This is the song of my people. My grandfather sang this version to his children, my father sang it to us as a lullaby, and I did the same. Now I’m just hoping for a grandbaby to continue the tradition. Thank you.

Perfect pitch, perfect expression... Even the word mesmerizing I fear is not enough to describe this.

The wonderful singer here is the great, much-loved Cornish baritone Benjamin Luxon, accompanied by the late Bill Crofut on banjo.

I... I am left completely speechless. I have never seen a more expressive performance of anything in my life. Thank you.

I keep coming back to this. I play this song and I think this is the best/ most accurate version of the voice of this song.

I cannot stop listening to this song. God bless you all.

Without a doubt this is the best version of this old song

Beautiful! Which are those singer and guitarist, fantastic! Much love to Ireland and the whole world from Greece. No war.

This version keeps on showing up on my metal workout mix and for good reason. The raw talent of the singer and player with the song hits so hard.

This is how this song should sound. Slow and sorrowful and without any heroisation of the war that is all just a grinder machine.

his voice is so powerful, amazing performance

This needs millions of views.

Been coming back to this vid for years. Hits hard somewhere that's hard to touch yeah?

This could possibly be The best thing ever recorded in history.

Wow, such emotion

The island of Ceylon is known today as Sri Lanka. This is a song on the kandyan wars fought in Sri Lanka. Kandyan wars are the final wars in Indian subcontinent by the British empire. As a Sri Lankan this song is important to us as well. Interconnected history right across the world.

Oh shit, I've cried more than I've done with the version played by the Dropkick Murphys. Your version is so emotinal, I love it.

*speechless* This song imho is one of the best anti-war-songs ever and I loved it for decades and knew many great versions - but this version - it's as if the song had embodied itself. This version should be shared and shared, over and over again, should be shown in every school as part of musical education AND political education.

Beautiful Benjamin Luxon. So moving.

BEST VERSION TILL THIS DAY,,,,,,,AND NO AUTO TUNE,,,

What a fantastic voice on this man

Love this song in this version. Very powerfull.

Wow!! Amazing!!! Brilliant!!! I'm at a loss for words!!! So deep & profound!!!

I don't know much about this song's historical facts and I don't know anything about this perfomer. But, here is the interesting thing about it... It works wonders when you have to put baby to sleep. I discovered this with my son 5 years ago, and now doing the same thing with my baby daughter who is two months old. Just play this on KZfaq, put the cellphone near and carry the baby and walk similarly to army marching up and down the apartment. I'm really grateful for this video. Greetings from Croatia.

this is the best thing i’ve ever heard in my whole life.

so haunting and beautiful

Such a marvellous performance. ❤️

The past lives on. I just realized something, to me, personal and stunning, listening to this Irish singer, about the intricacies of the English language. Or more specifically, the Irish VERSION of English, which has it's own distinct cadence and phraseology. On my mother's side, there is a substantial Irish ancestory - literally those whom fled the Potato Famine around the year 1850 and arrived in the upper South or lower Midwest of America, near the Mississippi River, at that distant time, being raw frontier. A couple generations later, mother met and married a man from the, at least then, a more educated, more prosperous northern Midwest. She had a "southern" accent, very different from my proper, dignified, Midwest American, fathers, which I also share, not southern, at all.. Here is the thing - the way my mother spoke and put things, was slightly nonstandard and peculiar. I had always assumed it was due to a lower education level, or due to the southern American English aspect, but more so, almost, it's funny but accurate to say it, almost an old, "colonial American" twang and language style. But now, listening to this Irish speaker, it suddenly became clear, how different the accent but how familiar his cadence sounded, much like what my mother was really speaking , which was with a deep background of IRISH English, overlaid with a superficial southern American English accent. Wow ! It is stunning that not merely biology lived on, but a manner of speaking, also sometimes lives on, for many, many generations passed its point of origin. Bits and pieces of an ancient past are everywhere around us not very far below the surface.

How much emotion can one man make without barely making motion?!

one of the best interpretation

Who is the singer? The old full video seem to be removed and this is my far my favorite version.

Очень красиво и трогательно

Holy fuck. I don’t know what else to say. This is something else.

Beautiful 🤩

Got tears in my eyes listening to this performance

brings back memories of 70s folk clubs

Beste Version die ich je gehört habe ❤@!!!!!!

