Digital Tradition Mirror

The Battle of Granard

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

The Battle of Granard
(Air: "The Rising of the Moon")

Down by Sheelin's vale at sunset,
Fierce as demons in their wrath,
Spread a band of English troopers
Fire and carnage marked their path.

Midnight shines, and blazing rooftree
Lit the darkness of the night,
From the shores of fair Lough Gowna
To the slopes of Granard's height.

Maid and mother fell before them,
All in wrath and vengeance smote,
And in pride the foeman's legion
Onward sped to Granard's Moat.

We marched that morn from Creenagh
To oppose them on their way,
And by river, lake or mountain
Made we neither stop or stay.

Till a band of English troopers
Crossed our path at Edgeworthstown
And we piked the last red foeman
As the evening sun went down.

Early in the dewy morning,
As the day began to dawn
Towards the ancient moat of Granard
We were proudly marching on.

High o'erhead us waved our banner
In its beauty fair and free,
Borne by men from Carrickmoira
And the plains of Killashee.

From the banks of Cloonart river
And from Cleaney's village green,
Hast'ning onwards to the onset
Many a gallant youth was seen.

As we reached the heights of Granard
Right before us formed in line,
We could see the English legion
And their spears and banner shine.

For a moment's space we halted
As we came within their view,
Then a deadly thirst for vengeance
Filled our bosoms through and through.

With a shout that loudly echoed
To the far-off Shannon shore,
Through the red ranks of the foeman
In a furious rush we tore.

With that rush our gallant pikemen
Leaped against their foremost line,
And their blades drank deep in vengeance
For many a bloody crime.

Fast and deadly ev'ry weapon
Found a Saxon foeman's breast,
As our fierce and maddened pikemen
Through their columns thickly pressed.

Granard's ancient moat was reddened
By the blood of friend and foe,
Well we met them with their bayonets
With our pike their sabre-blow.

Backwards pressed against the valley
Bravely fighting to the last,
But again our gallant pikemen
Gathered round them fierce and fast.

Morning saw their haughty standard
In its pride and glory wave;
Evening saw the foeman's legion
Crushed and sunk in one red grave.

And where stood the ranks of Britain
By the light of morning's dawn,
O'er their graves in proud defiance
Erin's rebel banner shone.

Longford long shall tell the story,
How her children bravely stood
In that fight for Erin's glory
Brave and stern as freemen should.

And their deeds shall nerve their brothers
When they grasp the freeman's brand,
To go forth, to fall or conquer
For the rights of motherland.

XX
APR99

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!