Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin Street
A gentle Irishman mighty odd
He had a brogue both rich and sweet
An' to rise in the world he carried a hod
You see he'd a sort of a tipplers way
But the love for the liquor poor Tim was born
To help him on his way each day
He'd a drop of the craythur every morn
Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
Around the flure yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake
One morning Tim got rather full
His head felt heavy which made him shake
Fell from a ladder and he broke his skull
And they carried him home his corpse to wake
Rolled him up in a nice clean sheet
And laid him out upon the bed
A bottle of whiskey at his feet
And a barrel of porter at his head
Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
Around the flure yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake
His friends assembled at the wake
And Mrs Finnegan called for lunch
First she brought in tay and cake
Then pipes, tobacco and whiskey punch
Biddy O'Brien began to cry
"Such a nice clean corpse, did you ever see,
Tim avourneen, why did you die?"
"Will ye hould your gob?" said Paddy McGee
Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
Around the flure yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake
Then Maggie O'Connor took up the job
"Biddy" says she "you're wrong, I'm sure"
Biddy gave her a belt in the gob
And left her sprawling on the floor
Then the war did soon engage
T'was woman to woman and man to man
Shillelagh law was all the rage
And a row and a ruction soon began
Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
Around the flure yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake
Mickey Maloney ducked his head
When a bucket of whiskey flew at him
It missed, and falling on the bed
The liquor scattered over Tim
Bedad he revives, see how he rises
Timothy rising from the bed
Saying "Whittle your whiskey around like blazes
T'underin' Jaysus, do ye think I'm dead?"
Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
Around the flure yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake
Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
Around the flure yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake
Dedicated, no doubt, to the Irishman's love of funerals and whiskey, Finnegans Wake supplied the theme for James Joyce's famous novel of the same name. As sung by the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.
