The Ballad of Tom Archer

I'm known by the name of Tom Archer

A bold highwayman of renown

I was born in the sweet county Antrim

In a place they call Ballymena town

Me parents they reared me right decent

I was schooled in the shoemaking trade

But I left there and joined with the Antrim defenders

Oh I was a wild sporting blade

I rode with young Roddy McCorley

We'd a victory at old Randalstown

To freedom or hell we were marching

For to break from the chains of the Crown

The Unitedmen tried to free Ireland

Bold Emmet, McCracken, Wolfe Tone

We were brave men but had not the means or the power

To drive out the redcoats alone

So I'll ride like the wind 'til they catch me

I'll ride like the wind from them all

I know that the devil is waiting

So I'll ride like the wind 'til I fall

I repaired to the green glens of Antrim

And I hid with the fox and the hare

I plundered the quislings who sold us

And I made English gentry beware

Stand and deliver I ordered

Your money or your life is the fee

And which one I take sure it makes little difference

To a wild rapparee such as me

So I'll ride like the wind 'til they catch me

I'll ride like the wind from them all

I know that the devil is waiting

So I'll ride like the wind 'til I fall

For a handful of silver they trapped him

Betrayed by a comrade and friend

And he died as the brave men before him

Deviant and bold to the end

Sometimes when the moon's shining brightly

And the night's deathly quiet and still

Some have seen a ghost rider appear in the moonlight

Where they hanged him on top of moat hill

So I'll ride like the wind 'til they catch me

I'll ride like the wind from them all

I know that the devil is waiting

So I'll ride like the wind 'til I fall

So I'll ride like the wind 'til they catch me

I'll ride like the wind from them all