Kevin Barry Lyrics

The full sheet music score in G Major is now included. Kevin Barry lyrics and easy guitar chords. I have included the several versions of Kevin Barry here. The first is an anonymous and the one that's most popular. The sheet music for the popular version is included along with the tin whistle notes..
Kevin Barry was born in Dublin on 20 Jan.1902, He joined Feinna hEreann after hearing about the death of Thomas Ashe from being force fed while being on hunger strike, He joined the First Battalion of the Irish volunteers and on the 20 September he took part in an ambush on British soldiers at the junction of North King St. and Church Street Dublin. His comrades escaped and Kevin was wounded and captured.He was hanged in the hang man's yard of the prison and buried within its walls on Monday the 1st of November 1920. No members of his family were permitted to attend the funeral.The photo below was taken just after Kevin Barry was captured. Along with the Wolfe Tones the song was also recorded by The Irish Brigade, The Clancy Brothers, Paul Roberson, Christy Moore and Hank Locklin.

The song lyrics with easy guitar chords.

In Mountjoy[G] jail one morning, high above the gallows [D]tree
Kevin Barry gave his[C] young[D] life for the[D7] cause of libe[G]rty
Just[G] a lad of eighteen summers yet there's no one can de[D]ny
As he marched to death that[C] mor[D]ning, he proudly [D7]held his head on[G] high
 
Just before he faced the hangman in his dreary prison cell
British soldiers tortured Barry because he would not tell.
The names of his brave comrades and other things they wished to know
"Turn informer and we'll kill you". Kevin Barry answered "no".
 
Calmly standing to attention while he bade his last farewell
To his broken-hearted mother whose sad grief no-one can tell
For the cause he proudly cherished, this sad parting had to be
Then to death he walked softly smiling that old Ireland might be free
 
Another martyr for old Ireland, another murder for the crown,
Whose brutal laws may kill the Irish, but can't keep their spirits down
Lads like Barry are no cowards, for the cause they will not lie
Lads like Barry will free Ireland, for her sake we'll live and die.

Kevin Barry song

Kevin Barry Chords in D Major

Mountjoy[D] jail one morning, high above the gallows [A]tree
Kevin Barry gave his[G] young[A] life for the[A7] cause of libe[D]rty
Just[D] a lad of eighteen summers yet there's no one can de[A]ny
As he marched to death that[G] mor[A]ning, he proudly [A7]held his head on[D] high

BALLAD trad 1965
I've a sad but true story to relate
Of a brave young Irishman's cruel fate. 
It is written down in the roll of fame 
And Kevin Barry is the brave lad's.name.

When scarcely eighteen years of age .
To the Republican Army he was engaged 
For Ireland's sake he struck a blow 
To free his country from a tyrant foe.

In the fight with the foe against the crown 
Young Barry shot a British soldier down,
 He appeared and was tried by military 
And sentenced to die on the gallows tree.

In the condemned cell awaiting his fate
He was asked to confess before it was too late: 
Come tell us where your comrades may be
A pardon will be granted and we'll set you free.
Young Barry gazed with a look of scorn

Outside the jail his comrades fell
on their knees in prayer to the, prison bell 
 for the soul of a martyr friend Who would
 rather die than to foemen bend.
 
Out from the, jail then walked a priest
And the tears rolled down his manly cheeks; 
Have they hanged him, Father? his comrades cried. 
He's gone, hut a braver lad never died.

BITTER THE DEATH (Air: 'Emir's Farewell')
Written by Rev. D.A.Casey
Bitter the death they gave you soldier lad,
You of the boyish heart and fair blue eyes;
I fanged like a dog! God mercy, it would be sad
Did we not know you lived beyond the skies.
here nigh the Throne of Christ Who died to save,
There shall you plead for the land that claimed your love; ',
Silent you sleep in your lowly prison grave,

Many shall plead with you in the realms above.
 beloved Queen of this land of Faith;
Patrick, who taught the truths for which you died; 
Colm, who went into exile worse than death 
Every Saint of Eirinn stands by your side.
See through the Courts of Heaven what an array 
Muster to second your pleading, Kevin lad; 
heroes of old and martyrs of today 
How do you wonder, boy, that our hearts are glad.


