Traditional & Folk Songs with lyrics & midi music www.traditionalmusic.co.uk 
Dunlavin Green 
Dunlavin Green 
(In Dunlavin, Co Wicklow, Captain Saunders marched 36 prisoners, among them 28 yeoman suspected of having sympathies towards the United Irishmen, from the jail to the village green. They were executed on the spot.) 
In the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety eight A sorrowful tale the truth unto you I'll relate Of thirty-six heroes to the world were left to be seen By a false information were shot on Dunlavin Green 
Bad luck to you Saunders, for you did their lives betray You said a parade would be held on that very day Our drums they did rattle - our fifes they did sweetly play Surrounded we were and privately marched away 
Quite easy they led us as prisoners through the town To be slaughtered on the plain, we were then forced to kneel down Such grief and such sorrow were never before there seen When the blood ran in streams down the dykes of Dunlavin Green 
There is young Matty Farrell has plenty of cause to complain Also the two Duffys who were also shot down on the plain And young Andy Ryan, his mother distracted will run For her own brave boy, her beloved eldest son 
Bad luck to you, Saunders, may bad luck never you shun! That the widow's curse may melt you like the snow in the sun The cries of the orphans whose murmurs you cannot screen For the murder of their dear fathers on Dunlavin Green 
Some of our boys to the hills they are going away Some of them are shot and some of them going to sea Micky Dwyer in the mountains to Saunders he owes a spleen For his loyal brothers who were shot on Dunlavin Green 
APR99