Song lyrics from Rich and Rare
Highland Mary | Dark as a Dungeon | Willie MacIntosh | Lone Shanakyle | Lakes of Pontchartrain | Rich and Rare | The Flying Cloud | Annie Laurie
Ye banks, and braes, and fields around
The castle o' Montgomery,
Green be your woods, and fair your flowers, Your waters never drumlie!
There Simmer first unfolds her robes, And there they langest tarry:
For there I took the last Farewell Of my sweet Highland Mary.
How sweetly bloomed the gay, green birk, How sweet the hawthorn's blossom;
While underneath their fragrant shade, I clasped her to my bosom.
The golden Hours, on angel wings,Flew o'er me and my Dearie;
For dear to me as light and lifeWas my sweet Highland Mary.
With many a vow, and locked embrace, Our parting was fu'tender;
And pledging aft to meet again, We tore oursels asunder:
Oh, came Death's untimely frost, and nipt my Flower sae early!
Now green's the sod, and cauld's the clay, That wraps my Highland Mary!
O pale, pale now, those rosy lips, I aft hae kissed sae fondly
And closed for ay, the sparkling glance, That dwelt on me sae kindly
And mouldering now in silent dust, That heart that loved me dearly
But still within my bosom's core Shall live my Highland Mary.
Come all you young fellows So young and so fine
Seek not your fortune Down the dark, dreary mine
It will form as a habit And seep in your soul
'Til the stream of your blood Is as black as the coal
Chorus:
And it's dark as a dungeon and Damp as the dew
And the danger is plenty And the pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines
It's as dark as a dungeon Way down in the mine
There is many a man I have known in my day
Lived just to labour His whole life away
Like a fiend for his dope Or a drunkard his wine
A man will have lust for The lure of the mine
Chorus
I hope when I'm gone And the ages will roll
My body will blacken And turn into coal
Then I'll look from the door Of my heavenly home
And a-pity the miners A-diggin' my bones
Chorus
As I came in by Fiddich-side, On a May morning,
I spied Willie Macintosh, An hour before the dawning.
Turn again, turn again, Turn again I bid ye.
If ye burn Auchindoon, Huntley, he will heid ye.
'Heid me, or hang me, That shall never fear me.
I'll burn Auchindoon, Before the life leaves me.
As I came in by Fiddich-side, On a May morning,
Auchindoon was in a bleeze, Just s the day was dawning.
Crawing and crawing, For a' ye crowse a-crawin',
Ye've burnt yer crops, And tint yer wings,
An hour before the dawning.
Far far from the isle of the holy and grand
Where wild oxen fatten and brave men are banned
All lonely and low in a far distant land
Do I wander and pine for poor Erin
Chorus:
Lonely and sad I roam, far from my island home
Where the wild waves, surging foams, headlands appearing
Clouded in silver spray, crashing through heaven's bright ray
For the glory and pride of poor Erin
Sweet, sweet Inis Cathaigh that's sacred and blessed
A fit place for a saint or a warrior's rest
O God that a bear should be best of his brood
Who now bites your beauty my Erin
Chorus
How dearly I long to wander once more
To the old ones I left round my own cabin door
My blessings I give ten thousand times o'er
With a prayer and a tear for poor Erin
Chorus
Sad, sad is my fate in weary exile
Dark, dark are the night clouds round lone Shanakyle
Your murdered sleep silently pile upon pile
In the coffinless graves of poor Erin
Chorus
I am watching and waiting through the dark of the night
For the grey dawn of freedom my signal to fight
My rifle is ready my sabre is bright
For to strike once again for poor Erin
Chorus
O'er railroad ties and crossings I made my weary way,
O'er rocks and elevations My tired feet did stray
Until I resolved at sunset Some higher ground to gain.
'Twas there I met a Creole girl By the lakes of Ponchartrain.
"Good evening, fair maiden, My money does me no good.
If it weren't for those allegators I'd stay out in these woods."
"You're welcome stranger, welcome, Our home it is quite plain
But we'd never turn a stranger out On the lakes of Ponchartrain."
She took me to her mother's home And she treated me right well;
Her long black hair in ringlets Upon her shoulders fell.
To try and paint a picture Twould surely be in vain
So handsome was the Creole girl By the lakes of Ponchartrain.
