Digital Tradition Mirror

The Bantry Girls Lament

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

The Bantry Girls Lament

1                 *              *                57
Who will plow the field now, and who will sow the corn
1                 *              *                57
Who will wash the sheep now, and keep them neatly shorn
    4                   1           *                 57
The stack that's in the haggard,   un-touched it may re-main
      1             *             4      57      1
Since Johnny went a-thrashing all in the wars of Spain


CHORUS:
4              *            1                *
Johnny, lovely Johnny, he's sailing o'er the main
  1               *            4         57      1
A-long with other patriots, to fight the King of Spain


And the girls from the bawn-oag in sorrow may re-tire
The piper and his bellows, (may) go home and blow the fire
At fairs and hurling matches, your likes we seldom see
Till you come home a-gain to us, a-storeen oag mo cree

And a cruel fate will not permit our Johnny to re-turn
His heavy loss, we Bantry girls will never cease to mourn
We re-sign ourselves to our sad lot, and die in grief and pain
Johnny died for freedom's sake in the foreign lands of Spain


NOTES:
- Gaelic phrases are spelled phonetically
- Haggard: a threshing yard
- Ba/no/g: a green patch of ground (Ireland?)
- Mi/an fhomhair: harvest month
- Asto/iri/n o/g mo chroi: little young treasure of my heart

Recorded by The Clancy Brothers, Tunes & Tales (Folk Era, FE-2061, 1988)
BMcC
oct96

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!