The [C]people
have [G]spoken, a new day is [C]dawning
The people have [G]spoken, a [F]new day has [G]come
With [Am]hearts nearly [Em]broken,
a [F]chorus is [C]calling
The people have [G]spoken, it’s time to move [C]on
I [C]hear the
band [G]marching, singing Lilly bu[C]llero
‘Bu linn
an [G]la’ says ‘the [F]day will be [G]ours’
In [Am]unison,
[Em]bystanders [F]join in the [C]chorus
‘Our
day will [G]come’ singing ‘Tiochfaidh ar [C]la’
Chorus
[C]Whack fol the da
Tiochfaidh ar la
Agus Lilly bu[Am]llero is bull in an [G]la –G-G-G
Ah wack fol the [C]da –C-C-C
I [C]hear
people [G]say that if your day is [C]coming
Some people [G]fear that [F]their day is [G]done
But [Am]I say the [Em]sun
shines on [F]all or on [C]no one
If darkness is [G]over, a new day will [C]come
The [C]people have [G]spoken, a
new day is [C]dawning
You take a short [G]step on a [F]road that is [G]long
To [Am]live and let [Em]live on that [F]journey
to[C]gether
The people have [G]spoken, there’s work to be [C]done
Chorus
So [C]lay
down your [G]arms and your words of de[C]struction
Your tanks and your [G]guns, they have [F]all had their [G]say
The
[Am]arms we were [Em]given the [F]day we were [C]born
Were to love and dis[G]cover, to find a new [C]way
And [C]don’t
sing the [G]songs of the wrongs we have [C]suffered
Till first we can [G]hear of the [F]wrongs we have [G]done
And to[Am]gether
we’ll [Em]write a new [F]song for to[C]morrow
It’s then, only [G]then, that our day will [C]come.
Chorus
Tommy Sands
comment on the song from CD-booklet:
This song takes two well-known opposing Ulster catchphrases and celebrates their sameness – ‘The day will
be ours’ (from Lillybullero) and ‘Our day it will come’ (Tiochfaidh ar la). The origins of Lillybullero
have attracted much speculation down the years. The song, which its author Thomas Wharton (1640-1715) boasted ‘had rhymed
James II out of three kingdoms’, was written as a parody, it seems, to an earlier song from the 1641 Rebellion. It is
said that the chorus, today understood as only as gibberish by many, is actually a corruption of the Irish ‘Lilly lu leir o bu linn an la’, meaning ‘Lilly will be manifest,
the day will be ours’. William Lilly (1602-81) was a famous astrologer of the time. Not long ago in Belfast I listened
as a Loyalist Orange band played this tune to the heckling sound of ‘Tiocfaidh
ar la’ (Our day will come) from Irish Republicans. Since both slogans mean basically the same thing regardless of
their origins, I thought it would be wonderful to celebrate the much awaited ‘Day’ belonging to us all.