THE GRAVE OF THE REBEL LYRICS -Thomas Furlong 1920
Mark the plain grave! 'tis hallowed by a name 
That power hath idly sought to link with shame.
Reckless of shame — unaw'd by selfish fear, 
Boldly I bless the glorious clay that's here, 
Sure that the pure and good shall sympathize 
With him who mourns where martyred virtue lies.

Is it the nickname bandied round the land, 
The felon's death dealt by the ruffian's hand - 
Is it the cry of `treason' still renewed — 
The bugbear of the brainless multitude? 
Is it the doom decreed by tyrant laws, 
That damns the patriot and defiles his cause? 
Nay! slaves, to craft and cruelty allied, 
Taking their own base feelings for a guide, 
 
To the frail frame their torture may apply.
Or spread, when life hath passed, the blasting lie; 
Still, still, the character this altered not; 
Be praise or blame — be weal or woe his lot. 
Truth in her hour asserts her sacred claim, 
And virtue stands in every change the same.
Let not the hangman's hand, the headman's below.
Sink him whose dust is gathered now below; 
horrors of unworthy strife
mar all the moral beauty of his life:
let pitying zeal his name from censure save, 
and truth be heard in whisper, o'er his grave.
what were his crimes? Come let his torturers tell; 
the first he loved his native land too well;
the next the darkest, blackest, let us see 
he longed, he hoped — he tried to make her free.

 

THE PASSING OF KEVIN LYRICS
The night is near at hand; in grim Mountjoy 
The morrow's victim chats with winning grace, 
His Mother's wistful eyes are on her boy; 
He bends to press fond kisses on her face

Then suddenly he holds her to his heart
With strange, fierce tenderness of boyish love: 
The time is up, his dear ones must depart; 
Again they'll meet in God's fair Home above.

Through tears they see him `at attention' stand
Kevin salutes them with his strong white hand; 
The scene is ever in their hearts enshrined.
He decks the Altar for the morning Mass

Like some bright, splendid Martyr boy of old; 
Now Heaven seems near, and as the moments pass 
His prayers ascend with faith and love untold.
`The Lord of Hosts is coming as my Guest,

Two Masses I would have,' is his fond plea, 
`That in my heart He may find pleasing rest, 
And this, my last thanksgiving, best may be.'
I love to think the Angels vigil keep

And wake him up to greet All Hallows' feast,
At morn, refreshed by youth's untroubled sleen, 
With Rosary in hand he greets the Priest
0 Savior Crucified, true Light of Light,

We offer up his sacrifice with Thine. 
Adoring Angels see a wondrous sight, 
The human Victim fed by the Divine
Without, 'neath murky skies, the kneeling crowds

Send up their Ayes to the Virgin sweet; 
A brilliant ray of sunlight parts the clouds 
When Kevin's soul flies to the Mercy Seat.
 
Anon. This poem was found in manuscript form among the papers in the possession of Triona Maher. These papers were owned by her mother, Shela Barry, and her grandmother, Mrs. Mary Barry. The poem has not been published before, nor is its author known. It clearly was written soon after Kevin's execution.
From The Book ''Kevin Barry And His Time By Donal O'Donovan
KEVIN THE ACOLYTE By Martin O'Brien. 1937
Haste, Father, haste, November's dawn is breaking; 
The acolyte is kneeling at his post.
`In the Name of the Father', the Sagart's voice is shaking: 
But the acolyte, how firm his `Holy Ghost'.
No worshipers in aisle or nave or chancel,
This edifice is but a felon's cell:
The `felon' now as acolyte is serving --
The Elevation chimes sound like his knell.

Haste, Father, haste, November's dawn is breaking, 
An Empire's thirst lost time can now allow; 
Your acolyte — a martyr in the making -
Is kneeling to receive his Master now.
Bend down to where he kneels with face uplifted, 
Pale composure in the candle's flickering glow,
That face which God from millions more has sifted, 
Haste, Father, haste, it's almost time to go.

Haste, Father, haste, November's dawn has broken, 
Lead forth your acolyte to meet his fate.
A prayer. . . Amen. . . the final words are spoken, 
And a victim of a frenzied Empire's hate
Embraces death — that Empire's might defying In prison dark, unsteeled by battle's hum.
A soldier brave your acolyte is dying:
Kneel, Father, kneel, a martyr's hour has come.

