One hundred and three years ago today, the fisherman Patrick Murphy of Passage West Co. Cork was shot by a local bailiff. To commemorate the 100th anniversary in 2011, Cork singer/songwriter John Spillane composed this ballad. At first the song was about hatred and blame, but as Spillane describes, he worked through that in the writing, and in the end the song is about peace and reconciliation.
The Ballad of Patrick Murphy.
Chorus:
They lived beside the river
At the turning of the tide
They lived beside the river
By the river they lived and they died
Patrick Murphy was a fisherman, and a gentleman, and a good man,
In the town of Passage West,
With a wife and seven children,
And he tended to his nets.
Song of the Isles 