Only our rivers run free    (midi) (sample)

C G C

1. When apples still grow in November,

F C G

when blossoms still bloom on each tree,

F C

when leaves are still green in December,

G Am

it's then that our land will be free.

F C F Em

I wander her hills and valleys and still through my sorrow I see,

F C G Am

a land that has never known freedom, only her rivers run free.

F G C

2. I drink to the death of her manhood,

F C G

those men who would rather have died

F C

than to live in the cold chains of bondage

G Am

to bring back their rights were denied.

F C

Where are you now, when we need you,

F Em

what burns where the flame used to be?

F C G Am

Are you gone like the snows of last winter, will only our rivers run free?

F G C F C G

3. How sweet is life but we're crying, how mellow the wine that were dry,

F C G Am

how fragrant the rose but it’s dying, how gentle the wind, but it sighs.

F C F Em

What good is youth when it’s ageing, what joy is in eyes that can see?

F C

when there’s sorrow in sunshine and flowers,

G Am

and only our rivers run free.

(midi = capo 4th) (Christy Moore)