The singer is Benjamin Luxon

While on the road to sweet Athy, hurroo, hurroo While on the road to sweet Athy, hurroo, hurroo While on the road to sweet Athy A stick in me hand and a drop in me eye A doleful damsel I heard cry, Johnny I hardly knew ye. With your drums and guns and drums and guns, hurroo, hurroo With your drums and guns and drums and guns, hurroo, hurroo With your drums and guns and drums and guns The enemy nearly slew ye Oh my darling dear, Ye look so queer Johnny I hardly knew ye. Where are your eyes that look so mild, hurroo, hurroo Where are your eyes that look so mild, hurroo, hurroo Where are your eyes that look so mild When my poor heart you first beguiled Why did ye run from me and the child Oh Johnny, I hardly knew ye. Where are your legs with which ye run, hurroo, hurroo Where are your legs with which ye run, hurroo, hurroo Where are your legs with which ye run When first you learned to carry a gun Indeed your dancing days are done Oh Johnny, I hardly knew ye. I'm happy for to see ye home, hurroo, hurroo I'm happy for to see ye home, hurroo, hurroo I'm happy for to see ye home All from the island of Sulloon So low in flesh, so high in bone Oh Johnny I hardly knew ye. Ye haven't an arm, ye haven't a leg, hurroo, hurroo Ye haven't an arm, ye haven't a leg, hurroo, hurroo Ye haven't an arm, ye haven't a leg Ye're an armless, boneless, chickenless egg Ye'll be having to put a bowl to beg Oh Johnny I hardly knew ye. I'm happy for to see ye home, hurroo, hurroo I'm happy for to see ye home, hurroo, hurroo I'm happy for to see ye home All from the island of Ceylon; So low in the flesh, so high in the bone. Johnny I hardly knew ye. They're rolling out the guns again, hurroo, hurroo They're rolling out the guns again, hurroo, hurroo They're rolling out the guns again But they never will take our sons again No they never will take our sons again Johnny I'm swearing to ye.

the singer please I loved his voice and expressiveness, I want to know his name

Çok içten güzel bir yorum olmuş.

Wow! Just; wow!

this song is fricken amazing!!

A lot of pain in this song

What a song

Greatest, Jesus Christ! From Russia with love and yearning

... ... gut .... ... und wahr ... und immer noch .....

Замечательное исполнение этой песни!!! Очень проникновенное, лучшего я не встречала. Ирландские хулиганы тоже круто ее поют, но в своем стиле.

I was 4th Infantry Division our emblem was for clovers

Excellent

The universal horrors of war, yet we keep on doin' it...

Benjamin Luxon ?

I love Irish music. I was playing at the drunken LASS, HOOLIGAN'S & SCOTTY O'NEILS ONCE A WK; you'd have thought i was IRISH..¿₩TH? YOU'D BE WRONG; I'M A WELSCH, ENGLISH, & DUTCH BLEND, (0H NO, & a Touch of RUSSIAN..) DR. ZIVAGO i HOPE..❗❔❗

Apart from the Clancy Brothers, possibly the best version.

nice thx for your version your voice

why this was removed and uploaded again?

I have seen the full video somewhere else and his explanation of this song is superb. Here, that introduction was simply omitted. Too bad... But, yes, this guy has no match...

Strangely I met this guy in a house I worked on

Janas Ian very good

This is the most approx version of our Independence!

Who is this incredible singer

YES! This is my heritage and I FIGHT! I refuse to capitulate to the tyrants!.

Thanks but I much prefer Dropkick Murphy's super-charged version to this slow roll.......

I still prefer drop kick murphys version but this is still good

Well a version I heard was Johnny they never slew you

Привет из Туркменистана!

Ok woah..

캬. 지린다

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

😮😮😮

Can anyone tell me who is performing? Thanks

I know Irish-Americans say it lots but I’m trying to get in with me Irish ancestry

SRi LANKA...👍🚩😪😪😪🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Who is this?!? It is an incredibly powerful version. Pleas post who the artist iis!

Огонь

It was a PBS video.

Who is this person singing? So powerful...

Skilled performer, who is/was he?

Who's the guy who sang this?

Timeless. Especially now with what is happeing in Ukraine.

What’s his name…?

how actually this song for a today with russian-ukranian wars events

:(

hurraa or whatever i don give two shits

Nah, DM version miles better