" Does that describe you also?"
Hi Susan.
What - do I wear a collarless jacket and hang out with Maharishis?
I certainly am 3rd or 4th generation Irish - not sure which.
I left Liverpool in the mid 1960s because I hated football and the Beatles bored me (and still do.
Another song from the period, based on a real-life incident.
Historically Michael Hayes was a Tipperary farmer and a bailiff with an iffy reputation for his behaviour at evictions.
Eventually he was dismissed from his work as a bailiff as being considered too old for the job, and in classic 'biter bit' style, in 1862, was evicted from his land.
He walked into the land agents office in Queenstown, Cork, shot him dead and took to his heels and embarked on a bid for freedom pursued by the police- Hayes was said to have died of .
On the basis that anybody who shot a landlord or his land agent could be forgiven all his former sins, the folk elevated him into the realms epic legend.
In reality the chase centered around Limerick and Tipperary and probably ended with Hayes dying of cold and hunger on the slopes of Slievnamon, but the folk have it as taking place from Tipperary to Wexford and around the coast to Castlebar in County Mayo - a total distance of 918 miles in straight lines between the towns mentioned.
Folklore has it that he embarked on board ship to America, but contacted TB there and returned to die in his native Tipperary.
I believe this to be a truly remarkable ballad which, along with songs like Skibbereen, reflect a return to the spirit of rebelliousness following the degradation and horror of the Famine, evictions and forced emigrations.
They are an indication of a determination to obtain independence; "Hayes" appeared five years before the 1867 rebellion, followed by the fight for Home Rule which eventually led to Easter week and the War of Independence.
We recorded it from Tom Lenihan of Miltown Malbay, who called it 'The Fox Chase' - he appears to be the sole traditional source, though we recorded a verse from Traveller Mikeen McCarthy, who remembered it fronm the singing of his father, who's family was from Tipperary.
Tom can be heard singing it on Tom Munnelly's selection of his songs songs, 'Mount Callan Garland' and it should be available for public access when our collection of Clare recordings goes on line on the Ennis Library website of traditional music, some time towards the end of the year.
Jim Carroll

Farmer Michael Hayes.

I am a bold and undaunted fox that never was before on tramp,
My rent, rates and taxes I was willing for to pay,
I lived as happy as king Saul and loved my neighbours great and small,
I had no animosity for either friend or foe,

I made my den in fine good land between Tipperary and Knocklong,
Where my forefathers lived for three hundred years or more,
But now of late I was betrayed by one who was a fool or knave,
He told me I should quit the place and show my face no more.

But as soon as he evicted me, I thought, 'twas time that I should flee,
I stole away his ducks and geese and murdered all his drakes,
I knew I could no longer stand because he had the hounds at hand,
I tightened up my garters and then I was away.

But soon there was a great look-out by land and sea to find me out,
From Dublin quay to Belfast Town along the raging sea,
By telegraph they did insert this great reward for my arrest,
My figure, size and form (forearm) and my name without a doubt.

They wore their brogues, a thousand pair, this great reward for to
But still there was no tidings of me or my retreat,                     
They searched Tipperary o'er and o'er, the cornfields round
But they si went on to Wexford, but there did not delay.

Through Ballyhale and Stranmore they searched the woods as they went on,
Till they got very hungry at the approach of day.
Now search the world both far and near, the likes before you did not
A fox to get away so clear as I did from the hounds.                              

They searched the rocks, the gulfs, the bays, the ships and liners at the quays,
The ferryboats and steamers as they were going to sea,
Around the coast they took a steer from Poolbeg lighthouse to Cape
Killarney Town and Sweet Tralee, and then crossed into Clare!

And when they landed on the shore they searched Kilrush from top to toe,
The bathing baths in Miltown, called otherwise Malbay,      
And Galway being a place of fame they thought it there I would
But still there journey was in vain for I gave them leg bail

They searched the train at Oranmore as she was leaving for Athlone,
And every waggon, coach and car as that went along the road,
And Connemara being remote, they thought it there I would resort,
Then when they got weary they resolved to try Mayo.

In Balinrobe they had to rest until the hounds were quite refreshed,
From thence they went to Westport and searched it high and low,
To Caslebar they took a trot, they heard I was in Castlerock,
But still they were delude, there I lodged the night before*,

At Swinford Town as I sat down I heard a dreadful cry of hounds.
I took another notion to retaliate the chase,
And I being weary from the road I took a glass at half past four,
Then I was renovated while the hounds were getting weak,

The night being dark in Castlebar, I knew not how to make my way,
I had neither den nor manger to shield me from the cold,
But when the moon began to shine I said I'd make for a foreign
I'm in the land of liberty and three cheers for Michael Hayes,