Bold Robert Emmet lyrics and chords
A traditional ballad recorded by The Dublin City Ramblers and The Clancy Brothers. Robert Emmet was hung drawn and quartered in Thomas Street Dublin on September 1803. The last verse of the song was written by Alan P. Barrett in 2014 and incorporates perhaps the most telling remark, from his speech from the dock. The tin whistle sheet music is included along with the piano keyboard music letter notes.
Bold Robert Emmet
The 1798 rebellion holds an honoured position in the tradition of Irish nationalism. Outside of Ireland, however, only those directly involved found it of any particular importance at the time. William Pitt, preoccupied with the grave events in Europe and the Levant, considered the Irish risings but a side- show to the main event that was taking place in the Mediterranean, as did the French Directorate. On the other hand, the Prime Minister, perhaps somewhat surprised by the intensity of the rebellion, correctly surmised that it was a sideshow that might recur if not handled correctly.
After the news of Lord Nelson's August 1798 victory over the French fleet at the Nile reached London, Pitt was able to turn his attention to Ireland. The Prime Minister had long been an advocate of the parliamentary union of Ireland and Great Britain; now he was determined to press for an Act of Union to settle, in the by-now-commonplace phrase, "the Irish question once and for all." After six centuries of colonial status, the Irish were still behaving as if they were newly conquered; Pitt was genuinely, if naïvely, convinced that the civilising influence of Irish responsibility within the kingdom would engender "English patriotism" among the unruly natives of Ireland. It was, in any case, about all that had not been attempted. The Prime Minister's design included eventual Catholic Emancipation, a concept he defined as the abolition of peasant tithes and the admission of Catholic gentlemen into the British Commons. Those concessions, however, would be in the vague future; Pitt's first task would be to incorporate Ireland into a United King- dom.
Union was not a new concept, nor was its unpopularity in Ireland. As has been seen, the mere rumour that the measure was to be introduced had produced riots in Dublin some four decades earlier. Then, when a peer had dared suggest it to the Viceroy in 1780 (as an alternative to the independent Irish Parliament urged by Charlemont and Grattan), Lord Buckingham had responded:
Let me earnestly recommend to you not to utter the word Union in a whisper, or to drop it from your pen. The present temper will not hear it.
With the Irish Volunteers a thing of the past and the United Irish- men in shambles, London was no longer so concerned with the "temper" of the Irish.
As early as July 1798 the Baron of Auckland had begun sounding Ascendancy opinion on the issue for the Prime Minis- One letter that Auckland received in reply-from John Fitzgibbon, the Lord Chancellor-is significant in that it ex- presses the genuine feeling among some of the great landowners that there was no viable alternative:
As to the subject of an Union with the British Parliament, I have long been of the opinion that nothing short of it can save this country. I stated the opinion very strongly to Mr. Pitt in 1793, immediately after that fatal mistake... in receiving an appeal from the Irish Parliament by a Popish democracy. The Ascendancy was truly between a "rock and a hard place." The country had to be protected from democracy to maintain the prerogatives of the upper class, but the protection ironically would involve shifting the landowners' political clout to the middle-class burghers of the British Commons.
The Irish split over the issue, most choosing a side based on what the Act of Union could do for them personally. The few upper-class Catholics were largely disposed to accept Pitt's proposal. Precluded from holding office in the Irish Parliament, the papist gentry was hopeful of more sympathy from West- minster than had been shown them by the Protestants in College Green. Besides, Pitt was holding out the possibility of their entering the British Commons. It was the Ascendancy itself which stood to lose the most by the Union: the landowners, who had complete control of the 300-seat Irish Parliament, would comprise an ineffectual 100-seat minority in the proposed new British assembly. Yet, the Protestant élite did not resist the Union upon principle; rather, they fought the Prime Minister tooth-and-nail for adequate compensation. They merely wanted the government to pay them handsomely for giving up their heretofore privileged position.
The 1798 rebellion holds an honoured position in the tradition of Irish nationalism. Outside of Ireland, however, only those directly involved found it of any particular importance at the time. William Pitt, preoccupied with the grave events in Europe and the Levant, considered the Irish risings but a side- show to the main event that was taking place in the Mediterranean, as did the French Directorate. On the other hand, the Prime Minister, perhaps somewhat surprised by the intensity of the rebellion, correctly surmised that it was a sideshow that might recur if not handled correctly.
