Pub Crawl

Where were we? Oh, yeah... Darkey Kelly's and The Ha'Penny Bridge Inn in Dublin, The Danny Mann in Killarney, O'Connor's Traditional Pub in Killarney and An Pucan in Galway.

Next stop, Richardson's Pub in Galway. The first song, Come Out Ye Black and Tans, is sung in every bar, pub and trad session across Ireland:

words by Dominic Behan, music traditional

I was born on a Dublin street where the Royal drums do beat
And the loving English feet they tramped all over us,
And each and every night when me father'd come home tight
He'd invite the neighbors outside with this chorus:

Oh, come out you black and tans,
Come out and fight me like a man
Show your wives how you won medals down in Flanders
Tell them how the IRA made you run like hell away,
From the green and lovely lanes in Killashandra.

Come let me hear you tell
How you slammed the great Pernell,
When you fought them well and truly persecuted,
Where are the smears and jeers
That you bravely let us hear
When our heroes of sixteen were executed.

Come tell us how you slew
Those brave Arabs two by two
Like the 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.

The day is coming fast
And the time is here at last,
When each yeoman will be cast aside before us,
And if there be a need
Sure my kids will sing, "Godspeed!"
With a verse or two of Steven Beehan's chorus.

The second song, Red is the Rose, is a gorgeous love song:

Chorus
Red is the rose that in yonder garden grows
Fair is the lily of the valley
Clear is the water that flows from the Boyne
But my love is fairer than any.
Come over the hills, my bonnie Irish lass
Come over the hills to your darling
You choose the rose, love, and I'll make the vow
And I'll be your true love forever.

'Twas down by Killarney's green woods that we strayed
When the moon and the stars they were shining
The moon shone its rays on her locks of golden hair
And she swore she'd be my love forever.

Chorus

It's not for the parting that my sister pains
It's not for the grief of my mother
'Tis all for the loss of my bonny Irish lass
That my heart is breaking forever.

Chorus

_____

Trying to cut through the accents to hear enough of a snippet of each of these to locate the lyrics, I felt a bit like Whoopi Goldberg in this movie in scene where she tries to figure out the lyrics to "Jumpin' Jack Flash":



Yes, it's a stupid movie. Yes, it ALWAYS makes me laugh.