Lyrics Christy Moore - A Letter To Syracuse

Lyrics Christy Moore - A Letter To Syracuse

I wrote me a letter to Syracuse, it was a letter full of
Lies
I told them that we were doing fine, very much to their
Surprise
For how were they to know that here the ground was soaked
In red
Or that we could fill the valley with our dead.
I started out and told them that by Christmas we'd begin
To pack our bags and head on home to bring the new year
In
While all around me boys who help me sow last season's
Crop
By charging at the cannons till they drop

I told my mother not to write cause we're always moving

On
I told my brother not to join cause he'd only fight me
Gun
But if we keep on much further retreating all the way
Oh we'd all be going home just any day.

I wrote me a letter to Syracuse, it was a letter full of
Lies
I told them that we were doing fine, very much to their
Surprise
For how were they to know that here the ground was soaked
In red
Or that we could fill the valley with our dead.

Lyrics Christy Moore - Aisling

Lyrics Christy Moore - Aisling

See the bright new moon is rising,
Above the land of black and green
Hear the rebels voices calling,
I will not die 'till you bury me
The aunt upstairs in the bed she is calling,
Why has he forsaken me
Faded pictures in the hallway,
Which one of them brown ghosts is he
Bless the wind that shakes the barley,
Curse the spade and curse the plough
I've counted years and weeks and days,
And I wish to God I was with you now
Fare thee well me black-haired diamond,
Fare thee well me own Aisling
At night fond dreams of you still haunt me,
Far across the grey north sea
And the wind it blows from the North and South,
To the East And to the West
I will be like the wind my love,
For I will know no rest 'till I return to thee
1, 2, 3 telegraph poles,
Standing on the cold black road
The night is fading into morning,
Give us a drop of your sweet poitin
The rain was lashing - the sun was rising,
The wind was howling through the trees
The madness from the mountains crawling,
When I saw you first my own Aisling
Bless the wind that shakes the barley,
Curse the spade and curse the plough
I've counted years and weeks and days,
And I wish to God I was with you now
Fare thee well my black haired diamond,
Fare thee well my own Aisling
At night fond dreams of you still haunt me,
Far across the grey north sea

Lyrics Christy Moore - Giuseppe

Lyrics Christy Moore - Giuseppe

Every time I go to London
I think about Giuseppe Conlon
Who left his home in Belfast
And travelled over to his son
As he said goodbye to Sarah
And took the boat to Heysham
Little did Giuseppe know
He'd never see that place again.

Giuseppe was an ailing man
And every breath he drew
Into his tired lungs
He used to maintain his innocence
Behind those walls
Behind those bars
For everyday remaining in his life
Maintaining his innocence
Giuseppe Conlon, Giuseppe.

Lyrics Christy Moore - The Night Visit

Lyrics Christy Moore - The Night Visit

Who are you, me pretty fair maid
Who are you, me honey?
Who are you, me pretty fair maid
Who are you, me honey?
She answered me modestly,
"Well I am me mammy's darling."

Chorus

With your too-ry-ah
Fol-de-diddle-dah
Me Day-re fol-de-diddle
Dai-rie oh.

And will you come to me mammy's house
When the moon is shining clearly.
And will you come to me mammy's house
When the moon is shining clearly.
I'll open the door and I'll let you in
And divil the one will hear us.

Chorus

So I went to her house in the middle of the night
When the moon was shining clarely.
So I went to her house in the middle of the night
When the moon was shining clarely.
Shc opened the door and she let me in
And divil the one did hear us.

Chorus

She took me horse by the bridle and the bit
And she led him to the stable
She took me horse by the bridle and the bit
And she led him to the stable
Saying "There's plenty of oats for a soldier's horse,
To eat it if he's able. "

Chorus

She took me by the lily-white hand
And she led me to the table
She took me by the lily-white hand
And she led me to the table
Saying "There's plenty of wine for a soldier boy,
Drink it if you're able. "

Chorus

She got up and she made the bed
And she made it nice and aisy
She got up and she made the bed
And she made it nice and aisy
Then she took me by the hand
Saying "Blow out the candle!"

Chorus

There we lay till the break of the day
And divil the one did hear us
There we lay till the break of the day
And divil the one did hear us
She arose and put on her clothes
Saying "Darling, you must leave me."

Chorus

When will I return again
When will we get married
When will I return again
When will we get married
When broken shells make Christmas bells
We might well get married.