Kevin Barry Song Words Desmond Crean 1922
Couriers from each hill and glen
Spread the dread news far and wide
A comrade dies at break of day
Speed it o'er the countryside

Count your beads in every home 
In cloisters let the Mass be said
A valiant soldier of the Gael
Will soon be numbered with the dead.

Dip the nation's flag for him
Who dies to right our country's wrong 
Trumpeters on every hill
Sound the last post at the dawn

Army of the rank and file 
Marshal for the bugle calls 
Trumpeters in every glen 
Sound the last post as he falls.

Trumpeters of hill and glen 
Sound the call for he has died 
Light the candles for the dead 
Let his wake be nationwide

Heroic youth of tender years
To ambuscade the foe's patrol
Oh! Let his name be e'er revered
Pen it on the martyr's scroll.

 

Kevin Barry Song Lyrics By Leo Maguire-Hanged in Mountjoy Jail, 1 November, 1920
God bless you, lad with the hurley and you, with the ball, 
Skipping along to the field on this clear, cold day;
With your quick, straight limbs answering the young blood's call; 
But, listen a minute, and then be on your way.
There once was a boy — oh, not much older than you: 
Merry and light on his feet and straight as a staff --
Honest and kind, to God and his country true:
With a ready smile, like you, and a ringing laugh.

It's a good while now — long before you were born - 
Ask your fathers, they'll tell you the times were bad. 
Poor Ireland's way was set with pitfall and thorn,
 And her cry of anguish was heard by a little lad,
Sure, that's all Kevin Barry was; he was just eighteen - 
Ah! You've heard the name before — so well you might. 
Kevin Barry's name will live while the grass grows green: 
He fought and lost and was captured in the fight.

And the snug, sleek men said wisely 'What a shame `
That a misled boy who knows neither right nor wrong 
'Should have to die: But only himself's to blame, 
`And hang he must, to show we are stern and strong;'
 And die he did but, in dying the victory was won: 
For any fool can fight, but only the good can die
With a smile and a prayer on their lips, like this widow's son, 
Young Kevin Barry. May his soul be with God on high.

No: Don't look sad, boy: Come, it's pride you should feel! 
Go and enjoy your game, but think as you play,
That one who was young and strong and true as steel
Gave everything, even life, that you might be happy to-day.

Here's the tin whistle notes, which are a simplified version of the sheet music. Capital letters are the low notes up to the B and the high notes are the lower case letters after B.

​G  G      B   d    d     c      d    e   d
In mountjoy jail one Monday morning
B      d b    g    d    B     A
High upon the gallows tree
f   g     a  g   f      B      e       d
Kevin Barry gave his young life
c     d     f         e  d  B A
For the cause of liberty

Here's the Wolf Tones version of the guitar chords. Tommy Byrne sings this in the key of C.
[C]Mountjoy jail one monday [F]morn[C]ing, high above the gallows [G]tree
Kevin Barry gave his[F] young[G] life for the cause of libe[C]rty
Just a lad of eighteen [F]summ[C]ers yet there's no one can de[G]ny
As he marched to death that [F]mor[C]ning, he proudly held his head on[C] high

Kevin Barry  Written by Padraig Widger
 
The gallows grim a group of people kneeling, The prison grey against a sullen sky,
To Our Lady of the Sorrows they are pleading As a youth of tender years walks out to die.
 
 
See, here he comes with footstep slow and steady. With upward gaze and lips that move in prayer, To sacrifice his young life he is ready,
God comfort his poor weeping mother there.
 
Those memories of the past seem left behind us; What sorrow yet shall be our destiny;
The little wayside crosses still remind us, How brave men died to set their country free.
 
Such were my thoughts as shades of night surround me, Living again the past as sad tears flow,
Saying a fervent prayer 'ere morning found me, For the lad who died for Ireland long ago.
PADRAIG WIDGER
Kevin Barry song lyrics By COUNTESS MARKIEVICZ
 
We knelt at Mass with sobbing heart
Cold in the dawn of day.
The dawn for us, for him the night,
Who was so young and gay.
 
Then from the Altar spoke the priest.
His voice rang thin with pain --
Bidding us pray, a boy must die
At England's hands again.
 
The cruel English tortured him,
He never shrank or cried;
Sublime his faith, the gallows tree
He faced that day with pride.
 
