Black and Tans
I was born on a Dublin Street where them loyalist drums do beat And the steel-clad English boots they marched all over us And every single night when me da would come home tight He'd invite the neighbors out with this chorus
Chorus: Come out you Black and Tans come on and fight me like a man Show your wife how you won your medals down in Flanders Show her how the IRA made you run like hell away In the green and lovely lanes of Kilishandra
Come and tell us how you slew them brave Arabs two-by-two Like Zulus they had spears and bows and arrows How bravely you slew one with a sixteen-pounder gun And you frightened them poor natives to the marrow
Chorus
Come and tell us loud and well how you slandered great Parnell When you had him well and truly persecuted And how you loudly cheered and you let us hear you jeer As our heros of 16 were executed
Chorus
For the day is coming fast and it will soon be here at last When the North and South will again belong to Erin And once John Bull is gone we will all join in this song For the trumpets of freedom will be blaring
Chorus twice
Red is the Rose
Come over the hill my bonnie Irish Lass, over the hill to your laddie You choose the road love and I'll make the vow, and I'll be your true love forever.
Chorus: And red is the rose that in yonder garden grows, fair is the lily of the valley And clear is the water that flows from the Boyne, but my love is fairer than any.
'Twas down by Killarney's green wood that we strayed, and the moon and the stars they were shinin' The moon shone its rays on her locks of golden hair, and she swore she'd be my love forever.
Chorus
'Twas not for the partin' with my sister Kate, 'twas not for the grief of me mother 'Twas all for the loss of my bonnie Irish lass, that my heart is breakin' forever.
Chorus
Loch Lomond
By yon bonnie banks and yon bonnie braes, where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond Where I and me true love forever want to gae, out on the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
Chorus: Oh you take the high road and I'll take the low road, and I'll be in Scotland before ye Oh it's there that me true love forever want to gae, out on the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
For it was there that we parted in yon shady glen, by the steep, steep sides of Ben Lomond Where in the purple hues all the Hieland hills we view, and the moon comin' out in the gloamin'.
Chorus
Oh the wee birdies sing and the wild flowers spring, and in sunshine the water's a sleepin' But the broken-hearted ken no second springs and then, all you waeful shall cease fra' their grievin'.
Chorus
Dances With Her Dreams (words and music by Pat Roe)
The music flows down from the stage to the crowd, and each person makes it their own With the sounds of the voices, the flutes and the drums, and the uillean pipes' melancholic drone An old woman is lost in the flow of the dream, she looks crazy or so it would seem But watch for a while you might soon understand, that she's dancin' with her dreams.
A handsome young lad from some time long ago, she spins with him here round and round And the sounds of the fiddle it lifts then away, with a beautiful rapturous sound. Ah she once was a beauty with hair like a raven, her kiss was as warm as sunbeams Now her lad's long departed an old woman broken-hearted, left only to dance with her dreams.
And the music takes her back, back to sometime, but now only then and again And the fleadh is the place with the melodies that spark, and determine the where and the when. And the old woman sighs and brings tears to her eyes, that flow down her face here in streams But accepting the notion she continues in motion, only to dance with her dreams.
(instrumental)
The music flows down from the stage to the crowd, and each of us makes it our own With the sounds of the voices, the flutes and the drums, or the uillean pipes' melancholic drone. And we all can get lost in the flow of the tunes, and it's crazy or so it might seem If you listen for a while you might soon find yourself dancin' with your dreams.
Star of the County Down
There in Banbridge Town in the County Down, one morning last July Down a boreen green came a sweet Colleen, she smiled as I passed her by. She looked so sweet with her two white feet, and the sheen of her nut brown hair Such a coaxin' elf I had to shake me self, to see if I was truly there.
Chorus: From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay, and from Galway to Dublin Town No maid I've seen like the sweet Colleen I met in the County Down.
As she onward sped I had to shake me head, I said with a feelin' rare And I said said I to the passerby, Who's the maid with the nut brown hair? He looked at me and he said said he, That's the gem of old Ireland's crown Young Rosy McGann from the banks of the Ban, she's the Star of the County Down.
Chorus
At the Harvest Fair she'll be surely there, so I'll dress in my Sunday clothes With my shoes shone bright and my hat cocked to the right, for the smile from my nut brown rose. No pipe I'll smoke or horse I'll yoke, till me plow with the rust turns brown Till a smilin' bride by my own hearthside sits the Star of the County Down.
Chorus twice
Jolly Beggar
I am a jolly beggarman a beggin' I have been, for 3 score years in this little land of green And I'm known from the Liffey way down to Segue, and I'm known from the name of old Johnny Dew. Now of all the jobs a goin' sure now beggin' is the best, for when a man is tired he can sit down to rest And he begs for his supper when there's nothin' left to do, 'cept to slip around the corner with his old rigadoo.
Chorus: Now a deedly di den doodle ....
I slept in the barn way down by Kirin Bawn, and the wet might come on so I slept until the dawn Holes in the roof with the rain pourin' through, and the rats and the cats well they were playin' peek-a-boo. And a who should awaken but the woman of the house, with her nice spotted apron and her calico blouse She began to worry when I said boo!, now don't be afraid because its only Johnny Dew
Chorus
I met a little flaxen-haired girl one day hello little flaxen-haired girl I did say Hello Jolly Beggar now how do ya do with yer rags and yer tags and yer old rigadoo Well I'll buy a set of leggins and a collar and a tie, and a nice young couple I would fetch by-and-by Be married in the spring and we'll have a fine to-do, and a nice young couple I would make out a' you
Now over the fields with me pack on me back, over the hills with me gray nappy sack Holes in me shoes with me toes peeking through, singin' skeeminy-deedle-deedle dee now I'm old Johnny Dew And I must be goin' to bed now for it's gettin' late at night, the fire's all raked so out goes the light And now you've heard the story of me old rigadoo, so Goodbye and God-be-with-ya said old Johnny Dew
Iron Brigade (words and music by Michael Doran, c 2000)
1861 I remember it well, Alex Randall rang loudly on his bell. Now boys you must assemble and answer the call, for if not we're surely bound for hell.
