Listen to this song!
Toss The Feathers/Maid Behind The Bar
On March 16, 1960
The P&O liner Canberra, with a gross tonnage of 45,733, is launched at Harland & Wolff in Belfast. She could take 3949 passengers and a crew of 803.
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O'Rafferty's Motor Car
(Tommie Connor)
Now Dinny O'Rafferty's motor car
Is the greatest I declare
It's made up of bits and pieces
That he's picked up here and there
The engine must be ages old
But it's still got lots of power
With a gallon of stout in the petrol tank
It does ninety miles an hour

What a wonderful motor car
It's the greatest ever seen
It used to be black as me father's hat
Now it's forty shades of green
On TV and the radio
And in every public bar
The burning question of the day
Is O'Rafferty's motor car

Now two of the wheels are triangular
And the third one's off a pram
The fourth is the last remaining wheel
From off a Dublin tram
The number plate's in Gaelic
And the plug's won't even spark
And the chassis came off a tinker's cart
That collapsed in Phoenix Park

What a wonderful motor car
It's the greatest ever seen
It used to be black as me father's hat
Now it's forty shades of green
On TV and the radio
And in every public bar
The burning question of the day
Is O'Rafferty's motor car

Now go for a ride in that motor car
And you'll end up with the shakes
The road from Cork to Dublin
Is a vale of pains and aches
When traffic lights turn red ahead
Then you'd best jump out the door
For the moment that Dinny treads on the break
Then his foot goes through the floor

What a wonderful motor car
It's the greatest ever seen
It used to be black as me father's hat
Now it's forty shades of green
On TV and the radio
And in every public bar
The burning question of the day
Is O'Rafferty's motor car

Now if you could see the upholstery
Then your eyes would start to pop
It's nothing but empty beer crates
With a load of sacks on top
The windscreen's gone to Lord knows where
And there's mothballs in the horn
And I reckon he'd only get half a quid
If he took it to the pawn

What a wonderful motor car
It's the greatest ever seen
It used to be black as me father's hat
Now it's forty shades of green
On TV and the radio
And in every public bar
The burning question of the day
Is O'Rafferty's motor car

Now Dinny was driving around last week
When the engine did the splits
It went up in smoke and nearly blew
O'Connell Street to bits
They searched around for Dinny and found
That he'd landed up by heck
Away on top of the GPO
With his L-plates round his neck

What a wonderful motor car
It's the greatest ever seen
It used to be black as me father's hat
Now it's forty shades of green
On TV and the radio
And in every public bar
The burning question of the day
Is O'Rafferty's motor car
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NEWEST ADDITIONS
to the Ballad Archive:
1. The Galway Girl
2. Nancy Spain
3. Whiskey In The Jar
4. Lads Among The Heather
5. Mary From Dungloe
MOST POPULAR BALLADS
in March:
1. Ireland's Call
2. The Soldier's Song
3. The Raggle Taggle Gypsy
4. The Black Velvet Band
5. After The Ball Is Over
MOST POPULAR BALLADS
of all time:
1. Ireland's Call
2. The Soldier's Song
3. The Raggle Taggle Gypsy
4. After The Ball Is Over
5. The Black Velvet Band