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The Wind That Shakes the Barley

[ Roud 2994 ; Ballad Index PGa098 ; DT WINDBARL ; Mudcat 19881 ; Robert Dwyer Joyce]

The Wind That Shakes the Barley is an Irish ballad written by Robert Dwyer Joyce (1836–1883), a Limerick-born poet and professor of English literature. The song is written from the perspective of a doomed young Wexford rebel who is about to sacrifice his relationship with his loved one and plunge into the cauldron of violence associated with the 1798 rebellion in Ireland. [Wikipedia]

Martin Carthy sang The Wind That Shakes the Barley in 1965 on his first album Martin Carthy. A live recording with Dave Swarbrick at the Folkus Folk Club in 1966 is available on Both Ears and the Tail. Carthy noted on the first album:

Perhaps a classic, of songs of revolution, The Wind That Shakes the Barley was written by Robert Dwyer Joyce.

Sarah Makem sang The Wind That Shakes the Barley at her home in Keady, Co. Armagh, in 1967 in a recording made by Bill Leader. It was published in 1968 on her Topic album Ulster Ballad Singer. This track was also included in 1996 on the Topic sampler CD Irish Voices and in 1998 on the Topic anthology A Story I’m Just About to Tell (The Voice of the People Volume 8). Sean O’Boyle noted:

Politically-inspired songs may often be loudly called for in singing-pubs but at the fireside they are very seldom heard. Consequently very few patriotic songs have found their way into the repertoires of Irish folksingers. In Gaelic-speaking Ireland they are particularly rare. Only a strong love story associated with the patriotic or “rebellious” sentiment will ensure for a song a permanent place in folk memory. The Wind that Shakes the Barley is just such a song. The words were written by Robert Dwyer Joyce, historian and poet, brother of P.W. Joyce the famous Irish folksong collector. They have been published to another air in The Irish National Songbook by Alfred Perceval Graves. In metre and tune the present version is founded on The Maid that Sold Her Barley, a long-lived song already in print in 1700, in Vol. II of Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy.

The Woods sang The Wind That Shakes the Barley in 1969 on their Traditional Sound album Early Morning Rain.

Gerry Fox sang The Wind That Shakes the Barley on the 1973 Argo anthology The World of Folk Vol. 2.

Louis Killen sang The Wind That Shakes the Barley on his 1993 album A Bonny Bunch. He noted:

In The Wind That Shakes the Barley patriotic passion leads to the agony of lost love and life.

Seriouskitchen sang The Wind That Shakes the Barley in 2000 on their WetFoot album On the Mash.

Dick Gaughan sang The Wind That Shakes the Barley on the Irish Folk Festival 1997 anthology Spirit of Ireland. This track was also included in 2002 on his Greentrax anthology Prentice Piece on which he noted:

Written by Dr Robert Dwyer Joyce (1830-1883). If the dead girl in the song is understood as being Ireland, this fits into a long tradition of Irish songs which depict Ireland as a woman in bondage or subject to the attacks of “the Stranger”. The references to Oulart Hollow and the “brave United Men” are to the attempted revolution of 1798 by the United Irishmen.

Rosie Doonan sang The Wind That Shakes the Barley on her 2010 album Pot of Gold

Kevin Mitchell sang The Wind That Shakes the Barley on his and Ellen Mitchell’s 2001 Musical Tradition anthology Have a Drop Mair. Rod Stradling noted:

Kevin: A political love song set during 1798 uprising; it was written by Robert Dwyer Joyce. I have been singing this song since the late 1950s.

Another rarity in the oral tradition: only six Roud entries, three of which are from Canada. The BBC recorded Nellie Walsh, of Wexford, in 1947, and Topic Records recorded Sarah Makem, of Keady, Co Armagh, in 1967. However, it’s Mrs Makem’s 1974 recording, made by John Tams and Neil Wayne, which is still available in the Voice of the People series.

Tune The Wind That Shakes the Barley

Steeleye Span—then with Martin Carthy—performed a set of the three tunes The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Pigeon on the Gate, and Jenny’s Chickens for the BBC radio programme “Peel’s Sunday Concert” on 15 September 1971. This programme was released as bonus CD of the 2006 reissue of Ten Man Mop or Mr Reservoir Butler Rides Again.

Tony Hall played The Wind That Shakes the Barley, learned from the playing of Dave Bordewey, on his 1977 Free Reed album Fieldvole Music.

Lyrics

Robert Dwyer Joyce’s poem The Wind That Shakes the Barley

I sat within a valley green,
I sat there with my true love,
My sad heart strove the two between,
The old love and the new love, –
The old for her, the new that made
Me think of Ireland dearly,
While soft the wind blew down the glade
And shook the golden barley.

’Twas hard the woeful words to frame
To break the ties that bound us
’Twas harder still to bear the shame
Of foreign chains around us
And so I said, “The mountain glen
I’ll seek next morning early
And join the brave United Men!”
While soft winds shook the barley.

While sad I kissed away her tears,
My fond arms ’round her flinging,
The foeman’s shot burst on our ears,
From out the wildwood ringing, –
A bullet pierced my true love’s side,
In life’s young spring so early,
And on my breast in blood she died
While soft winds shook the barley!

I bore her to the wildwood screen,
And many a summer blossom
I placed with branches thick and green
Above her gore-stain’d bosom:–
I wept and kissed her pale, pale cheek,
Then rushed o’er vale and far lea,
My vengeance on the foe to wreak,
While soft winds shook the barley!

