Black 47 Follow

Mo chara is mo lao thu
Is aisling tri n× allaibh
Do deineadh ar× ir dom
IgCorcaigh go d× anach
Ar leaba im aonar

I remember you back in the GPO
With Connolly and Clarke
Laughin' with McDermott
Through the bullets and the sparks

Always with the smart remark
Your eyes blazin' and blue
But when we needed confidence
We always turned to you

And when they shot our leaders
Up against Kilmainham wall
You were there beside us
In that awful Easter dawn

Hey, big fellah where the hell are you now?
When we need you the most
Hey, big fellah c'mon

Tabhair dom do lamh

Back on the streets of Dublin
When we fought the black and tans
You were there beside us
A towerin' mighty man

And God help the informer
Or the hated English spy
By Jaysus, Mick, you'd crucify them
Without the blinkin' of an eye

Still you had a heart as soft as
The early mornin' dew
Every widow, whore and orphan
Could always turn to you

We beat them in the cities
And we whipped them in the streets
And the world hailed Michael Collins
Our commander and our chief

And they sent you off to London
To negotiate a deal
And to gain us a republic
United, boys, and real

But the women and the drink
Mick, they must have got to you
'Cause you came back with a country
divided up in two

We had to turn against you, Mick
There was nothin' we could do
'Cause we couldn't betray the republic
Like Arthur Griffith and you

We fought against each other
Two brothers steeped in blood
But I never doubted that your heart
Was broken in the flood

And though we had to shoot you down
In golden B× al na Blath
I always knew that Ireland lost
Her greatest son of all