You can hear Mick Fitzgerald singing RATHDRUM FAIR at YouTube. Here's what I think he's singing:


RATHDRUM FAIR
(Mick Fitzgerald)

I rose and tasted the first breath of spring,
The mist from the grassy land rising.
I set to my grey mare and saddled for the road
Whilst the green hills the sun was caressing,
Saw the nest of the blackbird as she took to the air
Setting off in the direction of Rathdrum Fair.
I come with the dawn bringing silver to buy,
Hoping wits and good fortune will aid me.

I ride with the sun, took my feet to an inn,
Where the talk was all livestock and memories,
Where old tales were traded for new ones in turn,
Where the pipes would lament into the day-o,
Where the faces were old but the eyes they were good.
They knew the money in your pocket and they'd have it if they could.
Where the clowns and the street sellers wandered around
And the fiddler was lost in the noise of the crowd.

And when business is done you'll adjourn for a dram
And drink maybe well into the day-o,
But when twilight comes near you will drink your last beer
And set up your goods to take away-o,
And the old mare will stumble and bite at the wind,
While you sleep in the saddle with your collar turned in,
And the year will grow old when the traders have gone,
For the blackbird won't follow the heat of the sun.