If I might just get another wee one in here? Oh Father dear I often hear you speak of Erin's Isle Her lofty scenes and valleys green, her music fierce and wild They say it is a lovely land for musicianers to dwell But why did you abandon it? The reason to me tell Oh son I loved my native home with energy and pride I played a session Sundays with John Hoy and Tom McBride I'd play the Stack of Barley and I'd sing the Braes of Screen But there's a cruel reason why I left oul' Skibbereen It's well I do remember that fateful winter's day When an amadán on his bodhrán proceeded for to play He hadn't got a feature that ever would redeem And that's the cruel reason why I left oul' Skibbereen Your mother too God rest her soul was handy on the box She'd play oul' Kitt'y's Rambles and The Flower of the Flock But the way thon buck-o put her off, It nearly made me scream And that's the cruel reason why I left oul' Skibbereen And insult adds to injury, he produced a shaky egg To have him shove it up his hole I was nearly forced to beg Says I the hen that laid thon egg, it never should have been And that's the cruel reason why I left oul' Skibbereen Then bongos and djembes and a bloody big Lambeg! Says I, you're taking liberties, you're pulling my oul' leg Bones and spoons and cowbells then – it seemed like a bad dream And that's the cruel reason why I left oul' Skibbereen I couldn't take it any more and from that day to this I gave each session a wide berth, each sing-song I would miss My fiddle hangs above the fire – no jigs, no slides, no reels And that's the cruel reason why I left oul' Skibbereen Ah father dear the time will come when on vengeance we will call And musicmen from North and South will rally unto the call We'll shove their drums and beaters where the daylight's never been And loud and high we'll raise the cry Revenge For Skibbereen
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