But blood for blood without remorse,
I’ve ta’en at Oulart Hollow
And placed my true love’s clay-cold corpse
Where I full soon will follow;
And ’round her grave I wander drear,
Noon, night, and morning early,
With breaking heart whene’er I hear
The wind that shakes the barley!

Martin Carthy sings The Wind That Shakes the Barley

I sat within the valley green
Sat there with my true love
And my fond heart strove to choose between
The old love and the new love
The old for her the new that made me
Think on Ireland dearly
While soft the wind blew down the glade
And shook the golden barley

’Twas hard for mournful words to frame
To break the ties that bound us
Ah but harder still to bear the shame
Of foreign chains around us
And so I said the mountain glen
I’ll seek at morning early
And join the brave united men
While soft winds shook the barley

Twas sad I kissed away her tears
Her arms around me clinging
When to my ears that fateful shot
Came out the wild wood ringing
The bullet pierced my true love’s breast
In life’s young spring so early
And there upon my breast she died
While soft winds shook the barley

I bore her to some mountain stream
And many’s the summer blossom
I placed with branches soft and green
About her gore-stained bosom
I wept and kissed her clay-cold corpse
Then rushed o’er vale and valley
My vengeance on the foe to wreak
While soft winds shook the barley

And it’s blood for blood without remorse
I’ve took in Oulart Hollow
While to her grave my love’s cold corpse
Where I full soon may follow
Around her grave I wander drear
Noon night and morning early
With breaking heart whene’er I hear
The wind that shakes the barley

Dick Gaughan sings The Wind That Shakes the Barley

I sat within a valley green
I sat there with my true love
My sad heart strove the two between
The old love and the new love
The old for her, the new that made me
Think on Ireland dearly
While soft the wind blew down the glade
And shook the golden barley

’Twas hard the mournful words to frame
To break the ties that bound us
But harder still to bear the shame
Of foreign chains around us
And so I said, “The mountain glen
I’ll seek at morning early
And join the bold United Men”
While soft winds shook the barley

’Twas sad I kissed away her tears
Her arms around me clinging
When to my ears that fateful shot
Came out the wildwood ringing
The bullet pierced my true love’s heart
In life’s young spring so early
And there within my arms she died
While soft winds shook the barley

I bore her to some mountain stream
And many’s the summer blossom
I placed with branches soft and green
About her gore-stained bosom
I wept and kissed her cold, cold corpse
Then rushed o’er hill and valley
My vengeance on the foe to wreak
While soft winds shook the barley

’Twas blood for blood without remorse
I took at Oulart Hollow
And placed my true love’s clay cold corpse
Where mine full soon may follow
Around her grave I wander drear
Noon, night and morning early
With aching heart whene’er I hear
The wind that shakes the barley

Kevin Mitchell sings The Wind That Shakes the Barley

I sat me in a valley green,
I sat me with my true love,
My sad heart strove the two between,
The old love and the new love.
The old for her, the new that made
Me think on Ireland dearly,
While sad the wind blew down the glen
And shook the golden barley.

’Twas hard the woeful words to frame
To break the ties that bound us,
But harder still to bear the shame
Of foreign chains around us.
And so I said the mountain glen
I’ll seek at morning early,
And join those brave united men
While soft winds shook the barley.

While sad I kissed away her tears,
My fond arms round her flinging,
The foeman’s shot burst on our ears
From out the greenwood ringing.
And a bullet pierced my true love’s side,
In life’s young spring so early,
And on my breast in blood she died
While soft winds shook the barley.

But blood for blood without remorse
I’ve taken at Ourlart Hollow
I’ve placed my true love’s clay cold corpse
Where I full soon will follow.
And round her grave I’ll wander drear,
Noon, night and morning early,
With aching heart whene’er I hear
The soft winds shake the barley.

Notes

Oulart is a place name in County Wexford and appears in this spelling in at least four songs about the 1798 rising, three of which are in the Digital Tradition at the Mudcat Café.

A couple of notes from a no longer existing webpage on the ’98 rising in Wexford (from IT Carlow, so probably a former student’s page):

On the 26^th of May the rebellion in Wexford burst into flame. Thousands of peasants had taken to the fields, and became peasant armies. The largest force, led by Father John Murphy of Boulavogue, assembled on a hill at Oulart, ten miles south of Gorey and eight miles from Wexford town. Another rebel group assembled on Kilthomas Hill, nine miles west of Gorey, and was put to flight by three hundred yeomen from the garrison at Carnew, who in pursuit burned about a hundred cabins and farmhouses and two Roman Catholic churches, one of them Father Murphy’s at Boulavogue. An attempt to dislodge the rebels on Oulart Hill was a disaster for a detachment of 109 men of the North Cork Militia from the garrison at Wexford. Only Colonel Foote, commanding, a sergeant, and three privates returned to Wexford.

… Messages were quickly dispatched from the Harrow to the other United Irish groups that the long-anticipated rising had actually begun. Groups moved to the pre-arranged meeting point of Oulart Hill, a centrally placed strategic point in the east of the county. Here Murphy was joined by other leaders and about 500 committed United men. On Whit Sunday, 27^th May, the hated North Cork Militia were sent out from Wexford town to disperse them: it was believed that the rebels would flee on sight of their red coats. But the rebel nerve held as the North Corks clattered up the narrow lane to Oulart Hill (which still bears their name): arrogant and over confident, they advanced too rapidly and were caught in a well-conceived rebel ambush. Gunfire raked them and the horses were thrown into confusion. Before they could regroup, a torrent of pikemen poured out of ditches and the cavalry were no match for them.

Acknowledgements

Transcribed from the singing of Martin Carthy by Garry Gillard. Thanks to Wolfgang Hell for corrections and notes.