Proudly he gave his life for her,
To whom his heart was given;
His dying eyes knew Freedom near,
Saw Death the Gate of Heaven.
 
Bright flaming dawn of a young life,
Simple and pure and brave;
One childlike prayerful sacrifice,
His end a felon's grave.
 
His end! No end to lives like his;
With us he lives always.
Bright through our night, a shining star,
He lights for us the way. 

And Christ, who died for love of us,
Tortured and bruised and shamed, 
 Gives courage to such hero souls,
Unbending and untamed.

---

A BALLAD OF KEVIN BARRY LYRICS - Kathleen Goodfellow
At the time when trees of Autumn
Call to wind and mitching boy,
Soldiers noosed the lad and caught him
To a tree before Mountjoy. Calvary and Kilmashogue,
Both must watch the mercenary Hang the hero for a rogue
Knot the rope for Kevin Barry.

Saints were dancing on All Hallows,
Apples patched on the streets, and nuts, 
Soldiers rigged a prison gallows
With the devil's wiry guts.
Rainbows flowered the cobblestones
For the roads were wet and tarry, 
When they jerked the flesh and bones
From the soul of Kevin Barry.

Samhain fog and beauty — muddy
Pavements — hills as fair as God, 
Autumn like a queen all bloody,
Through the streets of Dublin trod, 
Deirdre-like, a wounded rose,
Here where all her sorrows tarry 
Through the shadows that she knows 
Autumn keened for Kevin Barry.

Fish on stalls before the Castle Stank and silvered in the rain, 
Oranges had lost Hy-Brasil
For the kerb of Golden Lane. 
Carts of hay and carts of straw 
Squandered gold they could not carry
On the day the English law
Choked the fire from Kevin Barry.

Sailors dark with grape stained weather
Spat out sunlight on the quays,
Old books stirred their skins of leather
Dreamt of sunburnt centuries. 
Down the river Manannan
Drove his white-maned steeds to harry
Lissom ships, towards a Dawn Lit to honor Kevin Barry.

Round the miry Pillar streeling
Boys as lithe as Plato's Greeks
Laughed and cursed at women wheeling 
Cabbages and ivory leeks.
Sparrows jeered the tolling clocks
Pigeons flushed and cinerary
Smoldered on the salty rocks
While they haltered Kevin Barry.

From the Three Rock to the scaffold
Mountain winds came singing down,
Gay to see how youth had baffled 
Hell-fire in an Irish town,
Gay to see old Satan's thrust 
Fended with a scornful parry
`Dust returns unto star-dust'
Sang the winds round Kevin Barry.

Red leaves scattered by the breezes 
Blew along grey streets and pale,
You'd have said the feet of Jesus 
Had walked round about the goal.
And a shining host of youth 
Made the city wild and starry
With their eyes of love and truth 
Comrades these of Kevin Barry.

Sea-gulls, rapiers of light, winged 
Gleaming to the gallows place,
Death came soaring like the white-winged
Victory of Samothrace.
Sea-gulls sprayed the gallows tree
From the Liffey's estuary 
Crying of the courteous sea
To the young lad, Kevin Barry.

Dublin Hills and Dublin City
He'd had eighteen years to tread 
High disdain has youth for pity
Swinging at the gallows' head. 
Swinging fairly as a flower
Hung on shrine or sanctuary 
Youth is gay in Passion's hour
Who will weep for Kevin Barry?



THE PRISON GRAVE OF KEVIN BARRY LYRICS 1920
You are dead to-day, and the cold, cold clay of a prison graveyard lies 
On your body still, though, your spirit still lives in the Land beyond the skies.
With the martyred dead, who for Ireland bled, and who perished at the tyrant's hand,
And inscribed their name on the roll of fame, of Ireland's patriot band


Chorus
Oh dear brave Kevin Barry! May your spirit guide us through
The path you tread of the martyred dead, that we shall follow too.
When the savage horde, with fire and sword, sought to crush Dark Itosaleen,
And her grand old flag, in the mire to drag, the Orange, White and Green


You joined the fight, for your Motherland and Right, in the legion of your comrades brave,
To strike a blow at the mighty foe, your own dear land to save.


Chorus
The prison cell or the sad death knell no horrors hold for you;
Nor the cruel blows of ruthless foes could your young soul -subdue.
You preferred to die, on the gibbet of Mountjoy and to vindicate the..
Nation's cause,
Ere you'd bow your head in fear and dread of the tyrant alien laws.