Lyrics Christy Moore - Veronica

Lyrics Christy Moore - Veronica

In the broad daylight of a Summer's day,
On the Cork to Dublin motorway.
Suddenly the singing birds,
Were startled in their song.
In the quiet of that moment,
Our world went out of kilter.
In that split second,
Veronica was gone.

But you will never silence her,
Your story will be written,
Her spirit won't rest easy,
Until her job is done.
With fists and boots you broke her bones,
You gunned her down at home,
But as soon as she was able,
She faced you once again.

You who made the phone call,
And you who took the message down,
You who hired the hit men,
And you who hatched the plan,
You who drew the money down,
And you who paid it over,
You who remain silent,
You are guilty, every one.

Chorus

Veronica, Veronica, Veronica, warrior woman,
Veronica, Veronica, Veronica, I offer you this song.

Lyrics Christy Moore - Avondale

Lyrics Christy Moore - Avondale

Oh have you been to Avondale and lingered in her lovely
Vale
Where tall trees whisper low the tale of avondale's proud
Eagle
Where pride and ancient glory fade
Such was the land where he was laid
Like Christ was thirty pieces paid
For Avondale's proud eagle

Oh have you been to Avondale and lingered in her lovely

Vale
Where tall trees whisper low the tale of avondale's proud
Eagle
Long years that green and lovely glade
Have lost for now our grandest Gael
And Cursed the land that has betrayed
Our Avondale's proud eagle

Lyrics Christy Moore - Anne Lovett

Lyrics Christy Moore - Anne Lovett

Everybody knew, nobody said.
A week ago last Tuesday.
She was just fifteen years.
When she reached her full term.
She went to a grotto.
Just a field,
In The Middle of The Island.
To deliver herself.

Her Baby died,
She died
A week ago last Tuesday.
It was a sad slow stupid death for them both.
Everybody knew, nobody said.
At a Grotto
In a Field
In The Middle Of The Island

Lyrics Christy Moore - Among The Wicklow Hills

Lyrics Christy Moore - Among The Wicklow Hills

The autumn evenings filled with copper shades
I see the birds' neck in the frame
A figure walks into the sunset
Someone goes past suspended from the sky

Takes more imagination
When everything's remote control
For me it's just a case of
What's on the far side of the road

Tell everybody
I'm going away for ten years
I'm going to wander
Among the Wicklow hills

The travelling children in their Sunday clothes
Lost on the corner of the Street
Fat gypsy lady smacks the windowpane
A farm dog gets out on the motorway

Takes more imagination
When everything's remote control
For me it's just a case of
What's on the far side of the road

Tell everybody
I'm going away for ten years
I'm going to wander
Among the Wicklow hills

Lyrics Christy Moore - A Pair Of Brown Eyes

Lyrics Christy Moore - A Pair Of Brown Eyes

One summer evening drunk as hell
I sat there nearly lifeless.
An old man in the corner sang,
Where the water lilies grow.
On the jukebox Johnny sang,
About a thing called love.
And it's "how are you kid? What's your name?
And what do you know?"

In blood and death 'neath a screaming sky
I lay down on the ground.
The arms and legs of other men
Were scattered all around.
Some prayed and cursed, then cursed and prayed
And then they prayed some more.
And the only thing that I could see,
Was a pair of brown eyes they were looking at me.
When we got back, labeled parts one to three,
There was no fairer brown eyes waiting for me.

And a rovin' a rovin' a rovin' I'll go,
A rovin' a rovin' a rovin' I'll go,
And a rovin' a rovin' a rovin' I'll go,
For a pair of brown eyes,
For a pair of brown eyes.

I looked at him he looked at me,
All I could do was hate him.
While Ray and Philomena sang,
Of my elusive dream.
I saw the streams and the rolling hills,
Where his brown eyes were waiting.
And I thought about a pair of brown eyes,
That waited once for me,
That waited once for me.

So drunk as hell I left the place,
Sometimes walking, sometimes crawling.
A hungry sound came through the breeze,
So I gave the walls a talking.
And I heard the sounds of long ago,
From the old canal.
And the birds were whistling in the trees,
Where the wind was gently laughing.

And a rovin' a rovin' a rovin' I'll go,
A rovin' a rovin' a rovin' I'll go,
And a rovin' a rovin' a rovin' I'll go,
For a pair of brown eyes,
For a pair of brown eyes.

