Folk Notes 2 - The Fields of Athenry

The Fields Of Athenry
By a lonely prison wall,
I heard a young girl calling
Michael they have taken you away,
For you stole Trevelyan's corn
So the young might see the morn,
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay
CHORUS:
Low lie, The Fields of Athenry
where once we watched the small free birds fly
Our love was on the wing
we had dreams and songs to sing,
It's so lonely round the Fields of Athenry
CHORUS:
By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young man calling
'Nothing matters Mary, when you're free'
Against the famine and the crown,
I rebelled, they cut me down
Now you must raise our child with dignity
CHORUS:
By a lonely harbour wall
She watched the last star falling
As the prison ship sailed out against the sky
For she lived in hope and pray
For her love in Botany Bay
It's so lonely round the Fields Of Athenry
CHORUS:

"The Fields of Athenry" is an Irish folk ballad set during the Great Irish Famine or Great Irish Hunger about a fictional man named Michael from near Athenry in County Galway who has been sentenced to transportation to Botany Bay, Australia, for stealing food for his starving family. It is a widely known and popular anthem for Irish sports supporters.
"The Fields of Athenry" was written in the 1970s by Pete St. John. A claim was made in 1996 that a broadsheet ballad published in the 1880s had similar words; however, the folklorist and researcher John Moulden found no basis to this claim, and Pete St. John has stated that he wrote the words as well as the music

©Jeff Guess 2017