Lyrics

THE NIGHT VISITING SONG

I must away now; I can no longer tarry,

This morning’s tempest I have to cross,

I must be guided without a stumble

Into the arms, I love the best

And when he came to his true love’s dwellings,

He knelt down gently upon a stone

And through her window, he whispered lowly

Is my true lover within at home?

Wake up, wake up love, it’s thy own true lover

Wake up, wake up love and let me in

For I am tired love, and oh so weary

And more the near drenched to the skin

She raised her head from her soft down pillow

She raised up and she let him in

And they were locked in each other’s arms

Until that long night was passed and gone

And when that long night was passed and over

And when the small clouds began to grow,

He took her hand and they kissed and parted

Then he saddled and mounted and away did go.

I must away now; I can no longer tarry,

This morning’s tempest I have to cross,

I must be guided without a stumble

Into the arms, I love the best

DONAL OG

O Donal Og, if you cross the ocean,

Take me with you when you are going.

At fair or market, you’ll be well looked after

And you shall sleep with a great King’s daughter.

You said you’d meet me but you were lying,

Beside the shieling when day was dying.

I whistled and called you, twelve times repeating.

But all that I heard were the young lambs bleating.

My mother ordered me to shun you,

Today, tomorrow and on Sunday

Too late and in vain o’er spilt milk grieving,

Closing the door on a bygone feeling.

If you come at all, come when the stars are peeping,

Rap at the door that makes no squeaking.

My mother will ask you to name your people,

And I’ll say you’re the sigh of the night wind’s weeping.

The last time I saw you, was a Sunday evening.

Beside the altar as I was kneeling.

T’ was of Christ’s passion that I was reading

But my mind was on you and my own heart’s bleeding.

For you took what’s before me and what’s behind me,

Took east and west and all around me

The sun, moon and stars from me you’ve taken,

And God himself if I’m not mistaken

WHERE ARE YOU TONIGHT I WONDER

And where will you be tonight when I cry?

Will sleep for you come easy while I alone can’t slumber?

Will you wake in the morning at another one’s side?

How easy for you the years have slipped under

And left me with a shadow the sun can’t dispel

I built for you a tower of love and admiration

But I built it so high I could not reach myself

The view from my window is a view filled with strangers

And the face in my mirror is the one face I know

You have taken all that’s in me so my heart is in no danger

My heart is in no danger but I’d still like to know

Repeat 1st verse

There is a silence that cannot be broken

There is a pure heart with her I will go

And time will work its healing and the spirit will grow stronger

The spirit will grow stronger but I’d still like to know

Repeat 1st verse.

EDWARD ON LOUGH ERNE SHORE

The Sun was setting behind the mountain

The dew was falling upon the leaves

And I was seated beside a fountain

And a feathered songster sang on a tree

With love and blessings his notes were sounding

Made me reminded of days of ‘oer

Where in a bower I plucked a flower

And dreamt of Edward on Lough Erne’s Shore

The cuckoo’s notes in the air resounding

Appeal to feeling and pleases the ear

And every note is a bliss abounding

Here in the valley if he were here

Each step I take by the winding river

Where we once rambled in days of oer

Reminds me of my banished Edward

And makes me lonely on Lough Erne’s Shore

A crop of sorrow my heart is reaping

My rose has faded and my hope decayed

And in the night time when all are sleeping

Awake I lie weeping till the break of day

For woe has wed me, delight has fled me

Why did you leave me, my love a stor

But luck compelled it and banished Edward

And now I am lonely on Lough Erne’s Shore

Oh could I move like the moon oer the ocean

I would send a sigh ‘oer the distant deep

Or could I move like a bird in motion

By Edward’s side I would ever keep

I would gently sooth him, with songs amuse him

I would gently sooth him and he would sigh no more

And seven years would soon pass over

And we’d both live happy on Lough Erne’s Shore.

GOING TO MASS LAST SUNDAY

Going to Mass last Sunday my love she passed me by

I knew her mind was changing by the roving of her eye

I knew her mind was changing to a lad of higher degree

Oh Molly, lovely Molly, your looks have wounded me.

Oh woe unto you Molly, you have proved to be unkind

For you plucked the bonny briar and left the rose behind

But the briar it will soon wither and the day it will come soon

When the lovely blushing red rose will flourish and will bloom.

Now courting is a pleasure between my love and I

And it’s down in yonder valley I will meet her by and by

It’s down in yonder valley; she is my heart’s delight,

And it’s with you lovely Molly I could spend till the broad daylight

Now, never trust a wee girl, with a dark and roving eye,

Just court her and embrace her never tell her the reason why,

Just court her and embrace her, till you cause her heart to yield,

For a faint-hearted soldier never won a battle field.

Farewell to Ballymoney and County Antrim too,

Likewise to lovely Molly, I bid you a fond adieu,

America lies far away, across the ocean blue,

I am bound for there, dear Molly, so again I bid adieu.

KILNAMATRYA EXILE

I am a lonely exile

That left my own dear nation,

For to seek a situation

In a land across the foam.

I sailed across the ocean wide,

Through hardship and through danger,

And for years I live a stranger

From my own dear native home.

Where once I lived contentedly,

The friends I knew I surrounded me,

Care or grief ne’er bothered me

Or made my heart feel sore.

But now my days are closing

And I’m parted from country

And Kilnamartrya’s homely face

My eyes shall see no more.

I travelled to Colombia’s shore

All toil and danger scorning

To the furthest northern border

And westward to the deep,

To the broad extended cotton fields,

And plains of Alabama

The mines of old Montana

And the Rockies wild and steep.

