The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #16992   Message #4102196
Posted By: GUEST,James Phillips
14-Apr-21 - 10:59 AM
Thread Name: Loss of all hands in the irish sea
Subject: RE: Loss of all hands in the irish sea
Couple of great sea tragedies as sung by Andy Stewart of Silly Wizard:

DUBLIN BAY

They sailed away in that gallant bark
Roy Neal and his fair young bride
They had ventured all on that bounding shipp
That danced on the silv'ry tide
And his heart was young and his spirit light
As he kissed her tears away
And they watched the shore retreat from sight
Of their own sweet Dublin bay

Three days they sailed when the storm arose
And the lightning swept the deep
And the thunderclaps broke the short repose
Of the weary sailors' sleep
Roy Neal, he clasped his weeping bride
And he kissed her tears away
"Oh, love, 'twas a fearful hour, " he cried
"When we left sweet Dublin Bay."

On the crowded deck of that doomed ship
Some fell into deep despair
And some more calm with a holier heart
Sought the god of the storm in prayer
"She has struck a rock, " the sailors cried
In a breath of wild dismay
And the ship went down with the fair young bride
That left from Dublin bay


THE FISHERMAN'S SONG

By the storm torn shoreline
A woman is standing,
The spray strung like jewels in her hair.
And the sea tore the rocks
Near that desolate landing,
As though it had known she stood there.

CHORUS: For she has come down
To condemn that wild ocean
For the murderous loss of her man.
His boat sailed out on Wednesday morning,
And it's feared she's gone down
With all hands.

Oh and white were the wave caps
And wild was their parting.
So fierce is the warring of love.
But she prayed to the gods,
Both of men and of sailors,
Not to cast their cruel nets
O'er her love.

There's a school on the hill
Where the sons of dead fathers
Are led toward tempests and gales.
Where their God-given wings
Are clipped close to their bodies,
And their eyes are bound round
With ship's sails.

What force leads a man
To a life filled with danger
High on seas or a mile underground?
It's when need is his master
And poverty's no stranger,
And there's no other work to be found.