Kevin Barry
Author: Unknown
Singer: Liam Murphy Liam's version of this well known song of Irish Freedom is one of the best

Kevin Barry
Author: Unknown
Singer: Liam Murphy Liam's version of this well known song of Irish Freedom is one of the best

Kevin Barry
In Mountjoy jail one Monday morning,
High upon the gallows tree
Kevin Barry gave his young life
For the cause of Liberty.
But a lad of eighteen summers
Yet no one can deny
As he walked to death that morning
He proudly held his head on high.

Just before he faced the hangman,
In his lonely prison cell
British soldiers tortured Barry
Just because he would not tell
The names of his brave companions
And other things they wished to know;
‘Turn informer or we’ll kill you’.
Kevin Barry answered ‘No’.

‘Shoot me like a soldier,
Do not hang me like a dog
For I fought to free old Ireland
On that still September morn,
All around the little bakery
Where we fought them hand to hand.
Shoot me like a soldier
For I fought for Ireland’.

Calmly standing to attention
While he bade his last farewell
To his broken-hearted mother
Whose grief no one can tell;
For the cause he proudly cherished
This sad parting had to be,
Then to death walked softly smiling
That old Ireland might be free.

Another martyr for old Ireland,
Another murder for the crown,
Whose brutal laws may kill the Irish
But can’t keep their spirit down.
Lads like Barry are no cowards,
From the foe they will not fly;
Lads like Barry will free Ireland
For her sake they’ll live and die.