Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The other fields of Athenry...
From:
GUEST,John Moulden
Date: 17 Oct 11 - 03:55 PM
For comparison when you get down to entering the words, these are those that John's daughter, Una sent me some time ago with some information. My contributions are in square brackets.
This is the original text of "The Fields Of Athenry".
[Composed during the summer of 1985 or thereabouts by John Flanagan and Tony Waldron and based on Tony's memories and local knowledge. J Flanagan from Corrofin, Co Clare is a retired Forest Officer living at Caraughwell, Co Galway. Tony Waldron was born near Athenry in the village? of Stoneleigh known locally as Clumper. John Moulden]
1. Down by the Clarin's mossy banks one evening I did stray,
To while away those hours before the break of day,
When my mind began to wander to days long long gone by,
When I roamed as free as gaoith na S¡ogh, o'er the Fields of Athenry.
2. Oh how often with our dogs and sticks, before the break of day,
Barefooted o'er the dew clad grass how carelessly we did stray,
To hunt the rabbit and course the hare, 'til the moon rose in the sky,
Ah these were the happy days we spent, round the Fields of Athenry.
3. We had some famous hunting dogs I'll mention but a few,
We had Speed and Spot and Rebel Brave, we had noble Murty too,
But Bruno was the king of all as o'er the sod he'd fly,
And t'was woe betide the hare that strayed 'round the Fields of Athenry.
4. As the sun went down a hare we found upon Graig Abbey hill,
And the hunt we had that evening it's in my memory still,
We were hungry and our dogs were tired but we made off in full cry,
As for Toorkeel the hare did wheel, from the Fields of Athenry.
5. The hunting done by the bright new moon our homeward trek we'd make,
Across the bogs to Poll Mhic Eoin by Cahertubber Lake,
And then we'd climb up Crucan Cabair, the lights of home to spy,
And we'd hear the curlews plaintive call, o'er the Fields of Athenry.
6. Now Crucan Cabair that fairy hill it is no longer there,
The gravel trucks have hauled it off to Galway city fair,
To make concrete for foundations and the fairies had to fly,
Before diggers and bulldozers in the Fields of Athenry.
7. All through the long hot Summer days through those green fields we'd stray,
While the youthful blood coursed in our veins and death seemed far away,
We thought we were immortal, that it's just the old that die,
Ah but now there's few of the friends I knew, 'round the Fields of Athenry.
8. I remember now young Timmy, he was wild and had no care,
As he sped across the Moneen you could see his flaxen hair,
Just to watch himself and Rebel, it would fill your heart with joy,
As they hunted for the rabbits 'round the Fields of Athenry.
9. I recall to mind young Joseph, who joined the Irish Guards,
He was tall and square with blonde hair, he outran us all by yards,
But I know in all his wandering beneath that alien sky,
His heart was at home a hunting 'round the Fields of Athenry.
10. There's no heath on the moorland now where once we coursed the hare,
The furze clad hills where the rabbits were, they now look gaunt and bare,
Where Bruno made that mighty leap, as the pheasant rose on high,
Where that Rannach grew there's houses now, in that Field near Athenry.
11. And now I'm old and my head is grey and I'm bowed with the weight of years,
When I think about those happy times my eyes grow dim with tears,
But still I love to ramble where the trout rise to the fly,
Down by the Clarin's mossy banks that flows through Athenry.
12. The Good Lord soon will come for me and my final peace be made,
In that hallowed hill above the town it's there I will be laid,
But when the final judgement comes with it's fanfare from the sky,
I will rise up then and hunt again through the Fields of Athenry.
[Although verse 7 is in its original place - John has now moved it to become verse 10 - J ohn Moulden]
Tim Dennehy's version is the exact same except for the fact that he sings the verses in this order and leaves out verses 3, 4, 5 and 10 : 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12. There is a few tiny changes in syntax also, eg. Tim sings the last line as "I will rise and then I will hunt again 'round the fields of Athenry".
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