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The Fields of Athenry

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The Fields of Athenry is a song about the Irish Potato Famine, which was composed in the 1970s by Pete St. John. The words however, originate from a broadsheet ballad published in the 1880s. A version of the song was published by Devlin in Dublin with a different tune to the one known today. Pete St. John is a prolific composer of widely sung modern ballads; his other most famous song is "Dublin in the Rare Ol' Time". His songs often express regret for the loss of old certainties (the latter song regrets the loss of Nelson's Pillar and the Metropole Ballroom, two symbols of old Dublin, as progress makes a "city of my town"). "The Fields of Athenry" is widely seen as the definitive folk song on the Famine, telling the story of the Famine through the personal experiences of someone gaoled and deported.

The song, which was first recorded by Irish ballad singer Paddy Reilly, recounts the tale of a fictional Irishman in prison, reporting the story he could hear through the prison walls of another prisoner who is being deported to Botany Bay for stealing food to feed his starving family.

The song has been recorded by many artists, but Paddy Reilly's original version, with Reilly's distinctive baritone vocalisation, and orchestral arrangement, is generally seen as the definitive version.

The song is also associated with Irish rugby union team and the football club Celtic FC (of Glasgow, Scotland) which has a strong association with Ireland. Controversially a small section of Celtic fans are known to interject the song with references to the IRA. Similarly, loyalists have adapted the song, with the main line changed to "Low lie, the fields of Ballynafeigh". "The Fields of Anfield Road" is sung by Liverpool F.C. supporters to the same tune, but with subtly adapted lyrics referencing their history and stadium. The fans of Rangers F.C. sing the song "A Father's Advice" to the same tune.

A reggae version of the song was also recorded by the Century Steel Band in the early 1990s. The Boston punk rock band Dropkick Murphys also recorded a punk-rock version of this song on their 2003 album Blackout, as well as a softer version recorded specially for the family of Sergeant Andrew Farrar, an American Marine killed in Iraq. Second-generation Irish Londoners, Neck, also recorded a "pyscho-ceilidh" version of the song. Other punk versions of the song have been recorded by the bands No Use For a Name and the Broken O'Briens.

The song is well known as the song in the movie Veronica Guerin during the part Veronica was shot dead.

Lyrics

By the lonely prison wall, I heard a young girl calling,
"Michael, they have taken you away.
For you stole Trevelyan's corn,
So the young might see the morn,
Now the prison ship lies waiting in the bay."

Chorus
Low lie the fields of Athenry,
Where once we watched the small free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing,
We had dreams and songs to sing,
It's so lonely 'round the fields of Athenry.

By the lonely prison wall, I heard a young man calling,
"Nothing matters, Mary, when you're free.
'gainst the famine and the Crown
I rebelled, they cut me down.
Now you must raise our child with dignity."

Chorus

By the lonely harbour wall, she watched the last star falling,
As the prison ship sailed out against the sky,
For she'll live and hope and pray
For her love in Botany Bay.
It's so lonely around the fields of Athenry.

Chorus

See also

Footnote

Trevelyan refers to Charles Edward Trevelyan, a senior British civil servant in the administration of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in Dublin Castle, who saw the Famine in classic Malthusian theory as a natural means of 'controlling excessive population'. Trevelyan is widely blamed for the inadequacy of the British Government's response. His reports to London underestimated the severity of the Famine and overestimated the problems that could arise in providing assistance to the starving.

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