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My name is Richard Joyce, my story I will tell
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In poverty I left this land in Galway I did dwell
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14 years in slavery the Moors they held command
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Lives were cheap we were sold like sheep, in Algiers burning land
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Well, I gave myself in servitude for 7 long years or more
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Bidding goodbye to kit and kin, we sailed out from the shore
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And as we took our last fond look on Ireland’s glittering strand
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To Barbados and the sugar cane, the Captain would sell all hands
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Sell all hands! Captain would sell all hands!
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To Barbados and the sugar cane, the Captain would sell all hands
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Well, we hadn’t been on the deep, for two days but barely three
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When on a brisk and blowy day three distant sail did see
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They beat a course towards us and we tacked our ship about
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But they gave chase and soon gained pace and rolled their cannon out
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And when I saw that sickle flag curling scimitar in each hand
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The fear it struck a heavy blow we hatched to fight or stand
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Those fearsome Janissaries, all from their native land
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Had come to pillage and plunder, and chain us in iron bands
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Iron Bands! Chain us in iron bands!
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Had come to pillage and plunder, and chain us in iron bands
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Well broadside to broadside, soon we were engaged
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They grappled hooked and boarded us as the battle raged
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But we were far outnumbered and soon the flag came down
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To the beats and blows of this pirate foe we surrendered every man
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Well, the Reis he viewed his captives and he said to Barbary we were bound
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Thrown into the hole, me boys, our ankles chained around
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Fed in trough with pack and slop we slept where we did stand
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And how I curse and rue the day, we left ole Ireland
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Ireland! Left ole Ireland!
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Oh how I curse and rue the day, we left ole Ireland
Instrumental
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Three months we were at sea, till we docked to yells and jeers
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Brought up but blinded in the light in the port of old Algiers
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First, they sold our women, to the harems they were bound
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Most men went to the salt mines and a life in hell they found
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Now I had apprenticed as a boy, and fashioned rings of gold
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The Reis he told the auctioneer who had me bought and sold
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To a goldsmith for the Sultan, who needed a helping hand
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Kind Providence had saved my life in this fierce and foreign land
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Well, he took me in and fed me, and tended to my wounds
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And taught me all the craft he knew of gold and precious stones
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As the weeks rolled into months, and months rolled into years
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I became a master of my trade, a goldsmith in Algiers
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In Algiers! A goldsmith in Algiers!
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I became a master of my trade, a goldsmith in Algiers
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Now I fashion fine things, for the Sultan to behold
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Challises, necklaces, rings of beaten gold
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The finest work among them all, it was a wedding band
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A golden heart held tenderly between two loving hands
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Heart in hand! Heart in loving hand!
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A golden heart held tenderly between two loving hands
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Well finally the news came, that I was to be free
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The king demanded our release, the Sultan he agreed
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My master begged me for to stay, even offered his daughter’s hand
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But I bid Algiers adieu with safe passage to Ireland
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And now I’m back in Claddagh, where I was born and bred
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With a wife and three daughters, a house and farmstead
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Still, I make rings and fine things, for the great and grand
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But my favorite is the Claddagh ring, with it’s heart and loving hand
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Heart in hand! Heart in loving hand!
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My favorite is the Claddagh ring, with it’s heart and loving hand
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Heart in hand! Heart in loving hand!
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My favorite is the Claddagh ring, with it’s heart and loving hand
Outro
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