Traditional, 'Gunrunners'

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Gunrunners

When I was eighteen years of age
In Carson's army I engaged
To fight for Ulster against home rule
A Mauser rifle was my tool
On Covenant day my first parade
When over half a million promised aid
We go to fight the enemy now
So we landed fifty thousand guns at Larne
We go to fight the enemy now
So we landed fifty thousand guns at Larne

That April night I'll never forget
Dispersing guns to face the threat
Throught the length of our beloved land
The die was cast, we made our stand
But another foe was before us now
Home rule was dead beneath the plough
When across to France our divisions sailed
Britain called we would not fail
When across to France our divisions sailed
Britain called we would not fail

We were Gunrunners, Gunrunners

So the story's told and it's understood
Of a charge that morning, Thiepval Wood
When Ulster's flower their lives did give
So that we at home could in freedom live
Well alas I fell on the Somme's great shore
But not alone there were thousands more
From every street, town and dale
A father, son or brother fell
From every street, town or dale
A father, son or brother fell

They were Gunrunners, Gunrunners. Yes Gunrunners

Traditional

The Larne gun-running, April 24-25 1914

The Irish at the Somme