Irish Ways and Irish Laws

Once upon a time there was
Irish ways and Irish laws,
Villages of Irish blood
Waking in the morning,
Waking in the morning.

Then the Vikings came around,
Turned us up and turned us down,
Started building boats and towns.
They tried to change our living,
They tried to change our living.

Cromwell and his soldiers came,
Started centuries of shame,
But they could not make us turn.
We are a river flowing,
We’re a river flowing.

Again, again the soldiers came,
Burnt our houses, stole our grain,
Shot the farmers in their fields,
Working for a living,
Working for a living.

Eight hundred years we have been down.
The secret of the water sound
Has kept the spirit of the man
Above the pain descending,
Above the pain descending.

Today the struggle carries on,
I wonder will I live so long
To see the gates being opened up
To a people and their freedom,
A people and their freedom.