The Boys of Barr na Sráide - Irish folk song.

The Boys of Barr na Sráide, written by poet and playwright Sigerson Clifford, first released as a song in the mid 1950s and later published in Cliffords "Ballads of a Bogman" in 1986, It speaks of his childhood friends hunting for the wren then growing up through the war of independence and later emigrating. The town he refers to in the song is Cahersiveen in Co.Kerry. Hunting the wren is an old tradition on St.Stepehens day the 26th of Dec.
Lyrics below:

The town it climbs the mountain and looks upon the sea,
At sleeping time or waking, sure its there I long to be,
To walk again those kindly streets, where first my life began,
With the boys of Barr na Sráide, who hunted for the wren.

With cudgels stout we roved about, for to hunt the grey dreólín,
We looked for birds in every furze from Litir to Dooneen,
We jumped for joy beneath the sky, life held no print or plan,
for the boys of Barr na Sráide, hunting for the wren.

And when the hills were bleeding and the rifles were aflame,
To the rebel homes of Kerry the Saxon stranger came.
But the men who dared the Auxies and fought the Black-and-Tan,
Were once boys of Barr na Sráide, hunting for the wren.

But now they toil on foreign soil, where they have made their way.
Deep in the heart of London town and over in Broadway.
And I am left to sing their deeds and praise them while I can,
Those boys of Barr na Sráide, who hunted for the wren.

So here's a health to them tonight, those men who laughed with me,
By the groves of Carham river and the slope of Bean 'a Tí.
John Daly and Batt Andy’s and the Sheehans, Con and Dan,
And the boys of Barr na Sráide who hunted for the wren.

And when the wheel of life runs down and peace comes over me,
Just lay me down near that old town between the hills and sea.
I'll take my place in those green fields, where first my life began,
With the boys of Barr na Sráide who hunted for the wren