the ballad of patrick murphy
christy moore
they lived beside the river at the turning of the tide
they lived beside the river
by the river they lived and they died
patrick murphy was a fisherman in the town of passage west
with his wife and seven children he tended to his nets
in the year 1911 one moonlit night in may
with 3 companions patrick rowed across to french's bay
they were fishing for a living like their fathers done before
dreaming of the salmon all along the mucan shore
they lived beside the river at the turning of the tide
they lived beside the river
by the river they lived and they died
until the bailiffs boat came down the lee
they came down from blackrock castle with their revolvers drawn
the murricaune were gangsters in the service of the crown
they murdered patrick murphy as he fished on the mucan
in the year 2011 we gathered on the green
to remember patrick murphy in beautiful toureen
for the people that remember that justice was not done
for the killing of pat murphy by a bullet from the bailiffs' gun