• Lyrics: play full screen play karaoke
• You Can't Fool The Beast - Horslips
• Time to kill - Horslips
• The Story - Horslips
• The Morrigan's Dream - Horslips
• Setanta - Horslips
• More Than You Can Chew - Horslips
• Maeve's Court - Horslips
• Cu Chulainn's Lament - Horslips
• Concerning The Tain - Horslips

There has always been great speculation as to the nature of the Brown Bull.
In the manuscripts the Bull is referred to as "an Donn Cuailgne". While
the word "Donn" means "brown" it is also the name of the ancient Irish God
of the Dead. There is also a related story which tells how two malevolent
magicians take the shape of Bulls and resume a longstanding feud.
You can fool the woman
- One of these days, you're gonna
fool the man
Cos you've got the insight
You can see a world of things
They can't understand.
You can say you're winning
You can count the score
And say you know that they've lost.
But you'll end up admitting that
The price is more than simply counting
the cost.
Ah yes, they're blind already.
They're blind to love, blind to pain,
Blind to hope, blind to gain.
Ah you can fool them alright
But can you fool the beast?
You can fool the woman
Anyone can see you're gonna
fool the man.
Cos you've ways of knowing.
You can tell their pride will
make them blind in the end.

The hop jig we've used here is in 9/8 time and is called The Humours of
Whiskey.
I see the last black swan
Fly past the sun.
I wish I, too, were gone
Back home again.
It seems our fortunes lied
Despite our gain.
Our tears fall like our pride.
We cry in shame.
Now we've got time to kill!
Kill the shadows on our skin.
Kill the fear that grows within.
Killing time, my friend.
I stare into your eyes.
But can't see far.
You cut me down to size.
You bring the dark.
My body's black and sore.
I need to sleep.
Now hear the heaven's roar.
I can't escape.
Now we've got time to kill!
Kill the shadows on our skin.
Kill the fear that grows within.

One night in bed, the promiscuous Connacht Queen, Maeve, quarrels with her
husband Ailill. They argue over who has the most wealth. Ailill doesn't
like the suggestion that he's a kept man. "Her words were sharp; they cut
him deep, in a war between the sheets". Ailill's magnificent White Bull is
the deciding factor in their subsequent measuring of possessions. Maeve's
a bad loser. Mac Roth, her messenger, goes to Cooley to rent the famed
Brown Bull for a year, thus giving Maeve the decider. "I once told her where
she could find her dream". The Bull's owner is agreeable until Mac Roth and
his party get very drunk and reveal that had they not been allowed to borrow
the bull they would have taken it by force. The deal breaks down. They go
home emptyhanded. Maeve decides on war.
Having marshalled all her warriors, and allies from Munster and Tara, and
with Ailill's six brothers and their armies standing by Maeve receives
favourable omens from her Druids. The long march to Cooley begins. "The
champions and the Seven Sons are come to take away the Donn". However, a
sorceress appears and warns Maeve of impending defeat at the hand of Dearg
Doom, Cu Chulainn. "Saw the host stained red in war, saw the hero-light
around the head of a dragon-boy". The warning is ignored.
Meanwhile, the men of Ulster are ill with labour pains - the legacy of a
curse put on them for their inhuman treatment of a pregnant woman. The one
man exempt from this curse is Cu Chulainn, whose very birth is shrouded in
mystery. Singlehandedly he takes on the defence of Ulster, harassing Maeve's
soldiers, "And like a hawk I'll swoop and swoop again", beheading those who
stray from the main force. "You can hear me shout 'two heads are better than
none. One hundred heads are so much better than one'". Cu Chulainn is a
hard man. Originally called Setanta, he became known as Cu Chulainn, the
Hound of Culann, because of his savagery. As the Connacht losses grow
greater, the deposed King of Ulster, Fergus MacRoich, who is having a secret
affair with Maeve, meets Cu Chulainn and arranges a treaty. Cu Chulainn
agrees to singlehanded combat with any Connacht champion provided Maeve's
army does not advance. One by one, day after day he defeats each warrior
until eventually he faces his old foster-brother and close friend Ferdia.
Cu Chulainn pleads with Ferdia to leave. "But Ferdia just laughed and shook
his golden head and then they fell to battle again". For three days they
fight at a ford and appear evenly matched until on the third day Cu Chulainn
flies into a rage and lets loose his supernatural javelin, the terrible Gae
Bolga, which destroys his friend. As Ferdia falls Cu Chulainn catches him
and carries him to the riverbank, lamenting. "Life was a game, Now I miss
your name; your golden hair". Then overcome by despair Cu Chulainn abandons
the fight.
Maeve's army moves south with the stolen bull. The Ulster men rally and
with Cu Chulainn in their ranks they give chase. "But before you hit off,
let me say this time you bit off more than you can chew". The Morrigan,
Queen of Demons, who has been encouraging slaughter all along, prophesies
the outcome. In the battle which follows the Connacht army is routed.
"It seems our fortunes lied despite our gain. Our tears fall like our
pride". Maeve's life is spared by Cu Chulainn. As the Ulstermen are taking
the Brown Bull home, they meet Ailill's Bull, the White-Horned one. The Donn
immediately attacks the White. "You can fool them alright but can you fool
the beast"? All day and night they are locked in combat. Morning sees the
Donn victorious. The armies consider destroying him, the cause of all their

About the forthcoming battle, this piece is a dance tune called Old Noll's

Cu Chulainn's birth-name acts as a theme for the first half, up to where,

Perhaps the best known Irish March, The March of the King of Laois, forms
the basic melodic structure of this song - a warning to Maeve from
Cu Chulainn.
People say you're dressed to kill.
You're not a girl to come on slow.
Once you get the bit between your teeth
You don't feel like letting go.
But before you hit off
Let me say you've bit off
More than you can chew.
I recall just how you laughed,
And you tried to make a fool of me.
How you thought you could get away
Without me knowing is hard to see.
Though things may look doubtful,
You've got yourself a mouthful
More than you can chew.
You can give me back my pride
And I will trade you all that's due.
Cos like a spider I'm creeping back
Gonna spin my web all over you.
And if you take it in haste
You're gonna waste
Aah you can't taste

We've used Knockeen Free, which means, in Irish, the heathery little hill to

You felt the chill of midnight ice
As I broke your heart in two.
And I felt the kiss of emptiness
As I watched your life turn blue.
Life was a game.
Now I miss your name;
Your golden hair.
No more in your eyes is the blue
of skies -
Only shame.
A lonely soul, betrayed by love,
You walked into the stream.
With tears of love upon my cheeks

Ireland's most exciting saga is, undoubtedly, Tain Bo Cuailgne ( The
Cattle Raid of Cooley ), the centrepiece of the Ulster cycle of Heroic
Tales.
Normally referred to as "The Tain", it deals with the conflict between
the forces of Connacht and Ulster for possession of a prize bull.
The events of the Tain are estimated to have taken place in Ireland
approximately 500 B.C. The earliest written version of the Tain known
to us is contained in the Book of the Dun Cow, which dates from the 12th
century. Before this the story was kept alive by storytellers.
Two other manuscript versions are also available; the 12th century Book
of Leinster and the 14th century Yellow Book of Lecan. The Tain, as
Ireland's equivalent of the Aeneid, has long intrigued historians, academics