| lyric | In the sweet country Lim'rick one fine summer's night,
There were bonfires and fiddling when I first saw the light,
And the lanky legged midwife was tipsy with joy,
As she staggered around with a slip of a boy,
Singing bainnne na mbó dos na gamhna,
and the juice of the barley for me.
Well when Iwas a gossoon of eight years or so,
With me turf and me primer to school I did go.
To a dusty old school house without any door,
Where lay the school master blind drunk on the floor.
At the learning Iwasn't such a genius I'm thinking,
But I soon bet the master entirely at drinking,
Not a wake or a wedding for five miles around,
But myself in the corner was sure to be found.
One Sunday the priest read me out from the altar,
Saying you'll end up your days with your neck in a halter,
And you'll dance a fine jig between heaven and hell,
And his words they did frighten me the truth for to tell.
So the very next morning as the dawn it did break,
Iwent down to the vestry the pledge for to take,
And there in that room sat the priests in a bunch,
Round a big roaring fire drinking tumblers of punch.
From that day to this I have wandered alone,
AJack of all trades aye and a master of none,
With the sky for my roof and the earth for my floor,
Sure I'll dance out my days drinking whiskey galore. |