Oh the cold winds from the mountains is calling soft to me,
The smell of scented heather brings bitter memories:
A wild and lonely eagle is in the summer sky,
Oh the fields of Shanagolden, where my love Willie lies.

I met him in the winter time when the snow was on the ground
And the Irish hills were peaceful then and love was all around.
And scarcely twenty one years old, a young man in his prime.
We were married, darling Willie by the eve of Christmas time.

Oh do you remember darlin when we walked the moonlit road
Our hands they were entwined then, I'll never let you go.
I held you in my arms my love beneath the pale moonlight,
Near fields of Shanagolden on a lonely winter's night.

And then came the call to arms my love and the hills, they were aflame.
Down from the silent mountains, a Saxon stranger came.
I held you in my arms then, my young heart wild with fear,
In fields by Shanagolden, in springtime of the year.

You fought them, darling Willie, all through the summer days.
I heard the rifles firing in the mountains far away
I held you in my arms my love, your blood ran free and bright,
And you died in Shanagolden, on a lonely summer's night.

Ah but that was long ago my love, now our son was fine and tall
And the hills, they are at peace again and the Saxon stranger gone.
I'll place a rose upon your grave, beneath the pale moonlight,
And we'll think of Shanagolden on a lonely winters night.