Pete St. John

Life
1932-2022 [Peter Mooney; confirmation name “John”], b. Inchicore, Dublin; ed. Scoil Muire Gan Smál and Synge Street CBS; left school at 16 and apprenticed in Limerick as an electrician; emigrated to Toronto, 1958; soon moved to Washington, and m. his boyhood sweetheart Susie Bourke of the theatricial family - with whom two sons, Kieron and Brian; involved in Peace Movement in the US; returned to Dublin and settled on Collins Ave.; ran a theatre at Petticoat Lane on Marlborough St.; suffered a serious fall and began writing songs while recuperating; author of ‘‘The Rare Oul Times’’ and ‘‘The Fields of Athenry’’ - best know as a Dubliners song and an anthem of Irish migrants everywhere; fnd-member of the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO); d. Beaumont Hosp., Dublin, 12 March 2022; there is a complete song-list on the Pete St. Johen webpage - online [accessed 11.09.2023].

‘‘The Fields of Athenry’’

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.”

[Chorus]

By a lonely harbour wall
She watched the last star falling
As that prison ship sailed out against the sky
For she lived in hope and pray
For her love in Botany Bay
It’s so lonely ’round the fields of Athenry

[Chorus]

Available at The Dubliners [band] songs - at Google online; accessed 11.09.2023.

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