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about this song
"There Were Roses" is an Irish folk ballad written by Northern Irish singer, songwriter and storyteller, Tommy Sands. The lyrics are based on a real incident that took place in Northern Ireland in 1974. The song recounts how Allan Bell, a Protestant friend of Sands, was murdered in a senseless act of violence in Newry. In the aftermath, a group of local Protestants "prowled round the Ryan Road" for a Catholic to kill in equally senseless retaliation; ironically