Hi all,

I'm almost 50 years of age and learned this song, off by heart, from an old gramaphone record, when I was but a toddler. Whenever I'm out for a few pints, and in good company, I always sing this song - you could hear a pin drop during the song. I have changed a few words to the way I learned it, please find below. I haven't a clue who sang it!! Another beautiful song, if you're interested, is "The Blind Child" which goes:-
"They tell me, father, that tonight,
You wed another bride,
That you have placed her in your arms,
Where my poor mother died......."

Regards, Tom.

Deep in the jungles of Vietnam a U.S. soldier lay
A sniper's bullet from the brush his young life stole away
In dying breath and whispered tones I heard him proudly say
I am just an Irish soldier fighting for the USA

For the little while he lingered he remembered all so dear
An Irish girl so beautiful with eyes so blue and clear
He relived the tender moments of the day he said goodbye
To his sweetheart that he called the "Blazing Star of Athenry"

[SPOKEN]
Oh God be with the dawning morn of the day this fight will end
And the arms of peace around us throughout this world extend
But these thoughts I have to banish and go on to fight or die
Like the soldier boy who loved his Blazing Star of Athenry
[END SPOKEN]

He held a faded photograph and beads of rosary
His only cherished treasures that he sadly gave to me
Then off he vanished far away in this foreign land to die
The soldier boy who loved the Blazing Star of Athenry.