Bobby Sands’s life and sacrifice continues to inspire singers and songwriters, of which, of course, Bobby himself was one, his songs and poetry regularly being recorded four decades after his death on hunger strike on 5 May 1981.
In January Anne Rynne (sister of Christy Moore and Luka Bloom) released her third album. For many years too shy to even sing she has since 2012 been a prolific singer (teaching herself how to play guitar) and now writes her own songs. Included on her new album, The Golden Thread, which can be purchased here, is a song dedicated to Bobby Sands, Freedom Loving Lark
-oo0oo-
Mike Carroll was born in Stranorlar, County Donegal, and emigrated to America in 1969. He is married with two daughters and lives in Rhode Island, USA. He is a singer/songwriter and said his composition, The Lark, came about when the performer Johnny Murphy needed two songs.
‘I already had one available so I began looking for a topic to write about. I read an article in New York’s Irish Echo about the 1981 hunger strike and the ten prisoners who sacrificed their lives. But I just couldn’t get a song to work until I read about Bobby Sands using the caged lark as a symbol of imprisonment and the personal desire for freedom. It was in that moment I knew this would be the theme for the song. The song practically wrote itself, because it’s so much easier to write the truth.’
Bobby Sands / The Lark
by Mike Carroll
I see the lark soaring free over Ireland
I can hear his sweet freedom song
Ringing clear through the green hills and valleys
Where he fought for his freedom so long
Some had tried for to end his sweet love song
In bondage they said he belonged
Though the lark can be held from his freedom
They cannot put chains on his song
For its better to die for a dream
Than to live with no dream at all
To be free like the lark, and sing in the wind
Without question he answered the call
There’s a thorn in the side of old Ireland
But the lark will remove it some day
Then the rose can grow strong with the shamrock
When the blood on the rose fades away
Then the lark will fly high in the heavens
And below him the people will sing
Their voices will raise and surround him
And his soul will find peace on the wing
For it’s better to die for a dream
Than to live with no dream at all
To be free like the lark and sing in the wind
Without question he answered the call.
For it’s better to die for a dream
Than to live with no dream at all
To be free like the lark and sing in the wind
Without question he answered the call.
