This is Andy M. Stewart's rendition of Patrick Sheehan (also known as The Glen of Aherlow) from his 1982 album By the Hush. Based on a true story, this song is thematically very similar to By the Hush but the narrator fights in the Crimean War rather than the American Civil War and is blinded rather than amputated.
Stewart had this to say of the song:
"Eviction! A terrifying ordeal endured by the gentle inhabitants of Gaeldom. From the highlands of Scotland to the green glens of Ireland, they were subjected to the heartless barbarism of landlord and sheriff, soldier and constabulary. This powerful ballad describes how a young man is forced by eviction and near starvation to join the English army, although his only wish is to continue farming his land. He is blinded at the Battle of Sevastopol in the Crimea, but knows he can never return to Aherlow, as he would face the rejections of his neighbors for having enlisted as a soldier. I learned this song when I was about 14 from a man from the Island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Although obviously Irish, it is known and sung in Lewis as a traditional song. Its melody has a haunting Hebridean feel to it, quite different from some Irish versions I've heard, where it is sung to the melody of The Homes of Donegal. Years after learning Patrick Sheehan, I found that it was written by Charles Joseph Kickham, born in Tipperary in 1830, who became a leader writer for the Irish People--a paper concerned with the Fenian Movement. For the humanitarian outflowings of his pen, Kickham was sentenced by the government to 14 years' penal servitude. His comment on the conclusion of his trial was terse: 'I have endeavored,' he said, 'to serve Ireland, and now I am prepared to suffer for Ireland.' Four years after his conviction he was released."
LYRICS
My name is Patrick Sheehan, my years are 34
Tipperary is my native place, not far from Galtymore
I came of honest parents but now they're lying low
Though many's the pleasant days spent in the Glen of Aherlow
My father died, I closed his eyes outside our cabin door
For the landlord and the sheriff too were there the day before
And then my loving mother and sisters three also
Were forced to go with broken hearts from the Glen of Aherlow
For three long months in search of work I wandered far and near
I went then to the poorhouse to see my mother dear
The news I heard near broke my heart but still in all my woe
I blessed the friends who made their graves in the Glen of Aherlow
Bereft of home and kith and kin with plenty all around
I starved within my cabin and slept upon the ground
But cruel as my lot was I ne'er did hardship know
'Til I joined the English army far away from Aherlow
"Rouse up there," cried the corporal, "you lazy Irish hound
"Why don't you hear the bugle, its call to arms to sound?"
I found I had been dreaming of the days long long ago
And I woke upon Sevastopol and not in Aherlow
I tried to find my musket, how dark I thought the night
Oh blessed God, it was not dark, it was the broad daylight
And when I found that I was blind, my tears began to flow
And I longed for even a pauper's grave in the Glen of Aherlow
A poor neglected mendicant, I wander Dublin's street
My nine months' pension, it being out, I beg from all I meet
As I joined my country's tyrants, my face I can never show
Amongst my dear old neighbors in the Glen of Aherlow
So Irish youths, dear countrymen, take heed of what I say
For if you join the English ranks you'll surely rue the day
And whenever you're tempted a-soldiering to go
Remember poor blind Sheehan of the Glen of Aherlow
Негізгі бет Andy M. Stewart - Patrick Sheehan
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