The Three Flowers Irish Song Lyrics And Guitar Chords
Recorded by Declan Hunt, Bridie Gallagher, The Irish Rebels and Terence O'Neill & Cormac O'Moore. Guitar chords are in C in chordpro format. The Third West Cork Brigade song is also sang by ballad singer Declan Hunt.The three flowers sheet music in D Major included.
THE THREE FLOWERS
The melodious weeping of the lament is a familiar sound in the lexicon of Irish rebel music. It is this memory-of-the-slain- in-song that has been largely responsible for creating the Pantheon of Martyrs that dominates the mythology of Irish
resistance.
Success or failure has mattered little to the rebel balladeer; what has mattered is daring to strike the blow. The English have never fully understood the impact of the martyr on the Irish people and, so, have busily supplied the poets with a constant supply of graves over which to sing. Pádraig Pearse's bitterly shrewd keen over one of them, that of O'Donovan Rossa in 1915, should have given the Crown a clue:
the fools, the fools, the fools-they have left us our Fenian dead. And while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall
never be at peace.
Had the British bothered to listen to the songs, they may have been able to prevent Pearse and his fellow poets from marching out the next Easter to offer their own blood sacrifice.
This ballad by Kenneth Reddin is typical of the caoine. Recalling Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet with sorrow, the song equates their sacrifice with that of Mickey Dwyer who fought on alone against impossible odds when all seemed lost. It is a fine example of the regard in which those rebel heroes were-and are-held.
The melodious weeping of the lament is a familiar sound in the lexicon of Irish rebel music. It is this memory-of-the-slain- in-song that has been largely responsible for creating the Pantheon of Martyrs that dominates the mythology of Irish
resistance.
Success or failure has mattered little to the rebel balladeer; what has mattered is daring to strike the blow. The English have never fully understood the impact of the martyr on the Irish people and, so, have busily supplied the poets with a constant supply of graves over which to sing. Pádraig Pearse's bitterly shrewd keen over one of them, that of O'Donovan Rossa in 1915, should have given the Crown a clue:
the fools, the fools, the fools-they have left us our Fenian dead. And while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall
never be at peace.
Had the British bothered to listen to the songs, they may have been able to prevent Pearse and his fellow poets from marching out the next Easter to offer their own blood sacrifice.
This ballad by Kenneth Reddin is typical of the caoine. Recalling Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet with sorrow, the song equates their sacrifice with that of Mickey Dwyer who fought on alone against impossible odds when all seemed lost. It is a fine example of the regard in which those rebel heroes were-and are-held.
[C]One time when walking [G]down a lane
As [Dm]night was [F]drawing [C]nigh
I met a [Am]colleen [Dm]with three flowers
And [F]she more [G]young than [C]I
[C]Saint Patrick [Am]bless you [Dm]dear said I
"If [F]you be [g]quick to [C]tell
The place where you did [G]find these flowers
I [Dm]seem to [F]know [G7]so [C]well"
She took a flower and kissed it once
And softly said to me
"This flower I found in Thomas Street
In Dublin fair", said she
"Its name is Robert Emmet
It's the youngest flower of all
And I'll keep it fresh beside my breast
Though all the world should fall"
She took and kissed the next flower twice
And softly said to me
"This flower comes from the Antrim hills
outside Belfast", said she
"The name I call it is Wolfe Tone
The bravest flower of all
And I'll keep it fresh beside my breast
Though all the world should fall"
She took and kissed the next flower thrice
And gently said to me
"This flower comes from the Wicklow hills
Its name is Dwyer", said she
"And Emmet, Tone and Dwyer I'll keep
For I do love them all
And I'll keep them fresh beside my breast
Though all the world should fall"
So Emmet, Tone and Dwyer I'll keep
As I do love them all
And I'll keep them fresh beside my breast
Though all the world should fall
As [Dm]night was [F]drawing [C]nigh
I met a [Am]colleen [Dm]with three flowers
And [F]she more [G]young than [C]I
[C]Saint Patrick [Am]bless you [Dm]dear said I
"If [F]you be [g]quick to [C]tell
The place where you did [G]find these flowers
I [Dm]seem to [F]know [G7]so [C]well"
She took a flower and kissed it once
And softly said to me
"This flower I found in Thomas Street
In Dublin fair", said she
"Its name is Robert Emmet
It's the youngest flower of all
And I'll keep it fresh beside my breast
Though all the world should fall"
She took and kissed the next flower twice
And softly said to me
"This flower comes from the Antrim hills
outside Belfast", said she
"The name I call it is Wolfe Tone
The bravest flower of all
And I'll keep it fresh beside my breast
Though all the world should fall"
She took and kissed the next flower thrice
And gently said to me
"This flower comes from the Wicklow hills
Its name is Dwyer", said she
"And Emmet, Tone and Dwyer I'll keep
For I do love them all
And I'll keep them fresh beside my breast
Though all the world should fall"
So Emmet, Tone and Dwyer I'll keep
As I do love them all
And I'll keep them fresh beside my breast
Though all the world should fall
The song tells of the writer meeting a young
girl carrying three flowers. She carries the
flowers as a reminder of her love for three
falling patriots. The first flower is a symbol
of Robert Emmet [ lyrics ] who was the leader of the
rebellion of 1803 and was hanged and be-headed
in Thomas Street Dublin in September of the
same year.
The next flower she calls the sweetest
of all is for Wolf Tone which she found in the
hills of Antrim. Wolf Tone after being found guilty
on the 10 of Nov. 1798.Rather than be executed he
slit his throat and died nine days later on the
19 of Nov. denying the hangman his pleasure.
The last flower is also a symbol of the girl's
love of another united Irishman, Michael Dwyer.
He spent five years on the run in the Wicklow
Mountains fighting the British Army from 1798
to 1803. Michael Dwyer died in Sydney in 1825,
he had been transported to Australia in 1805
as punishment for taking part in the rising.
girl carrying three flowers. She carries the
flowers as a reminder of her love for three
falling patriots. The first flower is a symbol
of Robert Emmet [ lyrics ] who was the leader of the
rebellion of 1803 and was hanged and be-headed
in Thomas Street Dublin in September of the
same year.
The next flower she calls the sweetest
of all is for Wolf Tone which she found in the
hills of Antrim. Wolf Tone after being found guilty
on the 10 of Nov. 1798.Rather than be executed he
slit his throat and died nine days later on the
19 of Nov. denying the hangman his pleasure.
The last flower is also a symbol of the girl's
love of another united Irishman, Michael Dwyer.
He spent five years on the run in the Wicklow
Mountains fighting the British Army from 1798
to 1803. Michael Dwyer died in Sydney in 1825,
he had been transported to Australia in 1805
as punishment for taking part in the rising.
The three flowers sheet music score
The three flowers sheet music in D Major
