Among the walls and ruins
And the horrid cynic stone
I walk without a lover
For my older bones
The sun was strong
In going down
It was a dreamlike day
’twas there we met the trinity
And there I heard them say:
Bye bye mama, bye brother John
Fare thee well you Shandon bells
Ring on, ring on
She leaned and leaned much closer
And hugged them all goodbye
Her mother cried
“Don’t go my love
We all must bye and bye”
A drunken tongue says
“Leave her off
She’ll drive us all crazy”
She turned around and saw my face
And both of us where she
And she said bye bye mama, bye brother John
Fare thee well you Shandon bells
Ring on, ring on
Up and to the limestone wall
And down the level steps
She threw herself into the stream
With a splash of no regrets
Sidestroke swimming midstream
Throwing kisses to the crowd
And everything was silent
And the sky had not one cloud
But for…
Bye bye mama, bye brother John
Fare thee well you Shandon bells
Ring on, ring on
We were swimming out on the sunset
We were swimming out to sea
Swimming down by the
Opera House
The mad lady and me and we sang
Bye bye mama, bye brother John
Fare thee well you Shandon bells
Ring on, ring on
- Written by Jimmy MacCarthy
Jimmy MacCarthy 