Submitted by Dotsey
THE WOLFE TONES
SEAN SOUTH OF GARRYOWEN

This song is about Sean South who was shot dead, along with Fergal O'Hanlon, during
a daring raid on an R.U.C. base during the I.R.A.'s border campaign of 1956-1962.


(spoken)
Sad are the homes 'round Garryowen
Since lost their giant pride
And the banshee cry links every vale
Around the Shannon side
that city of the ancient walls
Unbroken Treaty Stone, undying fame
Surrounds your name, Sean South of Garryowen

Verse 1
         G
  T'was on a dreary New Year's Eve
                   C          G
  As the shades of night came down
                  C    G
  A lorry load of volunteers
    C            Am     D7
  Approached the border town
             G               C        G
  There were men from Dublin and from Cork
     C      Am    D7
  Fermanagh and Tyrone
          G
  And the leader was a Limerick man-
                  C    G
  Sean South from Garryowen

Verse 2
  As they moved along the street
  Up to the barracks door
  They scorned the danger they might face
  Their fate that lay in store
  They were fighting for old Ireland's cause
  To claim their very own
  And the foremost of that gallant band
  Was South from Garryowen

Verse 3
  But the sergeant spied their daring plan
  He spied them through the door
  The Sten guns and the rifles
  A hail of death did pour
  And when that awful night was passed
  Two men lay as cold as stone
  There was one from near the border
  And one from Garryowen

Verse 4
  No more will he hear the seagull's cry
  Over the murmuring Shannon tide
  For he fell beneath a northern sky
  Brave Hanlon by his side
  They had gone to join that gallant band
  Of Plunkett, Pearse and Tone
  A martyr for old Ireland
  Sean South from Garryowen