Éamonn an Chnoic is a beautiful song and has long been one of my favourites The song is said to concern Éamonn Ó Riain (Edmund Ryan), an Irish aristocrat who lived in County Tipperary from 1670–1724 and led a bandit or rapparee gang. The original song is in Irish and there are some pretty awful ' translations / interpretations I prefer the version which highlight the failure of Ó Riain's countrymen to come to rally to his defense and more strongly emphasize that Ó Riain had been a man of wealth and influence rather than the often heard 'parlour' sentimental 'love song' with 'light fairies tread" "Oh who is without That with passionate shout Keeps beating my bolted door?" "I am Ned of the Hill Forspent wet and chill From long trudging marsh and moor." "My love, fond and true What else could I do But shield you from wind and from weather? When the shots fall like hail They us both shall assail And mayhap we shall die together." "Through forest and through snow Tired and hunted I go In fear both from friend and from neighbor My horses run wild My acres untilled And they all of them lost to my labor But it grieves me far more Than the loss of my store That there's none who would shield me from danger So my fate it must be To fare eastward o'er sea And languish amid the stranger"
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