The Bantry Girls Lament

Who will plow the field now, and who will sow the corn
Who will wash the sheep now, and keep them neatly shorn
The stack that's in the haggard, un-touched it may re-main
Since Johnny went a-thrashing all in the wars of Spain

CHORUS:
Johnny, lovely Johnny, he's sailing o'er the main
A-long with other patriots, to fight the King of Spain


And the girls from the bawn-oag in sorrow may re-tire
The piper and his bellows, (may) go home and blow the fire
At fairs and hurling matches, your likes we seldom see
Till you come home a-gain to us, a-storeen oag mo cree

And a cruel fate will not permit our Johnny to re-turn
His heavy loss, we Bantry girls will never cease to mourn
We re-sign ourselves to our sad lot, and die in grief and pain
Johnny died for freedom's sake in the foreign lands of Spain


NOTES:
- Gaelic phrases are spelled phonetically
- Haggard: a threshing yard
- Ba/no/g: a green patch of ground (Ireland?)
- Mi/an fhomhair: harvest month
- Asto/iri/n o/g mo chroi: little young treasure of my heart

Recorded by The Clancy Brothers, Tunes & Tales (Folk Era, FE-2061, 1988)