Kevin Elam: Bodenstown Churchyard (Album Release Concert)

 Kevin Elam sings a song from his debut album "If I were a small bird". Check out his album at:

https://www.kevinelammusic.com/debut-album

You might also check his patreon page where he offers tutorials for bouzouki and other topics at:

https://www.patreon.com/kevinelammusic

The melody is very similar to "The Granemore Hare" Colleen Raney's Version can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow5kNq2vPZY

Lyrics: Thomas Davis, as recorded byThe Wolftones

In Bodenstown churchyard there is a green grave,
And wildly around it the winter winds rave;
Small shelter I ween are the ruined walls there
When the storm sweeps down on the plains of Kildare.
Once I lay on that sod it lies over Wolfe Tone
And thought how he perished in prison alone,
His friends unavenged and his country unfreed
"Oh, bitter, " I said, "is the patriots meed.

"For in him the heart of a woman combined
With heroic spirit and a governing mind
A martyr for Ireland, his grave has no stone
His name sheldom named, and his virtues unknown."
I was woke from my dream by the voices and tread
Of a band who came into the home of the dead;
They carried no corpse, and they carried no stone,
And they stopped when they came to the grave of Wolfe Tone.

There were students and peasants, the wise and the brave,
And an old man who knew him from cradle to grave,
And children who thought me hard-hearted, for they
On that sanctified sod were forbidden to play.
But the old man, who saw I was mourning there, said:
"We come, sir, to weep where young Wolfe Tone is laid,
And we're going to raise him a monument, too
A plain one, yet fit for the loyal and true."

My heart overflowed, and I clasped his old hand,
And I blessed him, and blessed every one of his band:
"Sweet, sweet tis to find that such faith can remain
In the cause and the man so long vanquished and slain."
In Bodenstown churchyard there is a green grave,
And freely around it let winter winds rave
Far better they suit him the ruin and gloom
Till Ireland, a nation, can build him a tomb.

 

Bodenstown is in Sallins, Co. Kildare, where Wolfe Tone is buried. Wolfe Tone was one of the leaders of the 1798 uprising, often referred to as the rebellion of the 'United Irishmen' due to the fact that Catholic and Protestant Republicans fought side by side. (Notes Finbar & Eddie Furey, 'The Farewell Album')

Here's the version of the Wolftones:

 

Here's Frank Harte's Version: