The Last of All the Sweeps in Ballina
There's joy sure everywhere in England over there
And the news has traveled far from sea to sea
For now they've got one to defeat the German Hun
And drive him back to Berlin on the Spree.
Ah, but down in old Mayo the tale is grief and woe,
For sooty chimneys rile our Da and Ma,
For in England's latest fray there is joined and gone away
The last of all the sweeps in Ballina.
Chorus
Talk of Victoria Cross men, Argyle men and Ross men
With Orangemen from Antrim and Armagh,
But England's man today is the thickest of the fray
Its the last of all the sweeps from Ballina.
It was lately I found out how the whole thing came about
John Dillon came to hold a meeting there,
His speech was long and wild, with bitterness it boiled
In attacking the true men of County Clare;
The sweep, a friend of course, he cheered till he was hoarse
And waved his sooty cap with each Hurrah!
When John condemned Sinn Fein he was cheered with might and main
By the last of all the sweeps in Ballina.
Chorus
Now John seems quite all right, be boast that black and white
Are on the allied side in old Mayo,
He has wired to George the King that now the only thing
Is to give the sweep command against the foe,
And send home Douglas Haig, he's as thing as Captain Craig
The chieftain of the firebrands from Armagh,
And send the fellow out that will put the Huns to rout,
That's the last of all the sweeps in Ballina.
Chorus
Now when the war is o'er in a few short years or more
And Ireland is a nation once again,
John Dillon and T. P. who is now beyond the sea
Shall bear the British uniform and name;
And the men of Easter week, the strong one and the weak,
Will join with me in one long, loud Hurrah!
For soon the robber band will be swept from out the land
With the last of all the sweeps in Ballina.
Chorus