HOME Songs

Bold Robert Emmet Historical notes Robert Emmet’s cell Speech from the dock

1
The struggle is over the boys are defeated,
Old Ireland’s surrounded with sadness and gloom,
We were defeated and shamefully treated
And I, Robert Emmet a-waiting my doom.
Hung, drawn and quartered, sure that was my sentence,
But soon I will show them no coward am I,
My crime is the love of the land I was born in,
A hero I lived and a hero I’ll die.

Chorus:
Bold Robert Emmet, the darling of Erin,
Bold Robert Emmet will die with a smile,
Farewell companions both loyal and daring,
I’ll lay down my life for the Emerald Isle.
2
The barque lay at anchor awaiting to take me
Over the billows to the land of the free;
But I must see my sweetheart for I know she will cheer me,
And with her I will sail far over the sea.
But I was arrested and cast into prison,
Tried as a traitor, a rebel, a spy;
But no one can call me a knave or a coward,
A hero I lived and a hero I’ll die.
3
Hark! the bell’s tolling, I well know its meaning,
My poor heart tells me it is my death knell;
In come the clergy, the warder is leading,
I have no friends here to bid me farewell.
Good-bye, old Ireland, my parents and sweetheart,
Comrades in arms to forget you must try;
I am proud of the honour, it was only my duty.
A hero I lived and a hero I’ll die.

sung by
Jerry O’Reilly
(Cullerlie 2007)

CDs available

Robert Emmet

Robert Emmet was probably the most charismatic of the Society of United Irishmen.
After his insurrection failed, he decided to visit his sweetheart, Sarah Curran in Harold’s Cross, and was arrested there

Jerry O’Reilly sings ‘Bold Robert Emmet’ outside St. Catherine’s Church, Thomas Street, Dublin on 27th September 2009