JOHNNY BOLAND Good Christians all round this country, Come listen to my song, I don't intend to raise it high, To detain your attention long. There are in it but verses few To let the neighbours know How Boland he was banished From the land of sweet Ross Row. It was on a Saturday evening, As you may plainly hear The stars were in the sky And the moon shone bright and clear ; Donovan came to my door And this to me did say : "Arise up, Johnny Boland, And along with me come away." While I was putting on my clothes, This reply made he : "If you turn Queen's evidence A happy man you'll be. You will have money plenty Your wants for to supply The Queen will give you employment Where none will call you spy." "Hold your tongue," said Boland, "And don't say so to me; If I am poor, I will endure To live in poverty. I'll never become Queen's evidence, My comrades to overthrow; I'd sooner live in poverty On the land of sweet Ross Row." In pops Tommy Corrigan, And seized me by the hand: "Arise up, Johnny Boland, You must quit your native land. Bid farewell to your children; You never shall see them more." He handcuffed me like a murderer, And marched me out the door. He marched me off to Six-mile Bridge, And from that to Castlechrin. Said Butler to Boland: "I Will commit you back again." Said Boland to Butler: "Pray what have I done, But the beating of Mr. Heckman, And the taking of his gun?" He marched me off to Ennis jail, It's very well you'd know ; From thence I was transported From the land of sweet Ross Row. Farewell to my five orphans, I'm leaving here behind. Friends and relations, Both men and women kind. The Lord, who is our witness, Who right from wrong doth know, Will punish those who banished us From the land of sweet Ross Row. Farewell unto the blunderbuss That was hidden in the thatch ; Farewell unto the powder horn That was ready for the match ; Farewell to the boys of County Clare; Alas, I now must go ; And adieu to you, old Ireland, And the land of sweet Ross Row. Notes From the Sydney newspaper the Freeman's Journal Saturday 4 February 1905 p. 40. JOHNNY BOLAND. AN IRISH BALLAD OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. (Kindly supplied by Mr. P. Doherty of Pambula) [Pambula is on the NSW, Australia, Sapphire Coast] The only other reference I can find to this ballad is in a 1999 article by Sydney radical Bob Gould where he writes - 'My father used to say that he couldn't speak Gaelic, but that he could sing all the old rebel songs like Napper Tandy, and Rise Up Johnny Boland in Gaelic.'
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