Irish Songs and Lyrics

Sean Treacy (Tipperary So Far Away)

Sean Treacy was killed during a shoot-out with British soldiers during the Irish war of independence(1919-1921). Treacy was one of the leaders of the South Tipperary brigade of the Irish Republican Army and was one of the main leaders of the War, along with Dan Breen and Sean Hogan.

Treacy was shot dead in Talbot Street, Dublin on the 20th October 1920, after being recognised by a police detective.

The [G] sun had set with it`s [D] golden rays
And the [C] bitter [D] fight was [G] over
Our [D] brave boys sleep [C] beneath the [D] clay,
On [G] this earth they [C] are no [D] more
The moon shone over the [C] battle[D]field
Where a [G] dying [C] rebel [D] lay
His [G] arms were crossed and his [D] body stretched,
His [C] life blood [D] flowed [G] away

There were none to weep for you Sean Treacy
Or were keen in to sing in your praise
To decide your deeds like the Gaels of yore
On your face we no longer gaze
In that kingdom of love may your dear soul rest
On the word that we fervently pray
That we`ll all meet above the old friends we love
In Tipperary so far away

The soldiers of Erin bore him high
On their shoulders, they solemnly tread
And many a heart with a tearful sigh
Wept over our patriot dead
In silence they lowered him into the grave
To rest till his reckoning day
Sean Treacy who died, his home to save
In Tipperary so far away

Tags: sean treacy, sean tracey, sean tracy, tipperary so far away, irish rebel songs, ira songs, dan breen, sean hogan, irish war of independence

Popularity: 59% [?]

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The Time Has Come

This Irish rebel song, written by Christy Moore, poignantly reflects on the approaching death of the Irish hungerstrikers in 1981.

The ten hungerstrikers’ families were faced with the unenviable task of letting their loved ones die for their beliefs, even though they had the power to remive them from the fast once they lapsed into a coma.

The [Am] time has [D7] come to [G] part, my [C] love,
[D] I must go [G] away.
I [Am] leave you [D7] now, my [G] darling [C] girl,
No [D] longer can I [G] stay.
My [Em] heart like [Bm] yours is [Em] breaking,
To[G]gether [D7] we’ll prove [C] strong.
The [B7] road I take will [Em] show the [D] world
The [C] suffering [Bm] that [Am] goes on.[C]

The gentle clasp that holds my hand
Must loosen and let go.
Please help me through the door
Though instinct tells you no.
Our vow it is eternal
And will bring you dreadful pain.
But if our demands aren’t recognised
Don’t call me back again.

How their sorrow touched us all
In those final days,
When it was time she held the door
And touched his sallow face.
The flame he lit by leaving
Is still burning strong
By the lights it’s plain to see
The suffering still goes on.

The time has come to part, my love
I must go away.
I leave you now, my darling girl,
No longer can I stay.

Tags: the time has come, irish hunger strike songs, irish rebel songs, christy moore songs, irish song lyrics, irish guitar chords

Popularity: 39% [?]

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Tom Williams

Tom Williams - an IRA man - was hanged in 1942 for his part in the death of an RUC man. The RUC officer - Patrick Murphy - was shot dead during a shoot-out with Williams and five other IRA volunteers.

Although the other five - including Joe Cahill, a close ally of Sinn Feins Gerry Adams, at the time of the Irish peace talks in 1994 - had their death sentences commuted, Williams who admitted full repsonsibility for the death of the policeman, was hanged in Crumlin Road prison, Belfast on 2nd September, 1942.

This is a irish rebel song commemorating his death.

