Fincairn Flax (Hasson-Collins)

Flax is the raw material that goes into the making of Irish linen. It lies fermenting in the sun for a while and gives off an awful stench. Young men then have to handle it and they employ all sorts of extreme methods to get rid of the smell. Fincairn is a lovely area of South County Derry.

It's like a thousand years ago I first left out me pen
With brogan boots and wrinkled coat I went to join the men
For one and six a day we worked and broke our backs
Pulling fields of lint to make the Fincairn flax

We wash our hands and faces and we disinfect our clothes
We scrub behind our kneecaps and we clean between our toes
We douse our hair with hair oil and run it down our backs
But sure as hell you still can smell the Fincairn flax

We steeped it and we spread it and we dried it in the sun
And we lifted it and tied it and the work was never done
We only wanted rest, for we were dropping in our tracks
But the ladies wanted hankies made of Fincairn flax

Well our hands were cut and blistered our knees were all in red
And the achin' in our muscles ah you might as well be dead
But the farmer stood and glowered as we built the linten stacks
And he thought about the money from the Fincairn flax

And when we meet Saint Peter he'll say, Come right through
For it's pointless giving penance to a man who worked liked you
To ask you to do penance is to ask you to relax
For Hell is fun compared with working Fincairn flax

Written by Co Derry singer Gemma Hasson, and released on her first LP Introducing Ireland's Gemma Hasson, Dolphin Records DOLM 5009 IRL 1974