My Favorite Irish Song

A Shamrock
Erin Go Bragh
This is one of the saddest and yet most beautiful songs I have ever heard. On St. Patrick's Day, when all of us become Irish, it is important that we remember the suffering that the Irish people endured because of the Potato Famine in 1845.

This song is about a young father named Danny whose family was starving. In desperation he stole some corn from the fields to feed his family. This corn was to go to England. It was not for consumption by the peasants of Ireland. The punishment for stealing the King's corn was deportation on a prison ship. Few ever returned from this prison hell. If you are interested in the geography, Athenry is in Galway.

I first heard this song at Ramblers Rest Resort in Florida where it was sung by an Irish tenor by the name of Cahal Dunne. It has become my favorite Irish melody.

Fields of Athenry

 By a lonely prison wall
I heard a sweet voice calling,
"Danny, they have taken you away.
For you stole Travelian's corn,
That your babes might see the morn,
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay."

Chorus
Fair lie the fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small freebirds fly.
Our love grew with the spring,
We had dreams and songs to sing
As we wandered through the fields of Athenry.

By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young man calling
"Nothing matters, Jenny, when you're free
Against the famine and the crown,
I rebelled, they ran me down,
Now you must raise our children without me."

Chorus

On the windswept harbour wall,
She watched the last star rising
As the prison ship sailed out across the sky
But she'll watch and hope and pray,
For her love in Botany Bay
Whilst she is lonely in the fields of Athenry.
Whilst she is lonely in the fields of Athenry.

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