Dolores Keane - The Wind That Shakes the Barley

"The Wind That Shakes the Barley" is an Irish ballad written by Robert Dwyer Joyce (1836-1883), a Limerick-born poet and professor of English literature. The song is written from the perspective of a doomed young Wexford rebel who is about to sacrifice his relationship with his loved one and plunge into the cauldron of violence associated with the 1798 rebellion in Ireland. The references to barley in the song derive from the fact that the rebels often carried barley oats in their pockets as provisions for when on the march. This gave rise to the post-rebellion phenomenon of barley growing and marking the "croppy-holes," mass unmarked graves which slain rebels were thrown into, symbolising the regenerative nature of Irish resistance to British rule. :iconbigheartplz:


"I sat within the valley green, I sat me with my true love
My sad heart strove the two between, the old love and the new love
The old for her, the new that made me think on Ireland dearly
While soft the wind blew down the glen and shook the golden barley

'Twas hard the woeful words to frame to break the ties that bound us
But harder still to bear the shame of foreign chains around us
And so I said, "The mountain glen I'll seek at morning early
And join the bold united men, while soft winds shake the barley"

While sad I kissed away her tears, my fond arms round her flinging
The foeman's shot burst on our ears from out the wildwood ringing
A bullet pierced my true love's side in life's young spring so early
And on my breast in blood she died while soft winds shook the barley

But blood for blood without remorse I've taken at Oulart Hollow
And laid my true love's clay cold corpse where I full soon may follow
As round her grave I wander drear, noon, night and morning early
With breaking heart when e'er I hear the wind that shakes the barley

the wind that shakes the barley"

Category:

Music

Tags:

• the
• wind
• that
• shakes
• barley
• dolores
• keane
• irish
• folk
• song
• celtic
• music

[rs206626]

Am I right, this is Dolores Keane singing that sad but beautiful ballad?

Greetings from Rosenheim (Bavaria)

[bogdaniciu1987]

@rs206626

hey

yep...

you're right :D

[TheMaryMargaret]

Beautiful and thank you so much.

[bogdaniciu1987]

thank you :D glad you like it

[milan20050]

This is extremely beautiful!... ♥

I wish I could visit Ireland someday and probably learn irish english too. =]

[olivier102]

its clear for every man from country which been previously under foreign power: that song smells Freedom

[RIXLAZZZ]

best version of this song

[Marydawgs]

This is one of my favorites.Love Dolores Keane's homespun voice.Feel the cold edge of the wind across the glen.The rebels carried barley in their pockets.No kitchens on the run,as Tommy Makem narrated in his intro to Seamus Heaney's "Reqiem for the Croppies".

[sglenna]

It seems that if you want Great Music look to the opressed

[xProudxIrishxGirlx]

i could cry listening to this

[Eiskekssort]

A beautiful song , Delores Keanes voice and especially the pipe part, too. I like this version, it brings tears to the eyes.

I want to visit Ireland I'm from Berlin ;_;

[xxksaoXX]

Tá Móire agus na hÉireann Bráithre agus cuirfear le chéile mar Phoblacht.

[dgraustralia]

This beautiful song lent its name to a very powerful film about the Irish Republican struggle for freedom from the British empire. Watch the movie on youtube.

[Miaru]

This is a extremely beautiful song, just so magic....

[PhalainaBelgium]

Beautiful song !! Dolores Keane's voice is always enchanting ! Phalaïna

[frutiexxx]

dolores keane is one of the greatest singers we have ever produced, check her out singing 'far away in australia' too. great song and very relevant again,