source :   http://www.chivalry.com/cantaria/lyrics/fields-athenry.html


The song was based on a true story of the fate of one young couple during the Irish 
famine.

The song tells the story of Lord Trevelyan who brought a supply of corn back from 
America in a bid to battle starvation during the potato famine in the mid-nineteenth 
century. Unfortunately it was Indian corn too hard to be milled, so useless. However, 
local people thought it would save them and so broke into the stores, were arrested, 
and subsequently deported to Australia.


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By a lonely prison wall, I heard a young girl calling
"Michael, they have taken you away,
For you stole Trevelyan's corn,
So the young might see the morn.
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay."

Chorus:
Low lie the fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly
Our love was on the wing
We had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely round the fields of Athenry.

By a lonely prison wall, I heard a young man calling
"Nothing matters, Mary, when you're free
Against the famine and the crown,
I rebelled, they cut me down.
Now you must raise our child with dignity."

By a lonely harbor wall, she watched the last star fall
As the prison ship sailed out against the sky
For she lived to hope and pray for her love in Botany Bay
It's so lonely round the fields of Athenry.

______________________________________________________________________

Words as they appeared on an 1888 Broadsheet :

By a lonely prison wall
I heard a sweet voice calling,
'Oh Danny, they have taken you away.
for you stole Travelian's corn,
that your babes might see the dawn,
now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay.' 

chorus
Fair lie the fields of Athenry
where we stood to watch the small freebirds fly.
Our love grew with the spring,
we had dreams and songs to sing
as we wandered through the fields of Athenry. 

I heard a young man calling
'nothing matters, Jenny, when your'e free
'gainst the famine and the crown,
I rebelled, they ran me down,
now you must raise our children without me.' 

On the windswept harbour wall,
she watched the last star rising
as the prison ship sailed out accross the sky
But she will watch and hope and pray,
for her love in Botany bay
whilst she is lonely in the fields of Athenry