PAROLES: The Boys of Kilmichael

The Boys of Kilmichael took on an empire.

Under the command of General Tom Barry, the flying column ambushed a patrol of Auxiliaries in the West Cork village of Kilmichael.  The action marked a new level of military activity by the Irish Republican Army, the army of the Irish Government.  For the first time since Aughrim, Irish people felt that they had the possibility of reversing the brutal steamroller that was British Imperialism.  This song celebrates that fateful day in Irish history, and each time that it is sung, we remember that the road to independence was long and hard.

"Cuimhneofar orthu ó ghlúin go chéile agus dearfar gur beannaithe iad"

The Kilmichael Ambush (Irish: Luíochán Chill Mhichíl) was an ambush near the village of Kilmichael in County Cork on 28 November 1920 carried out by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Irish War of Independence. Thirty-six local IRA volunteers commanded by Tom Barry killed seventeen members of the RIC Auxiliary Division.^[1] The Kilmichael ambush was politically as well as militarily significant. It occurred one week after Bloody Sunday, marking a profound escalation in the IRA campaign.

Annual gathering of survivors at the ambush site to commemorate this key battle in the War of Independence.  This picture was probably taken in the 1950s.

"They shall be spoken of 

among their people,

The generations shall

remember them

and call them blessed."

Chorus:
Oh forget not the boys of Kilmichael
Those brave boys both gallant and true
They fought with Tom Barry's bold column
And conquered the red, white and blue.

Whilst we honour in song and in story
The memory of Pearse and McBride
Whose names are illumined in glory
With martyrs that long since have died
Oh forget not the boys of Kilmichael
Who feared not the ice and the foe
Oh the day that they marched into battle
They laid all the Black and Tans low.

On the twenty eighth day of November
The Tans left the town of Macroom
They were seated in Crossley tenders
Which brought them right into their doom
They were on the high road to Kilmichael
And never expecting to stall
'Twas there that the boys of the column
They made a clear sweep of them all.

The sun in the west it was sinking
'Twas the eve of a cold winter's day
When the Tans we were eagerly waiting
Sailed into the spot where we lay
And over the hill went the echo
The peal of the rifles and guns
And the smoke from their lorries bore tidings
That the boys of Kilmichael had won.

The battle being over at twilight
And there in that glen so obscure
We threw down our rifles and bayonets
And made our way back to Granure
And high over Dunmanway town, my boys
They sang of the brave and the true
Of the men from Tom Barry's bold column
Who conquered the red, white and blue.

There are some who will blush at the mention
Of Connolly, Pearse and McBride
And history's new scribes in derision
The pages of valour deny
But sure here's to the boys who cried, Freedom!
When Ireland was nailed to the mast
And they fought with Tom Barry's bold column
To give us our freedom at last.

Final chorus:
So forget not the boys of Kilmichael
Those brave boys both gallant and true
They fought 'neath the green flag of Erin
And conquered the red, white and blue.

Playlist:

The Boys of Kilmichael
Johnny Donegan