Dunlavin Green

"Dunlavin Green"
Song
Genre	Irish folk
Writer	Traditional

Dunlavin Green is an Irish ballad referring to the Dunlavin Green massacre which occurred in Dunlavin in Ireland in 1798 and resulted in the execution of 36 suspected rebel prisoners.^[1] The song is written from the perspective of a witness to the massacre. The song is one of the most popular Irish rebellion ballads and has been recorded numerous times in the last decade alone.^{[citation needed]}

Lyrics

In the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety eight

A sorrowful tale the truth unto you I'll relate

Of thirty-six heroes to the world were left to be seen

By a false information were shot on Dunlavin Green

Bad luck to you Saunders, for you did their lives betray

You said a parade would be held on that very day

Our drums they did rattle - our fifes they did sweetly play

Surrounded we were and privately marched away

Quite easy they led us like prisoners through the town

To be shot on the plain, we first were forced to kneel down

Such grief and such sorrow were never before there seen

When the blood ran in streams down the dykes of Dunlavin Green

There is young Matty Farrell who has plenty of cause to complain

Likewise the two Duffys who were also shot down upon the plain

And young Andy Ryan, his mother distracted will run

For the loss of her darling, her only beloved son

Bad luck to you, Saunders, may bad luck never you shun!

That the widow's curse may melt you like the snow in the sun

The cries of the orphans their murmurs you cannot screen

For the murder of their fathers on Dunlavin Green

Some of our boys to the hills they are going away

Some of them are shot and some of them going to sea

Mickey Dwyer in the mountains to Saunders he owes a spleen

For loss of his brothers who were shot on Dunlavin Green

In the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety eight

A sorrowful tale the truth unto you I'll relate

Of thirty-six heroes to the world were left to be seen

By a false information were shot on Dunlavin Green

Notable recordings

• 1956 – Patrick Galvin – Irish Songs of Resistance Part I
• 1975 – Paddy Mahone – Irish Rebellion Album
• 1986 – Joe Burke – Happy to Meet and Sorry to Part
• 1998 – Dolores Keane – Night Owl
• 2008 – Karan Casey – Ships in the Forest

See also

• Dunlavin
• Dunlavin Green massacre

References

1. ^ Fitzpatrick, William John (1866). "The Rebellion in Wicklow - Fusilade in Dunlavin, pp.308-310". The 'sham squire' and the informers of 1798. http://books.google.com/books?id=d48BAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA308&dq=dunlavin. Retrieved 5 Sep 2008.