The Fields of Athenry

 

Balada folclórica irlandesa escrita en 1979 por Pete St. John

Ambientada durante la hambruna de 1840, la letra presenta a un hombre de Athenry, en el condado de Galway , que robó comida para su familia y fue sentenciado a ser deportado a la colonia penal australiana. 

Letra:

By a 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 a prison shop lies waiting in the bay

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 a lonely prison wall

I heard a young man calling

Nothing matters, Mary, when you're free

Against the famine and the crown

I rebelled, they cut me down

Now you must raise our child with dignity

By a lonely harbour wall

She watched the last star falling

As the prison ship sailed out against the sky

For she lived in hope and pray

For her love in Botany bay

It's lonely around the fields of Athenry