Irish drinking songs,Irish music and song lyrics

Irish drinking songs is actually a vague term, for all kinds of Irish songs could be termed drinking songs.

It is not unusual to go from sad to joyful and eveything in between. Irish music lyrics like a lot of others are often about love, home,emigration, the English, great heroes etc. That provides a very broad lisence to sing just about anything and that is exactly what happens.

In essence Irish drinking songs are songs performed when people get together and drink, there is no strict definition of what qualifies.

Irish drinking songs - THE FIELDS OF ATHENRY

By lonely prison wallI heard a young girl calling,Michael, 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.

Chorus

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 wallI heard a young man calling,Nothing matters Mary when you're free,Against the Famine and the Crowm,I rebelled they ran me down,Now you must raise our child with dignity.

Repeat Chorus

By a lonely harbour wallShe watched the last star fallingAnd that prison ship sailed out against the skySure she'll wait in hope and prayFor her love in Botany Bay,It's so lonely round the fields of Athenry.

Repeat Chorus.

Irish drinking songs - DIRTY OLD TOWN

This is a very well known Irish drinking song although in fact it is not Irish at all. It was composed by Ewan McColl about Salford in Manchester and was adopted by the Irish fraternity.

DIRTY OLD TOWN.

I met my love, by the gas works wall.Dreamed a dream by the old canal.kissed my girl by the factory wall,Dirty old town, dirty old town.

I heard a siren from the dockSaw a train set the night on fire.Smelled the spring in the smoky windDirty old town, dirty old town.

Clouds are drifting across the moonCats are prowling on their beat.Spring's a girl in the street at night,Dirty old town, dirty old town.

I'm going to make a good sharp axe,Shining steel, tempered in the fire.We'll chop you down like an old oak tree,Dirty old town, dirty old town.

Irish drinking songs - SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR

SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR.

My young love said to me,"My mother won't mind,And my father won't slight youFor your lack of kine."And she stepped away from meAnd this she did say,"It will not be long, love,Till our wedding day."

She stepped away from meAnd she moved through the fair,And fondly I watched herMove here and move there;And then she went homewardWith one star awake,As the swan in the eveningMoves over the lake.

The people were sayingThat no two were e'er wed,But one had a sorrowThat never was said,And she smiled as she passed,With her goods and her gear,And that was the lastThat I saw of my dear.

Last night she came to me,My dead love came in,So softly she cameThat her feet made no din;And she laid her hand on meAnd this she did say,"It will not be long, love,Till our wedding day."

A NATION ONCE AGAIN

When boyhood's fire was in my blood
I read of ancient freemen
Of Greece and Rome, who bravely stood
Three hundred men and three men
And then I prayed I yet might see
Our fetters rent in twain
And Ireland long a povince, be
A nation once again.

Chorus

A nation once again
A nation once again
And Ireland long a province, be
A nation once again

So from the time through wildest woe
That hope has shone a far light
Nor could love brightest summer glow
Outshine that solemn starlight
It seemed to watch above my head
In forum, field and fane
It's angle voice rang round my bed
A nation once again
Repeat Chorus

So as I grew from boy to man
I bent me to that bidding-
The spirit of each selfish plan
And cruel passions ridding
For thus, I hoped some day to aid -
Oh, can such hope be vain?
When my dear country shall be made
A nation once again.

Repeat Chorus

Irish drinking songs - Irish Rover

THE IRISH ROVER.

On the fourth of July, eighteen hundred and six,
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 an elegant craft, she was rigged fore and aft,
And how the wild wind drove her,
She could stand a great blast in her 27 masts,
And we called her the Irish Rover.

We had one million bags of the best Sligo rags,
We had two million barrells of stones.
We had three million sides of old blind horses' hides,
We had four million barrells of bone.
We had five million hogs, six million dogs,
Seven million barrells of porter,
We had eight million bales of old nanny goat tails,
In the hold of the Irish Rover.

There was Barney McGee from the banks of the Lee,
There was Hogan from County Tyrone,
There was Johnny McGuirk who was scared stiff of work,
And a chap from Westmeath called Malone.
There was Slugger O'Toole who was drunk as a rule,
And fighting Bill Tracey from Dover,
There was Dolan from Clare just as strong as a bear,
All aboard on the Irish Rover.

We had sailed seven years when the measles broke out,
And our ship lost its way in the fog.
Then the whole of the crew was reduced down to two,
Just myself and the captain's old dog.
The ship Struck a rock, Lord what a shock,
The boat, it was flipped right over.
Turned nine times around, and the poor old dog was drowned,
I'm the last of the Irish Rover

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