Chorus
You are dead to-day and your sacred clay in a prison graveyard sleeps, 
While out beyond those grim, grey walls, an anguished people weeps, 
And kneels to pray that the Great God may a million more imbue 
With that courage pure that can endure, that we shall follow too.
Words and music- by Richard Clarke; music by John Stanley.

IN MEMORIAM — KEVIN BARRY -M. Barry O'Delany 1920
The strangled  boy lies on a prison bier
who asked for prayer but not for pity's tear;
tortured - reviled! Yet victor to the death.
his spirit lives , spite the poor stifled breath;
And all he endured is recorded there
Much is promised to even one brief prayer.

Profane their haste who decreed that this day 
Should see his life in anguish ebb away!
Virgins and Martyrs! in your now happy throng 
Whose voices raise in never-ending song!
Welcome the dead who walked the path you trod 
The brave young heart stilled on your festal day!
Receive him now who first showed him the way 
The thorn strewn way that leads direct to God!

STANDING TO ATTENTION SONG LYRICS
`There was a most touching and dramatic incident in the prison cell on Sunday, when, between 4 and 5 o'clock, the prisoner's mother and sister saw him for the last time.
He was quite calm and composed. He put on his trench coat with belt, as the nearest semblance to a soldier's uniform in his possession, and when his relatives had bid him good-bye, he stood to attention and gave his mother a military salute.
As she passed, with her daughter, down the corridor and looked back, the last thing she saw was the prisoner standing to attention'.
He was `standing to attention' when she left him there behind her,

In the shadow of the dreary prison cell.
There he stood so calm and gravely,
And he looked at her so bravely,
As a child looks at its mother when he knows that all is well;
And she thought in silent anguish of the baby boy she cherished,
Of the tiny little nothings mothers never can forget -
The words of childish wonder,
The turns of boyish anger,
For to her he's never grown up — he's but a baby yet.

He was `standing to attention' when she left him there behind her,
With the dying streaks of sunlight crawling thro' the stifled air,
Shining — ah, so sad and lonely,
For the last — and last time only,
On the splendid boyish figure that was standing sentry there,
He is gone! and still she sees him, as she ever more will see him,
For he still `stands at attention' where the tyrant dare not come,
And he'll smile again as bravely
And salute his mother gravely
As he takes her to his Master in the everlasting home

LINES ON THE MEMORY OF KEVIN BARRY Written in Mountjoy Gaol, 1 November, 1922
Two years ago to-day since you are dead,
And men are moved to weep, the while they praise 
The glory of your going. Pass the time.
They do not feel the splendour of your deed --

A boy of eighteen summers facing death
For love of country, freedom, honour, truth. 
They cannot understand this grand ideal,
This godlike sacrifice of youth — they soon forget.
The terror ends then tears are quickly dried
A Land of Promise floats before their sight. 
What if a youth has died for noble things --
Perish the thoughts that lead but to the skies. 
The earth to creep upon for slaves is good, 
The poisoned fruit is tempting to the touch; 
It will not harm them forsooth, they eat, 
They shrivel up — not you, but they, are dead.
Did you e'er think to see the King restored, 
The `old gang' reintrenched as masters here,
The Empire saved; the wound upon her side,
The running ulcer, healed; the Republic underfoot; 
And in its stead a state partitioned, nominally free,
A prisoner caged within the Empire's net; 
The Free State Irish, tightly bound by Oath 
To `British Brothers' sharing Britain's debt? 
You did not die for this, you well were spared 
The cruel disappointment and deceit of men, 
Who rising, on your suffering and your death, 
Seemed glad they had a country fit to sell. 
No! when you faced the hangman, heartless, cold, 
And felt the cruel cord around your neck, 
You did not wince, but proudly meeting death -
A man encouraged, though a boy in years - 
You proudly went, that all of us might live 
As freely as the birds, bond slaves to none, 
Friendly to all, sole masters of our fate.
Be at peace.
If others have forgotten, we have not,
And, while we hold the memory of your deed, 
Your Day returning shall not bring us shame 
Until in Freedom we may speak your name.

Kevin Barry Photo

The full sheet music score for Kevin Barry in the key of G Major.