Songs about Molly Maguires

Subject: RE: Molly Maguires: Songs about?
From: GUEST,TJ Destry
Date: 25 Jul 08 - 07:01 AM

"The wind blows cold at night,
The brave are melancholy."

Lady Mondegreen strikes again!

The line is "When the wind blows wild at night, by the breaker melancholy."

The breaker is the place where the coal was sorted out as it came up from the mine. Typically, this was where the child labor came in, which is why, in the song "When the Breakers Go Back on Full Time," (referenced above) they sing of "and the very first chance, I'll put Seamus in pants ... " that is, we'll get the lad a job. "Instead of a burden, they'll be a gain." That song, of course, is sarcastic humor, because nobody is going to live all that well even with the children back at work. (Nothing in the song about working themselves, of course -- part of the joke!)

The brave are never melancholy, are they? I mean ... would they be brave if they were? ;-)

Subject: RE: Molly Maguires: Songs about?
From: GUEST,g. mc
Date: 26 Jul 09 - 11:41 AM

Ive been trying to get the lyrics to the song The Knox Mine Disaster the one sung by The Irish Balladeers so far Ive only found Tom Flannery song The Knocx Mine Disaster 1959 which I guess is the original song but the one by the Balladeers is different. Could anyone help Thank You

Subject: RE: Molly Maguires: Songs about?
From: GUEST,Stotty
Date: 21 Dec 09 - 07:00 PM

Who really gives a bugger what this great song is all about. surely you lot can read and understand the lyrics. My only major concern is that the song is incredibly short and does need a couple of extra verses!

Subject: RE: Molly Maguires: The Ghost of Molly Mcguire
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Apr 10 - 01:54 PM

This is the same as an earlier post but with some corrections

THE GHOST OF MOLLY MAGUIRE

The wind blows cold at night,
The brave are melancholy.
If you stand in the dark
with your ear to the wind
You'll hear the sound of Molly.
Deep in the dark of that old mine shaft
you smell the smoke and the fire
and the murmur low
in the mine below
is the ghost of Molly Maguire.

Let me tell you me boys
Michael Doyle is my name
I come from Carlow county
I shot the boss of the Wexford mine
My soul is up for bounty.
And I will die with my head held high
I fought for the men below.
The men who work and fight and die
Down in that black hellhole.

Well, I'll tell you my boys Michael Donnegan's my name
I'm hanging high in the morning.
But I shot Jack Jones for stealin my bones.
I kept the sound from Molly
And I will die with my head held high
I fought for the men below.
The men who work and fight and die
Down in that black hellhole.

Well I tell you me boys Alex Campbell is my name
No pistol did I fire
And I will fall from the gallows wall
for being a Molly Maguire
Yes I'll die with my head held high
I fought for the men below.
The men who work and fight and die
Down in that black hellhole.

The wind blows cold at night,
The brave are melancholy.
If you stand in the dark
with your ear to the wind
You'll hear the sound of Molly.
Deep in the dark of that old mine shaft
you smell the smoke and fire
and the murmur low
in the mine below
It's the ghost of Molly Maguire
It's the ghost of Molly Maguire.

Subject: RE: Molly Maguires: Songs about?
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 15 Oct 10 - 04:11 AM

The lyrics you've posted to the "Ghost (sic.) of Molly Maguire" are at some variance with the original "Sons of Molly" written by Chuck Rogers (with a bit of input by Bobby Rogers) of "Irish Balladeers" fame. It has become an international favorite. I've heard it on O'Connell Street in Dublin. It's been cited several times in this thread, usually incorrectly, so,

One More Time: "SONS OF MOLLY"

When the winds blow wild at night,
Past the breaker melancholy,
If you stand in the dark,
With your ear to the wind,
You can hear the sons of Molly.
Deep in the dark of the old mine shaft,
You can smell the smoke and the fire,
And the whispers low, In the mine below,
Is the ghost of Molly Maguire.

Now I'll tell you boys, Mickey Doyle is my name,
And I come from Carbon County.
And I shot the boss of the Lansford mine,
And my soul is up for bounty,
But I will die, with my head held high
For I fought for the men below,
The men who work and sweat and die,
Down in that black hell hole.

Now I'll tell ya boys Edward Kelly is my name,
And I'm hanging in the morning.
For I shot Jack Jones for skinning my bones,
And I curse the sound of mourning,
But I will die ...

