I guess that this song is fairly recent, for the versions found in the songbooks hardly differ at all. The version below comes from the life singing of Johnny McEvoy nearly thirty years ago in Frankfurt, when he still promised to be a folk singer.Wolfgang
MANY YOUNG MEN OF TWENTY
Many young men of twenty said goodbye
On that long day
From break of dawn until the sun was high.
Many young men of twenty said goodbye.We left the factories and the farms
And rallied at the call to arms.
All the lassies turned their heads to cry.
Many young men of twenty said goodbye.Last night I held my darling in my arms.
"Farewell, my love!
It breaks my heart to see you cry.
Farewell my love, for maybe I will die."I wish that I was back again
Beside my darling in the glen.
No more we’ll watch the small birds as they fly.
Many young men of twenty said goodbye.Last night we sang and kissed the girls goodbye,
And now we come
With beating drum to live or die.
Many young of twenty said goodbye.We marched to meet the foreign foe.
To fight young men we do not know.
The waving flags are straining to the sky.
Many young of twenty said goodbye.EDIT: The last 2 verses were added from Johnny McEvoy's album "Legends of Irish Music" (1968).