The Fenian Boy (Ballad of Billy Byrne) 1798 Rising (Traditional Irish Ballad)

 

[Intro]

In Ballymanus he worked the land,

A farmer’s son with steady hand.

His brother swore the redcoat’s lie,

But Billy let the oath pass by.

They said he’d never take the field,

That men like him were born to yield

But when the Crown came down his way,

He left the farm and joined the fray

Verse 1

He rode the hills near Vinegar Hill,

With a pistol and a plan,

Through fog and fern he moved with will,

At the head of a rebel clan.

But it wasn’t guns that brought him down,

No, it wasn’t skill or might.

It was whiskey in the wrong man’s mouth

That gave him up that night.

Chorus

And they said, “He’s just another Fenian boy,

With dreams on borrowed time.

Another name on a watch-list now,

Another rebel in the line.”

But he smiled as they dragged him down,

Though the shackles bit his skin

“I’d do it all again,” he said,

“For the soil that raised my kin.”

Verse 2

They marched him through the market square,

With a redcoat left and right,

And mothers turned their children’s eyes

Away from such a sight.

But one old man stood tall and proud,

And spat upon the road,

“For every one you lock away,

Ten more will take the load.”

Verse 4

In a cell down in the Wicklow Jail

He wrote one final line:

“I wasn’t born for silence,

I was born to cross the line"

And when the dawn came cold and grey,

They led him from his bed,

And the last thing that he whispered was:

“Tell Ireland I’m not dead.”

Final Chorus

So sing for the Fenian boy,

With the rope marks on his skin.

He never wore a uniform,

But he bore his country’s sin.

And though they took his final breath,

They could not make him turn

The land still speaks his rebel name,

And won’t forget Billy Byrne.