From Madison, Milwaukee, Racine and LaCrosse, they came from the factories and the fields To stand tall together as the 2nd Volunteers, to fight hard and never to yield.
Chorus: We are the Iron Brigade, the Iron Brigade and we'll fight for the Red, White, and Blue We are the Iron Brigade, the Iron Brigade, we'll stand fast till the battle is through.
Those Sauk and Juneau boys soon they did enlist, and formed up the mighty fighting 6th To Camp Randall they came each and every man, with Malloy in charge leading their van.
Those Indiana boys the 19th Volunteers, were formed up in long coats of blue To fill out our brigade from the nation's great northwest, all fighting men proud and true.
Chorus
(instrumental)
John Gibbons said now boys these forage caps won't do, these black hardy hats will get us seen And he taught us how with courage and pluck to be the best fighting men there's ever been.
And at Brawner farm and old Manassas too, we showed Johnny Reb just what we knew We stood just like iron at South Mountain too, and them Georgia boys didn't know what they should do.
Chorus
At Gettysburg Town one day in July, John Reynolds led us in to the fray We poured hot lead on them boys from Tennessee, them rebs had to turn tail, and flee.
There's few of us now this cruel war is done, many mothers have mourned for their sons. But our Iron Brigade will soon heed the call, if ever there's a battle to be won.
Chorus twice
Old Maid in the Garret
I was told by me aunt and I was told by me mother that goin' to a wedding would soon bring on another. Well if that be so then I'd go without no biddin' and divine providence won't you take me to a wedding.
And it's oh dear me how would it be if I died an old maid in the garret?
Well now there's me sister Kate and she's not handsome nor good lookin' and scarcely sixteen and a fella' she was courtin'. Now she's twenty four with a son and a daughter here am I am forty five and I aint' never had no offer.
And it's oh dear me how would it be if I died an old maid in the garret?
Well I can cook and I can sew, I can keep a house quite tidy I'd rise up every mornin' just to get the breakfast ready. There's nothin' in this wide world would make me half so cheery as a wee fat man that would call me his own deary.
And it's oh dear me how would it be if I died an old maid in the garret?
Well I'm on my way home and there's nobody leavin' with me there's no one leavin' so my old heart is grievin'. I'm on my way home to me own lonesome garret If I cannot have a man I'll surely buy a parrot.
And it's oh dear me how would it be if I died an old maid in the garret? And it's oh dear me how would it be if I died an old maid in the garret?
The News From Moidart
The news from Moidart come yersteen we'll soon gar mony fairly For ships o' war have just come in and landed Royal Charlie.
Chorus: Come through the heather, all around and gather, you're all a' welcomed early Around him cling with all your kin and who'll be King but Charlie?
The highland clans with their swords in their hands fra' Jon O'Grots ta Early And to a man declared they'll stand, or they'll die for the Royal Charlie.
Chorus
The lowlands are both great and small, with many's the lord and lady Declared for Scotia's king and law, and whatcha' think but Charlie?
Chorus
There's ne'er a lass in all the land that rose 'tween late and early To man she'll nor give heart nor hand or would not fight for Charlie.
Chorus
(instrumental)
Then here's to health to Charlie's cause, be it completed early For his very name our heart's blood warms, and who'll be King but Charlie?
Chorus: Come through the heather, all around and gather, come Ronald, come Donald, come all ye together And declare him rightful, lawful king and who'll be King but Charlie?
Roddy McCorley
Oh see those fleet-footed hosts of men, that come with their faces wan From farmstead in from the fisher's cot along the banks of Ban They come with a vengeance in their eyes, too late too late are they As young Roddy McCorley goes to die on the bridge of Toom today
And see him steppin' down the street, a smilin', proud, and young About that hemp rope at his neck, his golden ringlets clung There was nary a tear in his blue eyes, oh bright and cruel were they As young Roddy McCorley goes to die on the bridge of Toom today
And when he last marched down the street, his shinin', pike in hand About him marched in bold array a stalwart earnest band For Antrim town, for Antrim town he led them to the fray As young Roddy McCorley goes to die on the bridge of Toom today
(instrumental)
And there was never a braver of all your dead more proudly fell in fray Than he that marches to his fate on the bridge of Toom today True to the last true to the last he treads the upward way As young Roddy McCorley goes to die on the bridge of Toom today As young Roddy McCorley goes to die on the bridge of Toom today
A Nation Once Again
When boyhood's fires were in my blood I read of ancient free men In Greece and in Rome where bravely stood 300 men and three men. And then I prayed that I yet might see our fetters rent in twain And Ireland long a province be a nation once again.
Chorus: Oh a nation once again, a nation once again And Ireland long a province be a nation once again.
And from that time of wildest woe that hope had shown a far light Nor could love's brightest summer glow outshine with solemn star lights But it seem to brae around my head in foreign fields and fein With an angel's voice that sings round my bed, a nation once again.
Chorus
And it whispered to that freedom's ark and service high and holy And it would be profaned by feelings dark or passions vain or lowly For freedom will come from God's right hand so it needs a godly train And it's righteous men that will make our land a nation once again.
Chorus
So as I grew from a boy to man it turned me to this bidding My spirit of it's selfish plan or cruel passions ridding For thus I hope someday to aid oh could such a hope be in vain And my dear country shall be made a nation once again.
Chorus twice