After the news of Lord Nelson's August 1798 victory over the French fleet at the Nile reached London, Pitt was able to turn his attention to Ireland. The Prime Minister had long been an advocate of the parliamentary union of Ireland and Great Britain; now he was determined to press for an Act of Union to settle, in the by-now-commonplace phrase, "the Irish question once and for all." After six centuries of colonial status, the Irish were still behaving as if they were newly conquered; Pitt was genuinely, if naïvely, convinced that the civilising influence of Irish responsibility within the kingdom would engender "English patriotism" among the unruly natives of Ireland. It was, in any case, about all that had not been attempted. The Prime Minister's design included eventual Catholic Emancipation, a concept he defined as the abolition of peasant tithes and the admission of Catholic gentlemen into the British Commons. Those concessions, however, would be in the vague future; Pitt's first task would be to incorporate Ireland into a United King- dom.
Union was not a new concept, nor was its unpopularity in Ireland. As has been seen, the mere rumour that the measure was to be introduced had produced riots in Dublin some four decades earlier. Then, when a peer had dared suggest it to the Viceroy in 1780 (as an alternative to the independent Irish Parliament urged by Charlemont and Grattan), Lord Buckingham had responded:
Let me earnestly recommend to you not to utter the word Union in a whisper, or to drop it from your pen. The present temper will not hear it.
With the Irish Volunteers a thing of the past and the United Irish- men in shambles, London was no longer so concerned with the "temper" of the Irish.
As early as July 1798 the Baron of Auckland had begun sounding Ascendancy opinion on the issue for the Prime Minis- One letter that Auckland received in reply-from John Fitzgibbon, the Lord Chancellor-is significant in that it ex- presses the genuine feeling among some of the great landowners that there was no viable alternative:
As to the subject of an Union with the British Parliament, I have long been of the opinion that nothing short of it can save this country. I stated the opinion very strongly to Mr. Pitt in 1793, immediately after that fatal mistake... in receiving an appeal from the Irish Parliament by a Popish democracy. The Ascendancy was truly between a "rock and a hard place." The country had to be protected from democracy to maintain the prerogatives of the upper class, but the protection ironically would involve shifting the landowners' political clout to the middle-class burghers of the British Commons.
The Irish split over the issue, most choosing a side based on what the Act of Union could do for them personally. The few upper-class Catholics were largely disposed to accept Pitt's proposal. Precluded from holding office in the Irish Parliament, the papist gentry was hopeful of more sympathy from West- minster than had been shown them by the Protestants in College Green. Besides, Pitt was holding out the possibility of their entering the British Commons. It was the Ascendancy itself which stood to lose the most by the Union: the landowners, who had complete control of the 300-seat Irish Parliament, would comprise an ineffectual 100-seat minority in the proposed new British assembly. Yet, the Protestant élite did not resist the Union upon principle; rather, they fought the Prime Minister tooth-and-nail for adequate compensation. They merely wanted the government to pay them handsomely for giving up their heretofore privileged position.
The[D] struggle is[G] over the[D] boys were de[A7]feated
Old[D] Ireland sur[A7]rounded by[D] sadness and[G] gloom
We[D] were de[A7]feated and[D] shamefully[A7] treated
And[D] I Robert[G] Emmet a[A7]waiting my[D] doom
[Chorus]
[D]Bold Robert [G]Emmet the [D]darling of [A7]Erin
[D]Bold Robert [A7]Emmet he'll [D]die with a [G]smile
[D]Farewell com[A7]panions both [D]loyal and [A7]daring
I'll [D]lay down my [G]life for the [A7]Emerald [D]Isle
Hung drawn and quartered sure that was my sentence
But soon I will show them no coward am I
My crime was the love of a land I was born
A hero I lived and a hero I'll die
I was arrested and cased into prison
Tried as a traitor a rebel a spy
But no one can call me a knave or a coward
For a hero I lived and a hero I'll die
Hark the bells tolling I well know the meaning
My poor heart tells me it is my death knell
In come the clergy the warden is leading
I have no friends here to bid me farewell
So good bye to old Ireland my parents and sweetheart
Companions in arms to forget you must try
I was proud of the honour it was only my duty
A hero I lived and a hero I'll die.
Erin, mo mhuirnin, my love and my country!
Ireland, my Ireland [ song ], though dead I shall be
Hear now the words of my final oration:
Write me no epitaph ‘til my country is free!.
