leonardcohenforum.com

this is on the bobby sands trust website.along with gerry adams bobby was a big fan of leonard and would often sing suzanne to his fellow prisoners.

Leonard Cohen sings ‘Kevin Barry’


We have added more songs in the Multimedia section, including versions of ‘Kevin Barry’ by Leonard Cohen and Paul Robeson. We hope also to gradually expand an international section covering well-known or ‘forgotten’ songs about political prisoners.

In Mountjoy Jail one Monday morning,
High upon the gallows tree,
Kevin Barry gave his young life
For the cause of liberty.
Just a lad of eighteen summers,
Yet no one can deny,
As he walked to death that morning
He proudly held his head on high.

“Shoot me like an Irish soldier
Do not hang me like a dog
For I fought to free old Ireland
On that dark September morn,
All around the little bakery
As we fought them hand-to-hand
Shoot me like a soldier
For I fought to free Ireland.”

Just before he faced the hangman,
In his dreary prison cell,
British soldiers tortured Barry
Just because he would not tell
The names of his brave comrades,
And other things they wished to know,
“Turn informer or we’ll kill you!”
Kevin Barry answered “No!”

“Shoot me like an Irish soldier
Do not hang me like a dog
For I fought to free old Ireland
On that dark September morn,
All around the little bakery
As we fought them hand-to-hand
Shoot me like a soldier
For I fought to free Ireland.”

Calmly standing to attention,
As 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 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 spirit down.
Lads like Barry are no cowards,
From the foe they will not fly;
Lads like Barry will free Ireland,
For her sake they’ll live and die

you can listen to leonard's version here http://www.bobbysandstrust.com

Thanks, fisherinbelfast! I love it!

Sweeeet. I should transfer this to disc tomorrow, my news director would LOVE this. Thanks for the link!
The file does need some tweaking in Sound Forge though--too tinny. Time to play with the graphic EQ again!

fisherinbelfast,

Much appreciation for the link. The song and Bobby Sands' website are profoundly moving.

Best regards,
Mary

Many thanks for this, much enjoyed. whatever next, the Chieftains doing Sisters of Mercy?

Thank you Fisher.

Although I remember the news of the hunger strikes, I wouldn't have found this without your posting it here.

A sobering, and well-organized website. I'm glad Leonard and Paul Robeson are part of it.

whatever next, the Chieftains doing Sisters of Mercy?

my favourite irish entertainer at the moment is jack lynch - a stellar talent.

i'd like to see him essaying some leonard material.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP3NHzUyjq4
------------
BTW there are lots of estimable musicians who've ended up in jail

when i was a teenager i lived in the house of a man who claimed to have been taught the guitar by leadbelly!!

...Lead Belly's volatile nature sometimes led him into trouble with the law...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadbelly

What a wonderful testament to people everywhere, and through the centuries, who have fought for freedom and given the ultimate sacrifice. I remember well the death watch for Bobby Sands and hoping against hope that something would change. Thanks to Bobby and Kevin and hundreds of thousands who have stood against injustice they will not be forgotten.

I was so pleased to hear Leonard sing "Kevin Barry", but I was also captured by all the other songs. How moving.

Thank you so much for sharing this with us!

All the best,
Diana

sebmelmoth2003 wrote:

whatever next, the Chieftains doing Sisters of Mercy?

my favourite irish entertainer at the moment is jack lynch - a stellar talent.

i'd like to see him essaying some leonard material.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP3NHzUyjq4
------------
BTW there are lots of estimable musicians who've ended up in jail

when i was a teenager i lived in the house of a man who claimed to have been taught the guitar by leadbelly!!

...Lead Belly's volatile nature sometimes led him into trouble with the law...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadbelly

I have to add that I think Declan O'Rourke is fabulous. Lovely songs and great bass/baritone voice. The link is to one of his most popular songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8yEnu9_SGc

ps. Was at a gig of his last year, the vast majority of the audience were women, the men were just the boyfriends/husbands who had to tag along!

The Rhythm Of Time

There’s an inner thing in every man,
Do you know this thing my friend?
It has withstood the blows of a million years,
And will do so to the end.

It was born when time did not exist,
And it grew up out of life,
It cut down evil’s strangling vines,
Like a slashing searing knife.

It lit fires when fires were not,
And burnt the mind of man,
Tempering leadened hearts to steel,
From the time that time began.

It wept by the waters of Babylon,
And when all men were a loss,
It screeched in writhing agony,
And it hung bleeding from the Cross.

It died in Rome by lion and sword,
And in defiant cruel array,
When the deathly word was ‘Spartacus’
Along the Appian Way.

It marched with Wat the Tyler’s poor,
And frightened lord and king,
And it was emblazoned in their deathly stare,
As e’er a living thing.

It smiled in holy innocence,
Before conquistadors of old,
So meek and tame and unaware,
Of the deathly power of gold.

It burst forth through pitiful Paris streets,
And stormed the old Bastille,
And marched upon the serpent’s head,
And crushed it ‘neath its heel.

It died in blood on Buffalo Plains,
And starved by moons of rain,
Its heart was buried in Wounded Knee,
But it will come to rise again.

It screamed aloud by Kerry lakes,
As it was knelt upon the ground,
And it died in great defiance,
As they coldly shot it down.

It is found in every light of hope,
It knows no bounds nor space
It has risen in red and black and white,
It is there in every race.

It lies in the hearts of heroes dead,
It screams in tyrants’ eyes,
It has reached the peak of mountains high,
It comes searing ‘cross the skies.

It lights the dark of this prison cell,
It thunders forth its might,
It is ‘the undauntable thought’, my friend,
That thought that says ‘I’m right!’

bobby sands
H bLOCK LONG KESH

fisherinbelfast,

Thanks again! Yesterday I listened to virtually all the songs on the Bobby Sands website and was deeply affected by all of them but this one was my favourite. Very moving.

Diana

there is a crack, a crack in everything , thats how the light gets in.

Thanks for posting this Fisher.

fisherinbelfast wrote:there is a crack, a crack in everything , thats how the light gets in.

Beautiful...the H-Block. What touching artwork and how perfectly aligned with Leonard's song.

Thanks,
Diana