Intro, Bridge and Outro: D-D-A-A D-D-A-A
In (D)eighteen forty-five the blight came
(A)tearing at potato (D)fields
Black as night potatoes withered
(A)Dying
never more to (D)yield
Confiscated wheat and barley
(A)Left the shore to cross the (D)sea
Leaving nothing for the
people
But (A)tides of pain and mise(D)ry.
In (D)eighteen forty-six oppression
(A)Flooded right across the (D)land
Sweeping poverty the tyrant
(A)Crushing
with his ruling (D)hand
Those who could not pay evicted
(A)Thrown out, to the ways and (D)lanes
Hunger like a river
flowing
(A)Through the valleys and the (D)plains.
In (D)early eighteen forty-seven
(A)Coffin boats they start to (D)sail
Leaving Sligo overcrowded
(A)Destined for
Ameri(D)ca
Destitute they left the mainland
(A)Dreaming of their desti(D)ny
Many of them died like vermin
(A)Buried
in the deep cold (D)sea.
In (D)eighteen forty-eight the sky was
(A)Blacker than was ever (D)seen
Hanging low above the country
(A)Dealing
out her blackest (D)queen
Food was plenty for the gentry
(A)Fever raging through the (D)fold
Hoping that the coming
winter
(A)Burn the demon from the (D)ground.
In (D)eighteen forty-nine more than
(A)Two million people dead or (D)gone
Diseased and starving homeless people
(A)Doing
their best to carry (D)on
Voices calling through the country
(A)Come and change your desti(D)ny
Dreaming of the flower
so pretty
The (A)purple white on fields of (D)green.