Old[D] Ireland sur[A7]rounded by[D] sadness and[G] gloom
We[D] were de[A7]feated and[D] shamefully[A7] treated
And[D] I Robert[G] Emmet a[A7]waiting my[D] doom
[Chorus]
[D]Bold Robert [G]Emmet the [D]darling of [A7]Erin
[D]Bold Robert [A7]Emmet he'll [D]die with a [G]smile
[D]Farewell com[A7]panions both [D]loyal and [A7]daring
I'll [D]lay down my [G]life for the [A7]Emerald [D]Isle
Hung drawn and quartered sure that was my sentence
But soon I will show them no coward am I
My crime was the love of a land I was born
A hero I lived and a hero I'll die
I was arrested and cased into prison
Tried as a traitor a rebel a spy
But no one can call me a knave or a coward
For a hero I lived and a hero I'll die
Hark the bells tolling I well know the meaning
My poor heart tells me it is my death knell
In come the clergy the warden is leading
I have no friends here to bid me farewell
So good bye to old Ireland my parents and sweetheart
Companions in arms to forget you must try
I was proud of the honour it was only my duty
A hero I lived and a hero I'll die.
Erin, mo mhuirnin, my love and my country!
Ireland, my Ireland [ song ], though dead I shall be
Hear now the words of my final oration:
Write me no epitaph ‘til my country is free!.
Drawing Of Robert Emmet
Bold Robert Emmet
Here's the guitar chords for the key of G
The[G] struggle is[C] over the[G] boys were de[D7]feated
Old[G] Ireland sur[D7]rounded by[G] sadness and[C] gloom
We[G] were de[D7]feated and[G] shamefully[D7] treated
And[G] I Robert[C] Emmet a[D7]waiting my[G] doom
[G]Bold Robert [C]Emmet the [G]darling of [D7]Erin
[G]Bold Robert [D7]Emmet he'll [G]die with a [C]smile
[G]Farewell com[D7]panions both [G]loyal and [D7]daring
I'll [G]lay down my [C]life for the [D7]Emerald [G]Isle
The[G] struggle is[C] over the[G] boys were de[D7]feated
Old[G] Ireland sur[D7]rounded by[G] sadness and[C] gloom
We[G] were de[D7]feated and[G] shamefully[D7] treated
And[G] I Robert[C] Emmet a[D7]waiting my[G] doom
[G]Bold Robert [C]Emmet the [G]darling of [D7]Erin
[G]Bold Robert [D7]Emmet he'll [G]die with a [C]smile
[G]Farewell com[D7]panions both [G]loyal and [D7]daring
I'll [G]lay down my [C]life for the [D7]Emerald [G]Isle
Bold Robert Emmet Tin Whistle Sheet Music and letter notes. The version I worked out here is from listening to The Dublin City Ramblers. There are other pieces of sheet music around the internet and in song books but they don't even come close to the way the 'ramblers sing it. I have listened to many version of this song over the years and all are different in little ways. If you listen to Anna McGolderick's version you'll hear it been sang in a slow air and using a different tune. The Wolfe Tones use the tune that's close to the one I composed here but it's not note perfect. It was The Dublin City Ramblers version that I heard the first all them years ago so that's the tune that stayed in me head and that's the one that's included here. Youtube video lesson included, although it's fairly easy to play anyway.
Bold Robert Emmet lyrics
Bold Robert Emmett piano keyboard letter notes
Robert Emmet was SENTENCED to be hung, drawn and quartered but that was not carried out (it had become customary not to carry that sentence out in full for some time already). Accordingly he was hung and then decapitated.
Your readers may be interested to know that his famous speech from the dock (or a version of it) was recited as one of the performances at radical dinners for the rest of that century and even beyond, not just in Ireland and in the United States but in England and Scotland also.
His fame spread widely and the poet Shelley wrote a piece about him.
He is lauded in not just this popular song but also The Three Flowers by Reddin and Anne Devlin by Pete St. John.
Slán go fóill, Diarmuid Breatnach
Your readers may be interested to know that his famous speech from the dock (or a version of it) was recited as one of the performances at radical dinners for the rest of that century and even beyond, not just in Ireland and in the United States but in England and Scotland also.
His fame spread widely and the poet Shelley wrote a piece about him.
He is lauded in not just this popular song but also The Three Flowers by Reddin and Anne Devlin by Pete St. John.
Slán go fóill, Diarmuid Breatnach
