A traditional Irish song about a young harper who goes to war, sung by Miles O'Brien and Captain Benjamin Maxwell and later used as a musical theme for O'Brien.
The Minstrel Boy is a ballad by the Irish poet Thomas Moore about a young musician who dies in battle and destroys his harp so that it will never play in slavery.
It is heard in The Wounded in 2367. Miles O'Brien once served under Benjamin Maxwell on the USS Rutledge during the Cardassian war, and the crew sang the song together. When Maxwell goes rogue and attacks Cardassian ships, O'Brien beams over to talk him down. The two men sing a verse in Maxwell's ready room, and the captain then agrees to surrender.
The melody follows O'Brien to Deep Space Nine. It is played over his memories of the station in the final episode, What You Leave Behind, as he prepares to leave for Earth.