577. The Irish War of Independence: The Violence Begins (Part 2)

I joined the Flying Column in 1916 in Cork with Sean Moylan in Tipperary with Dan Breen, arrested by free staters and sentenced for to die. Farewell to Tipperary, said the Galti mountain boy. We went across the valleys and o'er the hilltops green, where we met with Dinny Lacy, Sean Hogan and Dan Breen. Sean Mylan and his gallant men they kept the flag flying high, and farewell to Tipperary, said the Galti mountain boy.

I'll bid farewell to Old Clonmel, I nevermore shall see, and to the Galti Mountains that oft times sheltered me. Those who fought for liberty and died without a sigh, May their cause not be forgotten, said the Galti Mountain Boy. So that was the Galty Mountain Boy, written by Patsy O'Halloran and Christy Moore, and delivered quite beautifully by a man we will be introducing in a few moments. And it's the story of a teenage volunteer who joins the Irish Republican cause in 1916.

He fights the British in the Irish War of Independence, but he's sentenced to death by his own former comrades, the Free Staters, in the Irish Civil War, and Tom For me, that ticks every Irish ballad box. There's a lot of geography. There's a lot of stuff about freedom and flags. There are random names of folk heroes that would mean a lot to Irish listeners, but perhaps not to British ones.

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