There Were Roses

So my song for you this evening,

it's not to make you sad

Not for adding to the sorrows

of this troubled northern land

But lately I've been thinking

and it just won't leave my mind

To tell you of two friends one time

They were both good friends of mine

Alan Bell from Banagh,

he lived just across the fields

A great man for the music,

and the dancing and the reels

O'Malley came from South Armagh

to court young Alice fair

And we often meet on the Ryan Road

and laughter filled the air

There were roses, roses

There were roses

And the tears of the people ran together

Though Alan he was Protestant

and Sean was Catholic born

It never made a difference,

for the friendship it was strong

And sometimes in the evening

when we heard the sound of drums

We said it won't divide us,

we will always be the one

For the ground our fathers plowed in,

the soil it is the same

And the places where we say our prayers

have just got different names

We talked about the friends who'd died

and we hoped there'd be no more

It's little then we realized the tragedy in store

There were roses, roses

There were roses

And the tears of the people ran together

It was on a Sunday morning

when the awful news came round

Another killing has been done

just outside Newry Town

We knew that Alan danced up there,

we knew he liked the band

But when we heard that he was dead

we just could not understand

We gathered at the graveside

on that cold and rainy day

And the minister he closed his eyes

and he prayed for no revenge

And all the ones who knew him

from along the Ryan Road

Then bowed our heads and said a prayer

for the resting of his soul

There were roses, roses

There were roses

And the tears of the people ran together

Well fear it filled the countryside

there was fear in every home

When the car of death came

prowling round the lonely Ryan Road

A Catholic would be killed tonight

to even up the score

Oh Christ it's young O'Malley

that they've taken from the door

Alan was my friend! he cried,

he begged them with his fear

But centuries of hatred

have ears that can not hear

An eye for an eye, was all that filled their minds

And another eye for another eye

till everyone is blind

There were roses, roses

There were roses

And the tears of the people ran together

So my song for you this evening,

it's not to make you sad

Not for adding to the sorrows

of this troubled northern land

But lately I've been thinking

and it just won't leave my mind

To tell you of two friends one time

They were both good friends of mine

I don't know where the moral is

or where this song should end

But I wonder just how many wars

are fought between good friends

And those who give the orders

are not the ones to die

It's Bell and O'Malley

and the likes of you and I

There were roses, roses

There were roses

And the tears of a people ran together

There were roses, roses

There were roses....