YOUR NEW SAINT
by Lorcan Otway

I found this song on Mudcat over a year ago and have sent a couple of PMs asking if Lorcan Otway ( INobu) would like to post it here himself but I have not had a reply yet and so I am harvesting the relevant parts of the several other Mudcat threads in which the song appears.

YOUR NEW SAINT
Words Lorcan Otway, Tune traditional The Bantry Girl's Lament   (Oh who will plow the fields now, and who will reap the corn, since Johnny lovely Johnny now plows the fields of Spain, )


Oh tell me Father Michael, What's that I heard you say
That the church for all its past neglect, named a Gypsy saint today.
Tell me all the details, I'd really like to know
For its been more than a little time, since to our church I'd go.

Tell me what his deeds were, and how he came to die.
Was he murdered by the Gadje, while in exile forced to fly
Or hanged by James of Scotland, when Faa was sent away
Or killed by a Polish peasant mob on some lonely cold byway

Did he die with the resistance, in that cold Vichy midnight
While bringing food and weapons to carry on the fight
Or aiding Jews and exiles to escape the Nazi scourge
Or killed by a Nazi death squad bent on their racist purge

Did he die in Auschwitz death camp, when Ziguenier Nacht took place
On that day that tens of thousand Rom, were murdered for their race
Or in in the Czech Republic, thrown from a bridge to die,
Oh tell me Father Michael, was that the reason why?

I can't believe what you're telling me, about the way he died
Defending a Fascist priest, defending Franco's side.
If that's the side that God was on, forgive me if I say
It will be a cold day in Hell before with you I'll pray.

The song is available on Lorcan "Larry" Otway's CD with Sorcha Dorcha, the name of which is Nil Sasta Ach Amadain (Only Idiots are Satisfied)
$15 US, available by Emailing InOBU@aol.com

These are the Mucat threads which refer to the song.
MUDCAT THREAD: Lyr Req: Romany songs
MUDCAT THREAD: New Otway Songbook, out in a few days...
MUDCAT THREAD: Mudcatter's CD's Part 2
Many recordings of “The Bantry Girl's Lament “ on YouTube     https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=The+Bantry+Girls%27+Lament