The Ballads of Rory McGuinness

There were three ballads depicting the execution of Rory McGuinness. The first two somehow became intertwined into the one published first below. Just so no one will take this and and record it, let me reassure you that there is a later version. It is also below. I do have a couple of singers interested in recording this. I simply can't wait to hear what they do with it. I wrote the first version in 1968 and the second in 2007. The melody is something I wrote in 1968 too.

I am almost afraid to tell you this, but Shannon used to have a brother named Ronald. The two hailed from a little billage in Ulster called Reagan.. ahem. That is not why he was retroactively aborted, not showing up in the novel or even the later unpublished stories..

The old version is long and confusing because it's a mix of two ballads. I think I lost the original, had to rewrite it from memory, then found the old one.

The Ballad of Rory McGuinness (1968)

By "Shannon O'Neill"

Melody: Play the MIDI file

Good lords, I sing praises
Of Lawrence, our King
Wed to the beautiful
Beloved Josephine.

Tho' into his gay court
A sad tale I bring. '
Tis a tale of a good man
For whom death had come.

CHORUS:
Sing-a toor-a-lay, toor-a-lay
Farewell my son
For Finnegan O'Donnell
His evil has done.

There lived in his good reign
A brave Irishman
Whose good life and sad death
Are sung o'er the land.

Rory McGuinness, aye,
It was his good name
His gold was for the 'poverished
The sick and the lame.

CHORUS

The women of Ireland,
They wept on that morn
The morning he died
This love-tale was born.

He fought for O'Neill
This warrior man
And was caught in the wars
With th'O'Donnell clan.

CHORUS

'Twas once in October
The war was begun
And we flocked to the battles,
Yes, every last son.

Some took bright armor
But we'd camouflage
For the name of our dread game
Was espionage.

CHORUS

We were two O'Neill brothers
Red Shannon, dark Ron
But it was Rory McGuinness
Twas our western Sun.

'Twas he was last captured
Full sore to see there
The two O'Neill brothers
He served so fair.

CHORUS

'Twas me own cousin Diarmuid
Whose traitorous tongue
Och, who betrayed to O'Donnell
The three men well-sung.

So 'twas down to a dungeon
A cell damp and dark,
Far away from the brookside,
The sun and the lark.

CHORUS

Ah, 'twas down in the brave hearts
Of these fated men
A pain worse than any
Which throbbed again and again.

'Twas the wanting full sore
Of our pretty colleens,
A Scots lass, a French lass
And a fair Saxon Queen.

CHORUS

His crime was provoking
The guards to alarm
Who slept very little
For fear of great harm.

He sang all the dark night
With Shannon the Bard
The noise of their singing
Made sleeping too hard.

CHORUS

'Twas when did O'Donnell
The lord did decide
Being wicked and bad
The evil man lied.

He said for his treachery
Good Rory would hang
But 'twas only for that
Which dear Rory sang.

CHORUS

Ah well, we'd not be conquered
So our part we'd done.
And all the day long - and nighttime
We'd sing.

If we'd sung any louder
The walls would have come down
But 'twould have done us no good
For were underground.

CHORUS

The guards, now they seemed
To be sicker each day
For they slept not at night
For our boisterous play.

We thought they'd be docile
They'd do O'Neill's no harm
But to pay back their hardship
They hanged our Right Arm.

CHORUS

On that cold day in winter
The scaffold they built
And the led out each prisoner
In breeches or kilt.

The claimed that his crime
Had been treason and theft
But who'd think that of Rory
Had reason bereft.

CHORUS

So my friend, he was led
To the big wooded frame
And to answer their lies
He denied every claim.

Ah, to see him there standin'
'Twas like a cruel dream
And the last words he had
Shouted he, "Josephine!"

CHORUS

Ah, my darlin' macushla
My brother and son
Tis never with this tale
Of woe I'll be done.

For you're cruelly murdered
By red Finnegan
And the day your life ended
My hatred began.

CHORUS

Och, my heart it's sorrowed,
Tho' life has gone on
For the two O'Neill brothers,
Red Shan and Dark Ron.

And there's many a lassie
And a fair lady royal
Whose tears are pouring for ye
Would o'er flow the Moyle.

Sing-a toor-a-lay, toor-a-lay
Farewell my son
For Finnegan O'Donnell
His evil has done.

The New Ballad of Rory McGuinness, 2007

What you need to know about this version is that Rory's execution happens in a radically different way in the novel than in the old ballad. What's more, Shannon knows the likelihood of how it came about but isn't about to trumpet it all over the land in the song. If this gets you curious, good! Either go buy the book or get your local library to buy it.

Come gather around, and I'll sing you a song,
Of Rory McGuinness, who did no man wrong,
But ended his life at the end of a rope
Taking away all our joys and our hope.

Sing a tooralay tooralay,
God send you sleep
For all who did love you
will ne'er cease to weep.

We traveled along with the Queen's company
To the land of her birth her kin for to see.
'Twas then that the villains did usurp the throne,
And our lonely Queen could not flee to her home.

Sing a tooralay tooralay,
God send you sleep
For all who did love you
will ne'er cease to weep.

Then Rory did say to me, "Shannon, my friend,
I'll find where the Queen is, and her I'll defend,
While you seek the King and tell him our fate
And fire his blood with the tale you relate.

Sing a tooralay tooralay,
God send you sleep
For all who did love you
will ne'er cease to weep.

The King and his warriors they wasted no time
And rushed to the fortress to punish the crime
But seeking his lady was left to our dear
And Rory did find her, so never you fear.

Sing a tooralay tooralay,
God send you sleep
For all who did love you
will ne'er cease to weep.

She was back in her lord's arms when Rory was caught
And thrown in a dungeon, escape he could not.
O'Donnell accused him of spying, you see,
So the gallows became Rory's sad destiny.

Sing a tooralay tooralay,
God send you sleep
For all who did love you
will ne'er cease to weep.

As he stood on the scaffold he cast down his gaze
And thought of the vow to love all his days
The beautiful Queen he had freed from her sorrow
Knowing his troth would not last till the morrow.

Sing a tooralay tooralay,
God send you sleep
For all who did love you
will ne'er cease to weep.

When Rory McGuinness he died on that day
For us all did the light of the sun go away
Never again will we see his broad smile
'Til we all meet again on Tir nan Og's far isle.

Sing a tooralay tooralay,
God send you sleep
For all who did love you
will ne'er cease to weep.

Tmorrow, back to the stories.