Collection of Irish Song Lyrics
There Were Roses
So my song for you this evening,
it's not to make you sad
Not for adding to the sorrows
of this troubled northern land
But lately I've been thinking
and it just won't leave my mind
To tell you of two friends one time
They were both good friends of mine
Alan Bell from Banagh,
he lived just across the fields
A great man for the music,
and the dancing and the reels
O'Malley came from South Armagh
to court young Alice fair
And we often meet on the Ryan Road
and laughter filled the air
-Chorus-
There were roses, roses
There were roses
And the tears of the people ran together
Though Alan he was Protestant
and Sean was Catholic born
It never made a difference,
for the friendship it was strong
And sometimes in the evening
when we heard the sound of drums
We said it won't divide us,
we will always be the one
For the ground our fathers plowed in,
the soil it is the same
And the places where we say our prayers
have just got different names
We talked about the friends who'd died
and we hoped there'd be no more
It's little then we realized the tragedy in store
-Chorus-
It was on a Sunday morning
when the awful news came round
Another killing has been done
just outside Newry Town
We knew that Alan danced up there,
we knew he liked the band
But when we heard that he was dead
we just could not understand
We gathered at the graveside
on that cold and rainy day
And the minister he closed his eyes
and he prayed for no revenge
And all the ones who knew him
from along the Ryan Road
Then bowed our heads and said a prayer
for the resting of his soul
-Chorus-
Well fear it filled the countryside
there was fear in every home
When the car of death came
prowling round the lonely Ryan Road
A Catholic would be killed tonight
to even up the score
Oh Christ it's young O'Malley
that they've taken from the door
Alan was my friend! he cried,
he begged them with his fear
But centuries of hatred
have ears that can not hear
An eye for an eye, was all that filled their minds
And another eye for another eye
till everyone is blind
-Chorus-
So my song for you this evening,
it's not to make you sad
Not for adding to the sorrows
of this troubled northern land
But lately I've been thinking
and it just won't leave my mind
To tell you of two friends one time
They were both good friends of mine
I don't know where the moral is
or where this song should end
But I wonder just how many wars
are fought between good friends
And those who give the orders
are not the ones to die
It's Bell and O'Malley
and the likes of you and I
There were roses, roses
There were roses
And the tears of a people ran together
There were roses, roses
There were roses....