I hunted for prosperity

But still it has eluded me,

Black misfortune followed me

No matter where I roamed

And after in my anguish,

I cursed the faith that parted me

From the comrades of my childhood

And my own dear Irish home.

Sweet childhood recollections

Will ever sweetly bind me

To the friends I left behind me

Far ‘oer the raging foam.

And then dear Kilnamartyra

Where one time I resided

Tis sad I am divided

By the ocean wide from thee.

Age is overtaking me,

My youth has fast forsaken me,

The friends that once delighted me

Perhaps I’ll see no more,

And now my days are closing

And death has come and taken me

I fondly will remember me

Dear land I do adore.

A FOND KISS

A fond kiss and then we sever!

A Farewell, alas forever!

Deep in heart wrung tears I’ll pledge thee,

Warring sighs and groans I ‘ll wage thee.

Who shall say that fortune grieves him

While the star of hope she leaves him?

For me no cheerful twinkle lights me,

Dark Despair around benights me.

I’ll not blame my partial fancy,

Nothing could resist my Nancy,

For to see her was to love her,

Love but her and love forever.

Had we never loved so kindly,

Had we never loved so blindly,

Never met or never parted

We have ne’er been broken hearted.

Fare thee well, thou first and fairest

Fare thee well, thou best and dearest

Thine be every joy and treasure,

Peace enjoyment love and pleasure.

Repeat First Verse

LONE SHANAKYLE

Far, far from the isle of the holy and grand

Where wild oxen fatten and brave men are banned

All lonely and lone in a far distant land

Do I wander and pine for poor Erin

Lonely and sad I roam, far from my island home

Where the wild waves surging foam, headlands appearing

Clouded in silver spray, flashing through heaven’s bright ray

For thy glory and pride, lovely Erin.

Oh sweet Inis Cathaigh the sacred the blessed,

A fit place for a saint or a warrior’s rest

Your sentinel towers left each storm repressed

Your morning waves wail for my Erin.

How oft times I’ve wandered by Shannon’s bright floods

And paused as I gazed where the mighty wood stood

Oh God that the bear should be the best of the brood

Who now blights your beauty lovely Erin

Lonely and sad I roam, far from my island home

Where the wild waves surging foam, headlands appearing

Clouded in silver spray, flashing through heaven’s bright ray

For thy glory and pride, lovely Erin.

How oft times I longed to wander once more

To the friends that I left at my old cabin door

My blessings I give them a thousand times o’er

And a prayer and tear for my Erin

BONNY BLUE – EYED LASSIE

How can I live at the top of a mountain?

With no money in my pocket and no gold for the counting

But I would let the money go all for to please her fancy

And I would marry no one else but my bonny blue-eyed lassie

She is my bonny blue-eyed lassie with an air so fair and tender

Her walk like the swan that floats and her waist so neat and slender

Her golden hair in ringlets fair fall on her snow-white shoulder

And I’ll ask her if she will marry me for there is no one could be bolder

Some people say she is very low in station

While other people say she is the cause of my ruination

But let them all say what they will, to her I will prove constant still

Till the day that I die, she’ll be my own lovely lady

Lightly swims the swan ‘oer the waters of Youghal

And sweetly sings the nightingale so happy to behold her

The winds do blow, the moorcocks crow, the moon it shines so deeply

But deeper by far is my love for my own lady

Some people say she is very low in station

While other people say she is the cause of my ruination

But let them all say what they will, to her I will prove constant still

Till the day that I die, she’ll be my own lovely lady

THE LAMBS ON THE GREEN HILLS

The lambs on the green hills they sport and they play,

And many strawberries grow round the salt sea.

Oh sad is my heart when my love is away,

And many’s the ship sails the ocean.

The bride and bride’s party to the church they did go,

The bride she rode foremost, she bears the best show

And I followed after with a heart full of woe,

To see my love wed to another

The first place I saw her was at the church stand,

Gold rings on her finger and her love by the hand

Says I, ‘my wee lassie, I’ll be your man

Although you are wed to another’

The next place I saw her was on the way home,

I ran on before her, not knowing where to roam.

Says ‘I my wee lassie, I’ll be by your side

Although you are wed to another’

‘Stop, stop’ says the groomsman till I speak a word

‘Will you venture your life at the edge of my sword

For courting too slowly you’ve lost this fair maid,

So be gone, for you will never enjoy her’.

Oh dig me my grave, make it long, wide and deep

And sprinkle it over with flowers so sweet,

And I’ll lay me down to take my last sleep,

For that’s the best way to forget her

A STOR MO CHROI

A stor mo chroi when you’re far far away from the home that you will soon be leaving.

Oh it’s many a time by night and by day that your heart will be sorely grieving

For the stranger’s land may be bright and fair and rich in its treasures golden.

You will pine I know for the long long ago and for the love that is never olden.

A Stor Mo Chroi in the stranger’s land there is plenty of wealth and wearing

Whilst the gems adorned the great and the grand, there are faces with hunger a paling

For the road is weary and hard to thread and the light of their cities will blind you

Won’t you turn A Stor to Erin’s shore and the love that you left behind you.

A Stor mo Chroi when the evening mist o’er the mountain and meadow is falling

Won’t you turn away from the throng and list and maybe you‘ll hear me calling

For the sound of a voice that is surely missed for somebody’s speeding returning

A run, mo run won’t you turn back soon to the one that will always love you.