In the county Tyrone, in the town of Dungannon
Where many a ruction meself had a hand in
Bob Williamson lived, a weaver by trade
And as all of us thought him a stout Orange blade.
On the twelfth of July as it yearly did come
Bob played his oul' flute to the sound of the drum
You may talk of piano or fiddle or lute
But there's none can compare with the Oul' Orange Flute.
But the treacherous scoundrel, he took us all in
And married a Papish named Bridget McGinn
Turned Papish himself and forsook the Old Cause
That gave us our freedom, religion and laws.
Now the boys in the town they made some fuss upon it
And Bob had to flee to the province of Connaught;
He flew with his wife and his fixins, to boot,
And along with the rest went the Old Orange Flute.
Each Sunday at mass, to atone for past deeds,
Bob said Paters and Aves and counted his beads
Till one Sunday morn, at the priest's own desire
Bob took his oul' flute for to play in the choir.
He took his oul' flute for to play in the mass
Find more similar lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.com/DyzBut the instrument quavered and cried."O Alas!"
Bob jumped up and huffed, and was all in a flutter.
And dipped the old flute in the blest holy water;
But try as he would, 'twould make no other sound
But "The Protestant Boys" and "O Croppy Lie Down".
And for all he would finger and twiddle and blow
For to play Papish music, the flute would not go;
"Kick the Pope" to "Boyne Water" was all it would sound
Not one Papish bleat in it could e'er be found.
At the council of priests that was held the next day
They decided to banish the Old Flute away;
Since they couldn't knock heresy out of its head
It was sentenced to die at the stake instead.
If you saw the oul' flute, sure its fate was pathetic,
'Twas taken and burned at the stake as heretic.
As the flames rose around it, there came a strange noise
'Twas the Old Flute still playing "The Protestant Boys".

The tune Protestant Boys is also known as Lilliburlero RG
Recorded by Patric Galvin, Clancys