Hello Wolfgang,
I just transcribed this song for you. No, I transcribed it now, because you requested it. I would have done so anyway.
As usual, pieces I am not sure about are marked in red.
HTH,
MudGuard (aka Andreas)


Michael

as performed by Johnny McEvoy on his Celebration album.

[spoken = blue]
The (collew ???) stood silent and unseen
In the long damp grass
And he looked down on the road below him
That wound its way through a (bay and a block???)
And he heard the young men shouting and cursing
Running backwards and forwards
Dodging and weaving and ducking the bullets
That rained down on them
From the hillside opposite.

Just as quickly as it started the firing stopped
And a terrible silence hung over the valley
A lone figure lay on the roadside
In the drizzling August rain
Dressed in green cape coat, leggings,
And brown hobnail boots
That would never again
Set the sparks flying from the kitchen flagstones
As he danced his way through a half-set

A hurried whisper (dacked???) of contrition
And the firing breaks out again
The (collew???) takes to flight
And as he flies out over the empty sad fields of West Cork
With his lonesome call
He must tell the world
That the big fellow has fallen
And that Michael is gone

On a far off August day
Cold young men in ambush lay
On a roadside, by a hill where flowers grow
So much hate for one so young
Who was right and who was wrong
Though a thousand years may pass we'll never know

Chorus:
Candles dripping blood
They placed beside your shoulders
Rosary beans like teardrops on your fingers
Friends and comrades standing by
In their grief they wonder why
Michael, in their hour of need
You had to go

And when evening twilight came
Gently fell the Autumn rain
Oh but you lay still and silent on the ground
As we hung our heads in prayer
In our sorrow and despair
We wonder was it friend or foe who shot you down

Now the flame that you held high
When you called out to the sky
To end the senseless killing and this shame
Has now passed to other hands
And is carried through the lands
By some not fit to even speak your name

Michael, in their hour of need
Why did you go?