Blue Hills of Breffni - Daniel O'Donnell

Song by Donegal singer Daniel O'Donnell. The Kingdom of Bréifne (also Breffny, Brefnie, Brenny) was the traditional territory for an early Irish tribal group known as the Uí Briúin Bréifne. The Bréifne territory included the modern Irish counties of Leitrim and Cavan, along with parts of County Sligo (an area roughly equivalent to the modern Roman Catholic Diocese of Kilmore).

=Lyrics=

Blue Hills of Breffni shining in the sun
Scenes that I knew so long ago
When in my boyhood barefoot I would run
Through the fields and the woodlands I would go

Down by the river there's a old swinging pole
Where we laughed and played the summer days away
And home in the evening with the sun sinking low
In the Blue Hills of Breffni far away

Chorus
Far away, far away
Blue Hills of Breffni far away
Old memories burning, soon I'll be returning
To my Blue Hills of Breffni far away

Old thatched cottage standing by the stream
Winter nights of story and of song
And the sound of the fiddle that my father used to play
And the music echoed as we sang along

Neighbours would gather round the old turf fire
They talked about the heroes of the day
Life was all for living in the days when we were young
In Blue Hills of Breffni far away

chorus

I had a sweetheart she was young and fair
She cared not that I had no wealth or fame
We'd go walking hand in hand along the leafy lane
To the old oak tree where once I carved her name

There we made our promises that we would never part
And our love would last for ever and a day
But I went aroving and left my love behind
In Blue Hills of Breffni far away

chorus