I asked if she would marry me She said that ne'er could be;
She said she had a lover, And that he was on the sea,
She said she had a lover And true she would remain,
Until he returned for his Creole girl By the lakes of Ponchartrain.
So adieu, adieu, fair maiden, I'll shall ne'er see you no more
But I won't forget your kindess And your cottage by the shore
At every social gathering Each glass of the golden main
I'll drink good health to the Creole girl By the lake of Ponchartrain.
RICH AND RARE WERE THE GEMS SHE WORE
AND A BRIGHT GOLD RING ON HER WAND SHE BORE
BUT OH, HER BEAUTY WAS FAR BEYOND
HER SPARKLING GEMS AND HER SNOW-WHITE WAND
"LADY, DOST THOU NOT FEAR TO STRAY
SO LONE AND LOVELY THROUGH THIS BLEAK WAY?
ARE ERIN'S SONS SO GOOD OR SO COLD
AS NOT TO BE TEMPTED BY WOMAN OR GOLD?"
"SIR KNIGHT, I FEEL NOT THE LEAST ALARM
NO SON OF ERIN WILL OFFER ME HARM
FOR THOUGH THEY LOVE WOMAN AND GOLDEN STORE
SIR KNIGHT, THEY LOVE HONOR AND VIRTUE MORE"
ON SHE WENT, AND HER MAIDEN SMILE
IN SAFETY LIGHTED HER ROUND THE GREEN ISLE
AND BLEST FOREVER IS SHE WHO RELIED
UPON ERIN'S HONOuR AND ERIN'S PRIDE
My name is Arthur Holleran, as you may understand
Born ten miles from Dublin Town, down by the salt-sea strand,
When I was young and comely sure, fortune on me shone,
My parents loved me tenderly I was their only son.
My father he rose up one day and with him I did go,
He bound me as a butcher boy to Pearson's of Wicklow,
I wore the bloody apron there for three long years and more,
'Til I shipped on board The Ocean Queen belonging to Tramore.
It was on Bermuda's sunny isle that I met with Captain Moore,
He was the skipper of The Flying Cloud, the pride of Baltimore,
I undertook with him on a slaving voyage to go,
To the burning shores of Africa, where the sugar cane do grow.
It all went well until the day that we came to Africa's shore,
Five hundred of them poor blacks from their native land we tore,
We laid them down with links of chain and made them walk below,
Eighteen inches of space was all that each man had to show.
Plague it came and fever too and killed them off like flies,
We dragged their bodies on the deck and hove them into the sea,
For sure, the dead were the lucky for they'd have to weep no more,
Nor drag the chain or feel the lash in Cuba for evermore.
Now our money it is all gone, and we must go to sea once more,
Each man stayed to listen to the words of Captain Moore,
"There's gold and silver to be had if with me you'll remain,
We'll hoist that pirate flag aloft and sweep the Spanish Main."
We plundered many a gallant ship down on the Spanish Main,
Killed many a man and left his wife and children to remain,
To none we showed no kindness but gave them a watery grave,
In the words of our captain: "Dead men tell no tales."
It's now to Newgate we are sent and bound in iron chains.
For sinking and plundering of ships on the Spanish Main,
The judge he's found us guilty and we are condemned to die.
Young men a warning by me take and shun all piracy.
Farewell to Dublin City and the girl that I adore,
I will never see your face again nor kiss your cheek no more
For whiskey and bad company have made a wretch of me,
Young men, a warning by me take and shun all piracy.
Maxwelton's braes are bonnie Where early falls the dew
It 'twas there that Annie Laurie Ga'ed me her promise true.
Ga'ed me her promise true And ne'er forgot shall be
And for bonnie Annie Laurie I'd lay me doon and dee
I'd lay me doon and dee
Her brow is like the snowdrift Her neck is like the swan
Her face it is the fairest That e'er the sun shone on.
That e'er the sun shone on And dark blue is her e'e
And for bonnie Annie Laurie I'd lay me doon and dee
I'd lay me doon and dee.
Like dew on the gowan falling Is the fall of her fairy feet
Like the winds in the summer sighing Her voice is low and sweet.
Her voice is low and sweet And she's all the world to me
And for bonnie Annie Laurie I'd lay me doon and dee
I'd lay me doon and dee.
