that`s what Ireland
means to me.
This land was once respected for it`s saints and
scolars too
But now the bomb and bullet that`s all that
makes the news
I know that it`s confusing and it`s hard to
understand,
But I will spell it out for you by spelling
Ireland
If I should fall from grace
with god where no doctor can relieve me
If I'm buried 'neath the sod but the angels
won't receive me
Let me go boys, let me go boys
Let me go down in the mud where the rivers all
run dry
This land was always ours, was the proud land
of our fathers
It belongs to us and them, not to any of the
others
Let them go boys, let them go boys
Let them go down in the mud where the rivers
all run dry
Bury me at sea where no murdered ghost can
haunt me
If I rock upon the waves, no corpse can lie
upon me
It's coming up three boys, keeps coming up
three boys
Let them go down in the mud where the rivers
all run dry
If I should fall from grace with god where no
doctor can relieve me
If I'm buried 'neath the sod and still the
angels won't receive me
Let me go boys, let me go boys
Let me go down in the mud where the rivers all
run dry
In Ireland's fight for
freedom, boys,
The North has played her part,
And though her day has yet to come,
We never yet must part,
We'll keep the fight until the end,
We know we cannot fail.
And there's the reason why today,
They keep our lads in Crumlin Jail,
So join the fight, you volunteers,
It cannot be denied.
That jail won't break their spirits down
They'd just as soon have died.
For England knows and England hates,
Our fearless Northern name.
And that's another reason why,
They keep our lads in Crumlin Jail.
We give to Ireland Owen Roe,
We give them Shane O'Neill,
And Tone and Mitchell made a vow,
That England still would yield,
McKelvey did not die in vain,
He was a Northern Gael.
McCracken came from Belfast town,
McCorry from the Bann,
And brave Harry Munro at Ballynahinch,
But, for his native land,
Tom Williams died on scaffold high,
His name shall never fail.
In a dimly lit room by the
smouldering fire
Sat an old man so lonely so sad and so tired
Once he struggled for freedom, now he
struggles to live
With his few small possessions and his past to
relive
There´s a faded old picture on the wall all
alone
A dusty old picture, the pride of his home
With a harp and a shamrock with these words
underneath
"Ireland unfree shall never be at
peace"
And his thoughts wander back to the days of
his prime
Oh it seems now there´s nothing goes faster
than time
To his comrades of old he remembers the day
When he marched behind Pearse and the bold IRA
And it´s to Easter week and his thoughts
wander back
Oh those leaders of men sure no courage did
lack
But now he´s just left with his memories of
old
For his name nor his story will never be told
He gazed at that picture and gave a sad smile
For each wrinkle and line told the struggle of
time
Then he gazed once again and his eyes filled
with tears
For the man in that picture was his friend
Padraic Pearse
On the Fourth of July 1806 we
set sail from the sweet cove of Cork
We were sailing away with a cargo of bricks for
the grand City Hall in New York
'twas a wonderful craft, she was rigged for and
aft and oh, how the wild wind drove her
She stood several blasts, she had twenty-seven
masts and they called her the Irish Rover
We had one million bags of the best Sligo rags,
we had two million barrels of stone
We had three million sides of old blind horses
hides, we had four million barrels of bones
We had five million hogs, and six million dogs,
seven million barrels of porter
We had eight million bails of old nanny-goats'
tails in the hold of the Irish Rover
There was awl Mickey Coote who played hard on
his flute when the ladies lined up for a set
He was tootlin' with skill for each sparkling
quadrille, though the dancers were fluther'd and
bet
With his smart witty talk, he was cock of the
walk and he rolled the dames under and over
They all knew at a glance when he took up his
stance that he sailed in the Irish Rover
There was Barney McGee from the banks of the
Lee, there was Hogan from County Tyrone
There was Johnny McGurk who was scared stiff of
work and a man from Westmeath called Malone
There was Slugger O'Toole who was drunk as a
rule and Fighting Bill Treacy from Dover
And your man, Mike McCann from the banks of the
Bann was the skipper on the Irish Rover
We had sailed seven years when the measles broke
out and the ship lost it's way in the fog
And that whale of a crew was reduced down to
two, just meself and the Captain's old dog
Then the ship struck a rock, Oh Lord! what a
shock, the bulkhead was turned right over
Turned nine times around and the poor old dog
was drowned and the last of the Irish Rover
I went to see David, to
London to David,
I went to see David, and what did he do?
He gave me a Free State, a nice little Free
State
A Free State that's bound up with Red, White
and Blue.
I brought it to Dublin to show to Dail Eirann
I brought it to Dublin, and what did they do?
They asked me what kind of a thing was a Free
State,
A Free State that's tied up with Red, White
and Blue.
"Three quarters of Ireland a
nation," I told them,
"Tied on to the Empire with Red, White
and Blue;
And an oath they must swear to King George and
Queen Mary
An oath they must swear to the son-in-law new.
I'm teaching them Irish and painting their
boxes
All over with green, sure, what more can I do?
Yet they tell me they want just an Irish
Republic
Without any trimmings of Red, White and Blue!
'Twas a morning in July,
I was walking to Tipperary
When I heard a battle cry
From the mountains over head
As I looked up in the sky
I saw an Irish soldier laddie
He looked at me right fearlessly and said:
Will ye stand in the band like a true Irish man,
And go and fight the forces of the crown?
Will ye march with O'Neill to an Irish battle
field?
For tonight we go to free old Wexford town!
Said I to that soldier boy
"Won't you take me to your captain
T'would be my pride and joy
For to march with you today.
My young brother fell in Cork
And my son at Innes Carthay!"
Unto the noble captain I did say:
Will ye stand in the band like a true Irish man,
And go and fight the forces of the crown?
Will ye march with O'Neill to an Irish battle
field?
For tonight we go to free old Wexford town!
As we marched back from the field
In the shadow of the evening
With our banners flying low
To the memory of our dead
We returned unto our homes
But without my soldier laddie
Yet I never will forget those words he said:
Will ye stand in the band like a true Irish man,
And go and fight the forces of the crown?
Will ye march with O'Neill to an Irish battle
field?
For tonight we go to free old Wexford town
Once upon a time there was
Irish ways and Irish laws,
Villages of I rish blood
Waking to the morning,
Waking to the morning.
Then the Vikings came around,
Turned us up and turned us down,
Started building boats and towns,
And tried to change our living,
They tried to change our living.
Cromwell and his soldiers came,
Started centuries of shame,
But they could not make us turn,
We are a river flowing,
We are a river flowing.
Again, again the soldiers came,
Burnt our houses, stole our grain.
Shot the farmers in the fields
Working for a living,
Working for a living.
800 years we have been down,
The secret of the water sound
Has kept the spirit of a man
Above the pain descending,
Above the pain descending.
Today the struggle carries on,
I wonder will I live so long
To see the gates been opened up
To people and their freedom,
To people and their freedom.
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