The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #128682   Message #2885985
Posted By: GUEST,JP
13-Apr-10 - 08:05 PM
Thread Name: Great folk song lyrics
Subject: RE: Great folk song lyrics
Alistair Hulett, in my opinion one of our finest songwriters, sadly died a few months ago. A couple of samples:

And the old men lilt how the blood was spilt
On the banks of the river Boyne
Three hundred years of hate and fear
Clutched like a miser's coin

(Among Proddy Dogs and Papes)


The bailiff came wi' the writ and a'
And the gallant lads of the Forty Twa
They drove ye oot in the sleet and snaw
The Gaels of Caledonia
When yer house was burned and yer crops as well
Ye stood and wept in the blackened shell
And the winter moor was a living hell
For the Gaels of Caledonia

(Destitution Road, about the Highland Clearances)

Or if you want traditional, how's this for chilling:

They came to rob, they came to slay,
They made their sport, they went their way.

(Famous Flower of Serving Men)

or in a lighter vein

He gave her a wink and she rolled her eye
Says he to himself "I'll be there by and by."

(Lovely Joan)