Lyrics Christy Moore - Burning Times

Lyrics Christy Moore - Burning Times

In the cool of the evening, they used to gather.
Neath the stars in the meadow circling an old oak tree.
At the times appointed... By the seasons...
Of the earth and the phases of the moon.
In the center stood a woman,
Equal with the others and respected for her worth.
One of the many we call the witches,
The healers and the teachers of the wisdom of the earth.
And the people grew through the knowledge she gave them,
Herbs to heal their bodies, spells to make their spirits whole.
Can't ya hear them chanting healing incantations,
Calling forth the wise ones, celebrating in dance and song...
(... Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali... Inanna...)
There were those who came to power through domination.
And they bonded in the worship of a dead man on a cross.
They sought control of the common people
By demanding allegiance to the church of Rome.
And the Pope declared an inquisition
It was war against the women, whose powers they feared.
In this holocaust against The Nature People
Nine million European women died.
And the tale is told of those who by the hundreds,
Holding together, chose their death in the sea.
While chanting the praises of the Mother Goddess,
A refusal of betrayal, women were dying to be free.
(... Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali... Inanna...)
Now the earth is a witch and the men still burn her,
Stripping her down with mining and the poisons of their wars.
Still to us the earth is a healer, a teacher, a mother.
A weaver of a web of light that keeps us all alive.
She gives us the vision to see through the chaos.
She gives us the courage, it is our will to survive.

Lyrics Christy Moore - Cold Blow

Lyrics Christy Moore - Cold Blow

My cap is frozen to my head
My heart is like a lump of lead
My shoes are frozen to my feet
With standing at your window

Let me in the soldier cried
Cold blow the rainy night
Oh let me in the soldier cried
I'll not go back again - O

My father's walking on the street
My mother the chamber keys do keep
The doors and windows, they do creak
I dare not let you in - O

Let me in the soldier cried
Cold blow and the rainy night
O let me in the soldier cried
For I'll not go back again - O

Oh then she rose and let him in
And kissed his ruby lips and chin
And then they went to bed again
And soon he gained her favor

Then she blessed the rainy night
She rose and let him in - O
Now since you had your will of me
Soldier will you marry me?

No such thing can ever be
So fare you well for ever
Then she cursed the rainy night
Cold blow and the rainy night

O then she cursed the rainy night
That ever she let him in - O
Then he jumped out of the bed
He put his cap upon his head
And she had lost her maidenhead
And her mother heard the din - O

Then she cursed the rainy night
Cold blow and the rainy night
O then she cursed the rainy night
That ever she let him in - O

Lyrics Christy Moore - Back Home In Derry

Lyrics Christy Moore - Back Home In Derry

In 1803 we sailed out to sea
Out from the sweet town of Derry
For Australia bound if we didn't all drown
And the marks of our fetters we carried
In our rusty iron chains we cried for our weans
Our good women we left in sorrow
As the mainsails unfurled, our curses we hurled
On the English, and thoughts of tomorrow

At the mouth of the Foyle, bid farewell to the soil
As down below decks we were lying
O'Doherty screamed, woken out of a dream
By a vision of bold Robert dying
The sun burned cruel as we dished out the gruel
Dan O'Connor was down with a fever
Sixty rebels today bound for Botany Bay
How many will meet their reciever

Chorus
Oh... I wish I was back home in Derry
Oh... I wish I was back home in Derry

I cursed them to hell as her bow fought the swell
Our ship danced like a moth in the firelight
White horses rode high as the devil passed by
Taking souls to Hades by twilight
Five weeks out to sea, we were now forty-three
We buried our comrades each morning
In our own slime we were lost in a time
Of endless night without dawning

Chorus

Van Diemen's land is a hell for a man
To end out his whole life in slavery
Where the climate is raw and the gun makes the law
Neither wind nor rain care for bravery
Twenty years have gone by, I've ended my bond
My comrades ghosts walk behind me
A rebel I came - I'm still the same
On the cold winters night you will find me

