X: 1
T:Bold Belfast Shoemaker, The
S:Digital Tradition, blfstsho
B:Given in O'Lochlainn's "Irish Street Ballads".
M:6/8
L:1/8
Q:3/8=100
W:Come all you true born Irishmen wherever you may be
W:I hope you'll pay attention and listen unto me
W:I am a bold shoemaker, Sam Irwin is my name
W:And to my great misfortune I enlisted in the train
W:
W:I had a fair young sweetheart, Jane Wilkin was her name
W:She said it grieved her heart full sore to see me in the train
W:She told me if I would desert to come and let her know
W:She would dress me up in her old clothes that I might go to and fro
W:
W:We marched to Chapelizod like heroes stout and bold
W:I'll be no more a slave to you my officer I told
W:For to work upon a Sunday with me does not agree
W:And the first chance that occurs  to me, I'll take my liberty
W:
W:Encamped near Tipperary we soon got in command
W:For me and for me comrades bold one night on guard did stand
W:The night it being both wet and dark and so we did agree
W:That on that very night brave boys we'd take our liberty
W:
W:The night that I deserted I had no place to go
W:I went into meadow and lay down in the hay
W:It was not long that I lay there till I awake again
W:And looking all around me, boys, I spied six of the train
W:
W:We had a bloody battle and soon I beat them all
W:And loud the dastard cowards for mercy then did call
W:Saying spare our lives brave Irwin and we will follow thee
W:And by all that's fair we will declare for you and liberty
W:
W:As for George Clarke of Carrick I own he's very mean
W:For the sake of thirty shillings he had me took again
W:They threw me in the guard house, me fate for to deplore
W:With four on every window, boys, and six on every door
W:
W:On being in close confinement, I soon looked all around
W:I climbed out of a window and knocked four of them down
W:The light horse and the train me boys, they soon did follow me
W:But I kept me road before them and preserved my liberty
W:
W:I next joined Father Murphy as you will plainly hear
W:And many's the battle did we fight with his brave Shelmaliers
W:With four hundred of his croppy boys we battered Lord Mountjoy
W:And at the battle of New Ross we made ten thousand fly
W:
W:I am a bold shoemaker, Sam Irwin is my name
W:I could beat as many Orangemen as 'listed in the train
W:I could beat as many Orangemen as would stand in a row
W:I'd make them fly before me like an arrow from a bow.
K:C
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