Finnegan's wake    (intro) (midi)    (sample)

 

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1. Ah Tim Finnegan lived in Walking Street,

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    a gentleman Irish mighty odd.

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    He had a brogue both rich and sweet,

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    an' to rise in the world he carried a hod.

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    Ah but Tim had a sort of tipplin' way,

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    with the love of the liquor he was born.

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    An' to send him on his way each day,

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    he'd a drop of the crater ev'ry morn.

 

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Whack fol de dah, will ya dance to yer partner,

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around the floor with yer trotters shake.

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Isn't it the truth I told you?

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Lots of fun at Finnegan's wake.

 

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2. So one morning Tim was rather full,

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    his head felt heavy which made him shake.

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    He fell off the ladder and he broke his skull,

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    and they carried him home his corpse to wake.

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    Oh, they wrapped him up in a nice clean sheet,

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    they laid him out upon the bed,

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    with a bottle of whiskey at his feet,

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    and a barrel of porter at his head.  + CHORUS

 

 

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3. Well his friends assembled at the wake,

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    and Mrs Finnegan called for lunch.

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    Well ,first she brought some tea and cake,

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    then pipes, tobacco and brandy punch.

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    Then the widow Malone began to cry,

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    'Such a lovely corpse, did you ever see,

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    Arrah, Tim Mavourneen, why did you die?'

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   'Will ye hold your gob?' said Molly McGee.  + CHORUS

 

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4. Oh well, Mary Murphy took up the job,

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    'Ah, Biddy' says she 'you're wrong, I'm sure'.

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    Well, Biddy gave her a belt in the gob,

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    and left her sprawling on the floor.

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    A civil war did then engage,

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    'twas woman to woman and man to man,

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    Shillelagh law was all the rage,

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    and a row and a ruction soon began.  + CHORUS

 

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5. Oh, Tim Maloney ducked his head

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    when a bottle of whiskey flew at him

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    He ducked and, landing on the bed,

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    the whiskey scattered over Tim.

 

 

 

 

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    Bedad he revives, see how he rises,

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    Tim Finnegan rising in the bed,

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    saying 'Whittle your whiskey around like blazes,

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    t'underin' Jaysus, do ye think I'm dead?'   + CHORUS

 

(capo 3rd)             

 

    (Dubliners)