Chorus

Lyrics Christy Moore - All I Remember

Lyrics Christy Moore - All I Remember

I was lured by the rocking horse
Sweets and the bualadh bos
Fifty wild boys to a room
Sing lamh, lamh eile, the dish ran away with the spoon
Black shoes and stockings for those who say don't
Blue is the colour outside
God made the world
The snake tempted Eve and she died
Wild Christian brothers sharpening their leathers
Learn it by heart, that's the rule
All I remember is dreading September and school
CHORUS
And they made me for better or worse
The fool that I am or the wise man I'll be
And they gave me their blessings or curse
It wasn't their fault I was me ...
Not the one that you see
The priest in confession condemns my obsession
With thoughts that I do not invite
I mumble and stutter
He slams down the shutter
Goodnight - (Good night to you too, Father)
Stainless as steel
Lord, you know how I feel
Someone shoot me while my soul is clear
I don't think I'll last
But my vow to abstain was sincere
Arch-confraternity men to the fight
Raise up your banners on high
Searching for grace
Securing my place
When I die
CHORUS
Oh God, he kept a very close eye on me
Hung round my bed in the darkness, he spied on me
Caught me in the long grass so often, he died on me....
Ballrooms of romance in Salthill or Mallow
I stood like John Wayne by the wall
Lined up like cattle, we waited to do battle and fall
You can't wine and dine her in an old Morris Minor
So ask her before it's too late
I danced on girls' toes - accepted rejection as my fate
Drink was my saviour, it made me much braver
But I couldn't hold it too well
I slipped on the coach and ruined my approach as I fell

Lyrics Christy Moore - The Lark In The Morning

Lyrics Christy Moore - The Lark In The Morning

The lark in the morning she rises off her nest
She goes off in the air with the dew all on her breast
And like the jolly ploughboy she whistles and she sings
She goes off in the air with the dew all on her wings

Oh Roger the ploughboy he is a dashing blade
He goes whistling and singing over yonder leafy shade
He met with dark haired Susan, she's handsome I declare
And she is far more enticing than the birds up in the
Air

The lark in the morning...

One evening when they're coming from the rakes of the
Town
The meadows bein' all mown and the grass had been cut
Down
As she should chance to stumble all on the new mown hay
Oh it's kiss me now or never, then this bonnie lass did
Say

The lark in the morning...

When twenty long weeks, they were over and were past
Her mammy asked the reason why she thickened round the
Waist
It was the jolly ploughboy, this bonnie lass did say
He caused me for to tumble all on the new mown hay

The lark in the morning...

Here's a health to you ploughboys wherever you may be
That like to have a bonnie lass a-sitting on each knee
With a pint of good strong porter, you'll whistle and
You'll sing
And the ploughboy is as happy as a bird upon the wing

The lark in the morning...

Lyrics Christy Moore - Bright Blue Rose

Lyrics Christy Moore - Bright Blue Rose

I skimmed across black water, without once submerging
Onto the banks of an urban morning
That hungers the first light, much much more
Than mountains ever do

And she like a ghost beside me goes down with the ease
of a dolphin
And emerges unlearned, unshamed, unharmed
For she is the perfect creature, natural in every
feature
And I am the geek with the alchemists stone

For all of you who must discover, for all who seek to
understand
For having left the path of others, you find a very
special hand

And it is a holy thing, and it is a precious time
And it is the only way

Forget-me-nots among the snow, it's always been and so
it goes
To ponder his death and his life eternally

For all of you who must discover
for all who seek to understand
For having left the path of others, you find a very
special hand

And it is a holy thing, and it is a precious time
And it is the only way
Forget-me-nots among the snow, it's always been and so
it goes
To ponder his death and his life eternally

One bright blue rose outlives all those
Two thousand years and still it goes
To ponder his death and his life eternally

Lyrics Christy Moore - The People's Own M.p.

Lyrics Christy Moore - The People's Own M.p.

How many more must die now how many must we lose
Before the island people their own destiny can choose
From immortal Robert Emmet to Bobby Sands mp
Who was given thirty thousand votes while in captivity

No more he'll hear the lark's sweet notes upon the Ulster
Air
Or gaze upon the snowflake to calm his deep despair
Before he went on hunger strike young Bobby did compose
The Rhythm of Time, The Weeping Wind and The Sleeping
Rose

He was a poet and a soldier he died courageously

And we gave him thirty thousand votes he was the peoples
Own mp

Thomas Ashe gave everything in 1917
The Lord Mayor of Cork Mcswiney died freedom to obtain
Never a one of all our dead died more courageously
Than Bobby Sands from Twinbrook the people's own mp

Forever we'll remember him that man who died in pain
That his country north and south be united once again
To mourn him is to organise and build a movement strong
With ballot box and armalite with music and with song