Well, I'll tell you boys Alec Campbell is my name,
And no pistol did I fire.
But I will fall from the gallows wall,
Just for being a Molly Maguire
But I will die...

When the winds blow wild at night...

Hope this helps.

Subject: RE: Songs about Molly Maguires
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Feb 17 - 08:18 PM

Another real-deal Molly Maguire ballad from Ireland:

Ye sons of Grainne, arise from you slumber
That long has been trampled by that daring foe,
And if you chance to be one of the number
Be sure to no traitor your secrets let know.

I'm a Molly Maguire, a foe of oppression,
If you join my cause I'll soon set you free.
If you were in Cloone* town and see our procession,
Our sons they are numbered 5,003.

Stein** was sent down by association,
He thought by his speeches he would put us down.
But O'Connell he published a sign through "The Nation,"***
To each appeal warning through county and town.

I gazed upon Molly. Her tears flowed in torrents.
I asked her the reason why she should deplore:
"Oh son! Dearest son! The cause of my wailing
They've three of my children lying in Ballinamore.

Long life to bold Percy^ he tried to release them
He offered £5,000 to set them free.
But McClowd^^ would not take it - he sent them to Carrick.
Where he thought they'd hang on the gallow's tree.

Now make no delay but assemble together,
You Knights of St. Patrick, your joys to complete.
Just pick the best marksmen that you can bring hither
And place them on sentry at Garadice gate.

Captain Fear-not agreed, and so he did speed.
He loaded his pistol with powder and ball.
With a heart stout and true, this old tyrant he slew,
And death on McCloud that moment did fall.

These bigots so long that have trampled our land
Are now melting like snow from the sun.
And I'd candidly say, without hesitation,
That each Orange ringleader from Molly does run.

By English laws ours arms are branded.
But we have good pikes made out of pure steel,
And each Orange viper that dares to oppose us
We'll teach them to dance a step of McCloud's reel.

Here a health to old Grainne, another to Molly,
Wherever she walks 'neath her banner of green.
May she thrive and prosper, both now, and hereafter,
The rights of old Ireland we'll claim them unseen.

Subject: RE: Songs about Molly Maguires
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Feb 17 - 10:51 AM

The above is another Molly murder ballad from Ireland, similar to "Pat Dolan" (posted here in August 2002) and "A New Song on Molly Maguire" (posted in April 2008), in that it celebrates a killing. The songs were highly effective propaganda for the movement in a largely oral rural culture. A few notes:
* Cloone: A village in County Leitrim associated with the failed uprising of 1798 (the rebel army spent its last night there before being decimated by the British army at Ballinamuck the next day.) The Mollies wanted to seen as the rebels of '98, risen up to fight again, so they frequently invoked Cloone.
** Stein: Clearly a garbled reference to Thomas Steele, who was dispatched by Daniel O'Connell and the Catholic Association in December 1844, at the very dawn of the Molly Maguires, to suppress the movement, which was seen as an embarrassment to O'Connell's campaign to repeal the union between Britain and Ireland.
*** The Nation: A nationalist newspaper in Dublin associated with O'Connell at the time.
^ Percy: William Percy: A popular local landlord who lived at Garadice Lodge.
^^ Captain John MacLeod: A special magistrate from Fermanagh who had been dispatched to Ballinamore, Leitrim, to suppress agrarian disturbances. He was shot dead at the gatehouse to Garadice Lodge after visiting Percy. The assassination, the first by the Molly Maguires, took place near the site in ancient Ireland most closely associated with human sacrifice.

For more on the links between the Mollies and Irish folk culture, see:
"The Sons of Molly Maguire: The Irish Roots of America's First Labor War"
Fordham University Press, 2015

Subject: RE: Songs about Molly Maguires
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Mar 17 - 11:20 PM

Gossoons are young boys. Refer to lyrics of Galway Bay.

Subject: RE: Songs about Molly Maguires
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 29 Jun 17 - 07:12 PM

Does anyone have the words to Tommy Duffy and The Knox Mine Disaster by the Irish Balladeers

Subject: RE: Songs about Molly Maguires
From: GUEST
Date: 22 May 18 - 11:24 AM

Does anyone know the lyrics to the song Tommy Duffy by the Irish Balladeers