Henry's Songbook

Once upon a time there was Irish ways and Irish laws
Villages of Irish blood waking to the morning
Waking to the morning

Then the Vikings came around, turned us up and turned us down
Started building boats and towns, they tried to change our living
They tried to change our living

Cromwell and the soldiers came, started centuries of shame
But they could not make us turn, we are a river flowing
We're a river flowing

Again, again the soldiers came, burnt our houses, stole our grain
Shot the farmers in their fields working for a living
They were working for a living

Eight hundred years we have been down, the secret of the water sound
Has kept the spirit of a man above the pain descending
Above the pain descending

Today the struggle carries on, I wonder will I live so long
To see the gates being opened up to a people and their freedom
A people and their freedom

Repeat 1

(as sung by Christy Moore)

[1984:] One night after a [Moving] Hearts gig in the Baggot Inn, Dublin, John Gibbs [...] sent up an empty Major packet with this song written on the back of it. We were so taken with it that we started rehearsing it the same night and two years later found that it had passed into the tradition. Of all the things I have ever done this and Only Our Rivers Run Free were the songs that became part of the general Irish repertoire in a very quick time. (Christy Moore Song Book 89)

http://home.wanadoo.nl/bobbink/lyrics/irish_ways_and_irish_laws.txt