Back to song list   Previous song False Hearted Lover
Next song Fairytale of New York

THE FAIR AT TURLOUGHMORE
[from Irish Songs of Resistance]

Come tell me, dearest mother, what makes my father stay
Or what can be the reason that he's been so long away?
Oh hold your tongue, my darling son, your tears do grieve me sore
I fear he has been murdered at the fair of Turloughmore

Come all you tender Christians I hope you will draw near
It's of this dreadful murder I mean to let you hear
Concerning those poor people whose loss we do deplore
The Lord have mercy on their souls, they died at Turloughmore

'Twas on the first of August the truth I will declare
Those people they assembled that day all at the fair
But little was their notion what evil was in store
All by the bloody Peelers at the fair of Turloughmore

Were you to see that dreadful sight 'twould grieve your heart I know
To see those lovely women and the men all lying low
God help their tender parents, they will never see them more
For cruel was their murder at the fair of Turloughmore

It's for that base bloodthirsty crew remark the word I say
The Lord he will reward them against the Judgement Day
The blood they've taken innocent for it they'll suffer sore
And the treatment that they gave to us that day at Turloughmore

The morning of their trial as they stood in the dock
The words they spoke were feeling, the people round them flock
"I tell you judge and jury, the truth I will declare
It was Brew that ordered us to fire, that evening at the fair"

Now to conclude and finish this sad and doleful lay
I hope their souls are happy against the Judgement Day
It was little time they got, we know, when they fell like new-mown hay
May the Lord have mercy on their souls against the Judgment Day


107/319, 1743 characters