Get all 9 Brendan Melia releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Boots on the ground, The bitter sweet and warm, Craige hill, Ceólminer, Dublin Girl, Forgotten Freedom, The Ballad of a Mean Cavan Hoor, The Lakes of Pontchartrain, and 1 more.
1. |
Raggle taggle gypsy
04:41
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There were three old gypsies came to our hall door
They came brave and boldly-o
And one sang high and the other sang low
And the other sang a raggle taggle gypsy-o
It was upstairs downstairs the lady went
Put on her suit of leather-o
And there was a cry from around the door
She's away wi' the raggle taggle gypsy-o
It was late that night when the Lord came in
Enquiring for his lady-o
And the servant girl she said to the Lord
"She's away wi' the raggle taggle gypsy-o"
"Then saddle for me my milk white steed
- my big horse is not speedy-o
And I will ride till I seek my bride
She's away wi' the raggle taggle gypsy-o"
Now he rode East and he rode West
He rode North and South also
Until he came to a wide open plain
It was there that he spied his lady-o
"How could you leave your goose feather bed
Your blankeys strewn so comely-o?
And how could you leave your newly wedded Lord
All for a raggle taggle gypsy-o?"
"What care I for my goose feather bed
Wi' blankets strewn so comely-o?
Tonight I lie in a wide open field
In the arms of a raggle taggle gypsy-o"
"How could you leave your house and your land?
How could you leave your money-o?
How could you leave your only wedded Lord
All for a raggle taggle gypsy-o?"
"What care I for my house and my land?
What care I for my money-o?
I'd rather have a kiss from the yellow gypsy's lips
I'm away wi' the raggle taggle gypsy-o!"
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2. |
Dirty old town
04:17
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I met my love by the gas works wall
Dreamed a dream by the old canal
I kissed my girl by the factory wall
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
Clouds are drifting across the moon
Cats are prowling on their beat
Spring's a girl from the streets at night
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
I heard a siren from the docks
Saw a train set the night on fire
I smelled the spring on the smoky wind
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
I'm gonna make me a good sharp axe
Shining steel tempered in the fire
I'll chop you down like an old dead tree
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
I met my love by the gas works wall
Dreamed a dream by the old canal
I kissed my girl by the factory wall
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
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3. |
Back home in Derry
05:12
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In 1803 we sailed out to sea
Out from the sweet town of Derry
For Australia bound if we didn't all drown
The marks of our fetters we carried
In the rusty iron chains we cried for our wean's
Our good women we left in sorrow
As the main sails unfurled, our curses we hurled
At the English and thoughts of tomorrow
At the mouth of the Foyle, bid farwell to the soil
As down below decks we were lying
O'Doherty screamed, woken out of a dream
By a vision of bold Robert dying
The sun burned cruel as we dished out the gruel
Dan O'Connor was down with the fever
Sixty rebels today bound for Botany Bay
How many will reach their receiver?
Oh, oh, I wish I was back home in Derry
Oh, oh, I wish I was back home in Derry
I cursed them to hell, as our bow fought the swell
Our ship danced like a moth in the firelight
Wild horses rode high as the devil passed by
Taking souls to Hades by twilight
Five weeks out to sea, we were now forty-three
We buried our comrades each morning
In our own slime, we were lost in the time
Endless night without dawning
Oh, oh, I wish I was back home in Derry
Oh, oh, I wish I was back home in Derry
Van Diemen's land is a hell for a man
To end out his whole life in slavery
Where the climate is raw and the gun makes the law
Neither wind nor rain care for bravery
Twenty years have gone by, I've ended my bond
My comrades' ghosts walk behind me
A rebel I came, I'm still the same
On the cold winter's night you will find me
Oh, oh, I wish I was back home in Derry
Oh, oh, I wish I was back home in Derry
Oh, oh, I wish I was back home in Derry
Oh, oh, I wish I was back home in Derry
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4. |
Patriot game
04:50
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Come all you young rebels and list while I sing
For love of ones land is a terrible thing
It banishes fear with the speed of a flame
And makes us all part of the patriot game
My name is O'Hanlon, I'm just gone sixteen
My home is in Monaghan there I was weaned
I learned all my life cruel England to blame
And so I'm part of the patriot game
It's barely a year since I wandered away
With the local battalions of the bold IRA
I read of our heroes and wanted the same
To play up my part in the patriot game
They told me how Connolly was shot in a chair
His wounds from the fighting all bleeding and bare
His fine body twisted all battered and lame
They soon made me part of the patriot game
This Ireland of mine has for long been half-free
Six Counties are under John Bull's Monarchy
But still DeValera is greatly to blame
For shirking his part in the patriot game
I don't mind a bit if I shoot down police
They are lackeys for war never guardians of peace
And yet at deserters I'm never let aim
The rebels who sold out the patriot game
And now as I lie with my body all holes
I think of those traitors who bargained and sold
I'm sorry my rifle has not done the same
For the Quislings who sold out the patriot game
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Brendan Melia County Meath, Ireland
Folksinger/songwriter Based in rural Co Meath.
Music has always been a passion for me, between singing in
pub sessions in the 80s to now gigging and recording music as a profession. It's been a sometimes torturous journey, but music has always been my friend. Even when I was alone, I was never truly alone. It's food and medicine for your soul.
... more
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