Quote from admin on October 14, 2004, 8:43 pm

Hi,

I've found two seemingly different songs by the name of "The Banks of Mulroy Bay". There are some words missing in one of them, but I hope it helps you a litte anyway.

Pete

The Banks of Mulroy Bay

When the golden sun was settin far behind the ocean blue
The silvery moon was risin oer the hills of Limerick toun
The day I sailed from Ireland, that mornin dark and grey
When I bad farewell to Mary on the banks of Mulroy Bay

And that (?) so neat and small
The (?) the hills of Donegal
I ofttimes dreamt of Eire, my friends now far away
And the bonny purple heather round the banks of Mulroy Bay

I ofttimes dreamt of my mother settin by the cottage door
My sister and my brother as they wandered round the shore
On a bonny summer's evenin in that dear land far away
And the fishin boats that anchored near the banks of Mulroy Bay

I am now a lonely exile far from my native home
A poor forlorn stranger through the wild world I must roam
I may never see the (?) the hawthorne bushes gay
Nor the bonny hills of Fanad near the banks of Mulroy Bay

I have roamed this wide world over (?) rich and grand
I won't forget old Fanad, my own dear native land
I won't forget old Fanad, that mornin dark and grey
When I bad farewell to Mary on the banks of Mulroy Bay

The Banks of Mulroy Bay

On the second day of April, it's well I mind the date,
On the morning of that fateful day in 1878,
When this great Earl of Leitrim - the tyrant I should say,
Left his home in Manorvaughan on the banks of Mulroy Bay.

The landlord gave strict orders, when leaving home that day,
That evictions they should then take place, without undue delay,
His bailiffs they should get to work, as you may understand,
And banish us poor Catholics from out our native land.

The morning it was gentle and the birds did sweetly sing,
And `neath the woods of Cratlagh, they made the valleys ring,
When Leitrim and his party were driving at full trot,
And entering into Cratlagh Wood they got a fearful shock.

The coachman named Buchanan, a lad from Milford town,
He was blown from the dickie, and left sprawling on the ground,
May the Lord have mercy on his soul, poor boy he suffered sore,
Till death did end his sufferings on the banks of Mulroy shore.

John Makim then, the tyrant's clerk, a lad so strong and stout,
He too received some slugs of lead, which made him reel about,
He shouts aloud unto Kincaid as on the ground he lay,
”I'm shot, I'm shot, dear Willie”, on the banks of Mulroy Bay.

The great exterminator; the Lord of this estate,
For him there was an inch of lead - too hard to masticate.
His body it lay lifeless on the road, I heard them say,
To feed the dogs and hungry crows on the banks of Mulroy Bay.