Aghadoe lyrics
Liam ClancyThere's a glen in Aghadoe, Aghadoe, Aghadoe
There's a deep and secret glen in Aghadoe
Where we met my love and I, love's fair planet in the sky
In that deep and silent glen in Aghadoe
There's a glen in Aghadoe, Aghadoe, Aghadoe
There's a deep and secret glade in Aghadoe
Where I hid from the eyes of the redcoats and their spies
That year the trouble came to Aghadoe
But they tracked me to that glen in Aghadoe, Aghadoe
When the price was on his head in Aghadoe
O'er the mountain through the wood as I stole to him with food
But the bullets found his heart in Aghadoe
I walked from Mallow town to Aghadoe, Aghadoe
I took his head from the jail gate to Aghadoe
There I covered him with fern and I piled on him the cairn
Like an Irish king he sleeps in Aghadoe
Song Details
Composer: George Whitefield Chadwick (1910)
Lyricist: John Todhunter (1900)
Brief: The following is an excerpt taken from the website, 1st-stop-county-kerry.com
This is a rebel ballad by John Todhunter, which sings of 'the trouble' which came to the green and silent glade in the glen of Aghadoe, the site of a medieval monastic church in County Kerry, Ireland. A young man that joined in the 1798 Rebellion and escaped from the government's mopping-up operation and hid with the help of his lover in Aghadoe was finally arrested due to her son's treachery and was beheaded and now sleeps like an Irish King in Aghadoe. Although this ballad appears to be a tragic love song, its real motive is not private and emotional, but public and political in that it allegorically expresses love of Ireland and the hatred for England...
References:
Aghadoe: large townland overlooking the town and lakes of Killarney in Ireland - takes its name from Acha Dá Eo, which is Irish for "The place of the two yew trees" (Traditionally church yards only had one yew tree).
Mallow: Mallow (Irish: Mala) is a town in County Cork.
Cairn: Man-made pile of rocks.
Category: Irish Rebel Song
Covers: Liam Clancy (featured), Maria McCool, Trudi Lalor, Owen Moore.
Featured Artist: Liam Clancy
Album: The Essential Liam Clancy (Jan 29, 2007)
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