Dear Old Skibbereen lyrics + chords

Skibbereen Irish Song Lyrics and guitar chords, traditional song recoded by The Wolfe Tones and The Irish Brigade

[Am] Oh [G] father dear I [Am] oft-times hear you [G] talk of [F] Erin´s [Am] Isle

Her lofty [C] scene and [Am] valley [G] green, her [Am] mountains [C] rude and [Am] wild

They say it [C] is a [Am] pretty [G] place where-[Am] in a [C] prince might [Am] d´well

Then [G] why did you [Am] abondon it? The [G] reason [F] to me [Am] tell.

My son I loved our native land with energy and pride

Until a blight came on the land and sheep and cattle died,

The rent and taxes were to pay, I could not them redeem,

And that´s the cruel reason why I left old Skibbereen

It´s well I do remember that bleak December day,

The landlord and the sheriff came to drive us all away;

They set the roof on fire with their demon yellow spleen,

And that´s another reason why I left old Skibbereen.

It´s well I do remember the year of forty-eight

When I arose with Erin´s boys to fight against the fate,

I was hunted through the mountains for a traitor to the Queen

And that´s another reason why I left old Skibbereen.

Oh father dear, the day will come when vengeance loud will call,

And we will rise with Erin´s boys and rally one and all,

I´ll be the man to lead the van beneath our flag of green,

And loud and high we´ll raise the cry:´Revenge for Skibereen´.

The 1848 rebellion was the result of many factors. One was hunger -- the potato blight drove food prices beyond the reach of common people; in the end, millions died and many more went to America.
Another was land hunger; the preceding decades had forced many Irish smallholders off their lands while allowing the rich (usually English) to enlarge their holdings. By the time of the blight, most Irish were working holdings of five acres or less; there simply wasn't enough land for the population.
Finally, revolution was in the air; almost all of Europe (except England) was in turmoil.
Unfortunately for the rebels, the very factors that caused the revolt meant that it had no strength and could gain no foreign help. And England, with a stable government at home and all her enemies distracted, could deal with the rebellion at its leisure.