Lyrics and Chords

Raglan Road
Kavanagh’s love identified
Luke Kelly
Song meaning
More on song meaning
Raglan Road videos
Lyrics and Chords print version

The lyrics to Raglan Road can both enchant and baffle people in equal measure.

It tells the story of a failed relationship in which the singer loves a woman from afar but is not loved in return.
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The chords are given in the key of D major, the key used by Luke Kelly when he recorded one of the most popular versions of the song.

Raglan Road lyrics and chords

 

D 

On Raglan Road of an Autumn  

G 

day

 

I  

D 

saw her  

G 

first and  

D 

knew,

 

That

G 

her dark hair would  

D 

weave a snare

 

That I might  

Bm 

someday 

 

 

A 

rue.

 

I  

G 

saw the danger  

D 

and I passed

 

Along the en

Bm 

chanted 

 

 

A 

way.

 

And I  

D 

said, “Let grief be a fallen  

G 

leaf

 

At the  

D 

dawning 

 

 

G 

of the  

D 

day.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Grafton Street in November, we

Tripped lightly along the ledge

Of a deep ravine where can be seen

The worth of passion play.

The Queen of Hearts still making tarts

And I not making hay;

Oh, I loved too much and by such and such

Is happiness thrown away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I gave her gifts of the mind,

I gave her the secret signs,

That’s known to the artists who have known

The true gods of sound and stone.

And her words and tint without stint

I gave her poems to say

With her own name there and her own dark hair

Like clouds over fields of May.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a quiet street where old ghosts meet

I see her walking now,

And away from me so hurriedly

My reason must allow.

That I had loved, not as I should

A creature made of clay,

When the angel woos the clay, he’ll lose

His wings at the dawn of day.

Raglan Road
Kavanagh’s love identified
Luke Kelly
Song meaning
More on song meaning
Raglan Road videos
Lyrics and chords
Lyrics and Chords print version