| Broad Black Brimmer |
| The Bard of Armagh |
In What's Known as Father's room
A Uniform so simple in its style
It has no braid of gold nor silk
Nor hat with feathered plume
Yet me mother has preserved it all the while
One Day she made me try it on, a wish of mine for years
'Just in memory of your father dear' she said
And when I put the Sam Browne on she was smiling through her tears
As she placed the Broad Black Brimmer on me head
Chorus:
It's just a Broad Black Brimmer
Ribbons frayed and torn
By the careless whisk of many a mountain breeze
An old trench coat that is battle stained and worn
And breeches almost threadbare at the knees
A Sam Browne belt with the buckle big and strong
And a Holster that's been empty many's a day (BUT NOT FOR LONG)
And when men claim Ireland's freedom,
The one's they'll chose to lead 'em
Will wear the Broad Black Brimmer of the IRA
This uniform was worn by me father long ago
When he reached me mother's homestead on the run
It was the Uniform he wor in the little church below
When oul Father Mac, he blessed the pair as one
And after truce and treaty and the parting of the ways
He wore it when he marched out with the rest
And when they bore his body down those ragged heather braes
They placed the broad black brimmer on his breast
(Chorus)
And scorn not the strings in his old withered hand
But remember these fingers could once move much sharper
To waken the echoes of his dear native land
How I long for to muse on the days of my boyhood
Though Four Score and three years have fled by since then
Still it gives sweet reflections, as every young joy should
That merry-hearted boys make the best of old me.
At wake or at fair I would twirl my shillelagh
And trip through the jigs with my brogues bound with straw
and all the pretty maidensfrom the villiage, the valley
Loved the bold Phelim Brady, the bard of Armagh
And when sergents Death's cold arms shall embrace me
Oh lull me to sleep with sweet Erin Go bragh
By the side of Kathleen, my own love, then place me
And forget Phelim Brady, the bard of Armagh
| All Around My Heart |
Andthe loving English feet they tramped all over us
And each and every night when me da would come home tight
He'd invite the neighbours outside with this chorus
CHORUS:
Come out ye Black and Tans
Come out and Fight me like a man
Show your wife how you won medals down in Flanders
Tell her how the IRA made you run like hell away
From the Green and lovely lanes in Killashandra
Come let me here you tell
How you slammed the great Parnell
When you fought them well and truly persecuted
Where are the smears and jeers
That you bravely let us hear
When our heros of 'sixteen were executed
CHORUS
Come tell us how you slew
Those brave Arabs 2 by 2
Like Zulus they had spears and bows and arrows
How you bravely slew each one
With your sixteen pounder gun
And you frightened them poor natives to their marrow
CHORUS
The day is coming fast
And the time is here at last
When each yeoman will be cast aside brfore us
And if there be a need
Sure my kids will sing "Godspeed"
With a verse or two of Stephen Beehan's chorus
I had a true love, a brave bold lad was he
One fine Easter Morning, with his gallent comrades
He started away for to set Ireland free.
Chorus:
All round my heart, I'll wear the tri-coloured ribbon
All round my heart I'll wear the green white and gold;
And if anyone should ask me the reason I'm wearing it
It's for my true love bold
I never more shall see
He whispered "goodbye love, Old Ireland is calling
High over Dublin the tricolour flies;
In the streests of the city, the foemen is falling
and wee birds are singing "Old Ireland arise!"
His badolier round him, his bright eyes a-shining
His short service rifle a beauty to see,
There was joy in his eyes, though he left me behind him
And started away for to set Ireland free
My true love is a soldier, he's fighting for Old Ireland
His short service rifle is a wonder to see;
And as the moon was declining, he left me repining
His bright bayonet shining, to keep old Ireand free.
Chorus
In Prayer and in waiting, the dark days passed over
the roar of the guns brought no message to me
I prayed for old Ireland, I prayed for my true love
That he might be safe and old Ireland be free
the struggle is ended, they brought me the story
The last whispered message he sent unto me,
I was true to the land, love, I fought for her glory
And gave up my life for to keep Ireland free.
| James Connolly |
With their heads all uncovered they knelt on the ground
For inside that grim prison lay a brave Irish soldier
His life for his country about to lay down.
He went to his death like a true son of Ireland
The firing party he bravely did face
Then the order rang out: "Present Arms, Fire"
James Connolly fell into a ready-made grave
The black flag they hoisted, the cruel deed was over
Gone was the man who loved Ireland so well
There was many a sad heart in Dublin that morning
when the murdered James Connolly The Irish Rebel
God's curse on you England, you cruel hearted monster
Your deeds they would shame all the devils in hell.
There are no flowers blooming but the shamrock is growing
On the grave of James Connolly the Irish Rebel
Many years have rolled by since that Irish Rebellion
When the guns of Britannia they loudly did speak
The bold IRA they stood shoulder to shoulder
And the blood from their bodies flowed down Sackville Street
The Fofur Courts of Dublin the English Bombarded
The spirit of Freedom they tried hard to quell.
For above all the din rose the cry "NO SURRENDER"
Twas the voice of James Connolly the Irish Rebel.