Barney, Come Home

Song

Transcription of Primary Source

BARNEY, COME HOME!

Words and Music by Wm. Chambers, the Irish Clown.

Catalogue of Songs sent free.

 

I have just got a letter from my dear old mother,

She wants her dear boy to come home;

But that I can’t do dear mother, for you,

I’m an Exile and here I must roam.

She says her heart’s breaking, and no one to help her,

The cot you were born in is now all alone,

Your father is dead so think of my trouble,

Barney, dear Barney, oh, will you come home?

 

CHORUS

Barney, come home, sure it said in the letter,

I know she is old and I cannot forget her,

I’m an Exile from Erin in America I roam,

When Ireland is free, mother,

Your Barney ’ll come home.

 

This is the letter I got from my mother,

It’s a year since I had one before,

And it makes my heart sad when I think of my dad,

For he’s gone where I’ll never see him more.

A Pardon she wants from the Queen for to get me,

But I’ll write her a letter to leave it alone,

For I’ll wait till the sun shines on the cross stones of Ireland,

And if you are living your Barney will come home.

 

CHORUS

Barney, come home, sure it said in the letter,

I know she is old and I cannot forget her,

I’m an Exile from Erin in America I roam,

When Ireland is free, mother,

Your Barney ’ll come home.

 

Curator Notes

Type: 
Broadside
Exact Title: 
Barney, Come Home!
Probable Date: 
Between 1871 and 1890?
Author/Creator: 
Billy Chambers
Publisher: 
A.W. Auner
Place of Publication: 
Philadelphia, PA
Dimensions: 
21 x 12 cm.
Institution: 
American Antiquarian Society
Catalog Code: 
Ballads B261c