The Fields of Athenry
is a song written in 1979 by Pete St. John and is about the Great Potato Famine in the 1840’s and a man in Galway who stole food
for his starving family and was sent to the Australian penal colony at Botany Bay. It has become a widely known, popular anthem for Irish sports supporters. During the famine, roughly 1 million people died and at least 2.1 million people left Ireland on packet ships and steam boats - one of the greatest exoduses from a single island in history.
The Fields of Athenry ist ein Lied, das 1979 von Pete St. John geschrieben wurde. Es handelt von der großen Kartoffelknappheit in den 1840er Jahren und einem Mann in Galway, der Lebensmittel für seine hungernde Familie stahl und in die australische Strafkolonie Botany Bay geschickt wurde. Es ist zu einer weithin bekannten und beliebten Hymne für irische Sportfans geworden. Während der Hungersnot starben etwa 1 Million Menschen, und mindestens 2,1 Millionen Menschen verließen Irland auf Packetschiffen und Dampfschiffen - eine der größten Auswanderungen von einer einzigen Insel in der Geschichte.
By a lonely prison wall, I heard a young girl calling,
"Michael, they have taken you away,
For you stole Trevelyan's corn,
So the young might see the morn,
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay"
Low lie the fields of Athenry,
Where once we watched
the small free birds fly,
Our love was on the wing
we had dreams and songs to sing,
It's so lonely 'round the fields of Athenry
By a lonely prison wall,
I heard a young man calling,
"Nothing matters, Mary, when you're free,
Against the famine and the crown,
I rebelled, they cut me down,
Now you must raise our child with dignity"
By a lonely harbour wall,
she watched the last star falling,
As that prison ship sailed out against the sky,
For she lived in hope and prayed,
For her love in Botany Bay,
It's so lonely 'round the fields of Athenry
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