[G] Time goes by and years roll [D] onward
[C] still in [D] memory fresh I’ll [G] keep
of a night in Belfast [D] prison
Una[C]shamedly I [D] saw men [G] weep

As the time was fast approaching
a man lay sentenced for to die
and on the second of September
he goes to meet his God on high

Now he’s marching towards scaffold
head erect he shows no fear
and while standing on that scaffold
Ireland cross he holds so dear

Now the cruel blow has fallen
for Ireland he has given all
He who in the flower of manhood
proudly answered to her call

Brave Tom Williams we salute you
and we never shall forget
those who planned your brutal murder
we vow we’ll make them all regret

[G] So I say to Irish [D] soldiers
[C] If on [D] Toms path you shall [G] stray
Just keep memory of that [Em] morn
When Ireland’s [C] cross was proudly [D] borne
By a man who lies within a prison [C] grave…[G]

Tags: ira men, tom williams, irish rebel songs, joe cahill, gerry adams,

Popularity: 49% [?]

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The Green Fields of France (Willie McBride)

This poignant song - written by John Bogle - commemorates a young Irish soldier killed on the battlefields of France during Word War 1. The most popular rendition of the song is performed by The Fureys. Many a drunken Irish man has been heard singing this classic - usually not in tune.

Well [G] how do you [Em] do, young [C] Willie [Am] McBride,
Do you [D7] mind if I [D] sit here down [C] by your grave[G] side.
And rest for a [Em] while ‘neath the [C] warm summer [Am] sun.
I’ve been [D7] working all [D] day and [C] I’m nearly [G] done.
I see by your gravestone you were [D] only nineteen
When you joined the great [Am] Fallon in [G] nineteen-[D]sixteen.
I [G] hope you died well and I [D] hope you died clean.
Or Willie McBride, was it [C] slow and [G] obscene.

[chorus]

Did they [D] beat the drum slowly, did they [C] play the fife [G] lowly,
did they [D] sound the dead-march as they [C] lowered you [D] down.
And did the [C] band play the Last post and [G] chorus [Em]
Did the [C] pipes play the [Am] ‘Flowers of the [D] fo[G]rest’.

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined
Although you died back in nineteen sixteen
In that faithful heart are you forever nineteen
Or are you a stranger without even a name
Enclosed and forever behind the glass frame
In a old photograph, torn and battered and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame.

The sun now it shines on the green fields of France
There’s a warm summer breeze. it makes the red poppies dance
And look how the sun shines from under the clouds
There’s no gas, no barbed wire, there’s no guns firing now
But here in this graveyard it’s still no-man’s-land
The countless white crosses stand mute in the sand
To man’s blind indifference to his fellow man
To a whole generation that were butchered and damned.

Now young Willie McBride I can’t help but wonder why
Do all those who lie here know why they died
And did they believe when they answered the cause
Did they really believe that this war would end wars
Well the sorrows, the suffering, the glory. the pain
The killing and dying was all done in vain
For young Willie McBride it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again.

Tags: green fields of france, willie mcbride, irish folk songs, irish songs, world war 1 songs, the fureys, eric bogle

Popularity: 89% [?]

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Upton Ambush

This ballad commemorates three members of the IRA who died in an attack on a troop train at Upton Junction, County Cork, on February 15th 1921. The men were John Whelan, Patrick O’Sullivan and Batt Foley.

Many [G] homes are filled with sorrow and with [C] sadness,
Many [D] hearts are filled with [D7] anguish and with [G] pain,
For old Ireland now she hangs her head in [C] mourning,
For the [D] men who fell at [D7] Upton for Sinn [G] Fein.

Let the moon shine tonight along the valley,
Where those lads who fought for freedom now are laid.
May they rest in peace those men who died for Ireland,
And who fell at Upton Ambush for Sinn Fein.

Some were thinking of their mothers, wives and sweethearts,
More were thinking of their dear old Irish homes
Did they think of how they drilled along the valley,
Or when they marched out from Cork city to their doom.

The morning cry rang out: “Fix your bayonets”,
And right gallantly they fixed them for the fray,
Gallantly they fought and died for Ireland,
Around the lonely woods at Upton far away.

Tags: irish rebel songs, irish songs, irish rebel lyrics, lonely woods of upton, upton ambush, irish rebel songs guitar chords

Popularity: 57% [?]

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