The Galtee Mountain Boy
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"The Galtee Mountain Boy" is an Irish folk ballad, originally written by Patsy Halloran. Christy Moore added a fourth verse to Halloran's original three; this is the version that is most commonly performed.
The song is a monologue, documenting the narrator's enlistment and travels with one of the IRA's flying columns, from Cork, through Tipperary and Wicklow, to Dublin. The Galtee Mountains are in Tipperary; the lyrics include farewells to both this county and the town of Clonmel.
It references historical figures from the Irish War of Independence and subsequent Irish Civil War, including Seán Moylan, Dan Breen, Dinny Lacey, and Seán Hogan. It portrays Free-Staters as enemies, suggesting that the narrator was fighting in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.
The narrator may be fictional, though it is said to be a man named Paddy Davern.
Recordings
It has been recorded by Christy Moore, Paddy Reilly, the Wolfe Tones, and Patrick Clifford.