Part Three
Tell Me Ma
Beggarman
In
Heave away, haul away
In
Chorus
We're bound for
Haul away you rolling kings
Heave
away, haul away
Haul away, you'll hear me sing
We're bound for
As I walked out one morning fair
Heave away, haul
away
'Twas there I met Miss Nancy Blair
Chorus:
I shook her up and I shook her down
Heave away, haul away
I shook her round and round the town
Chorus:
There ain't but one thing grieves me mind
Heave away, haul away
It’s leaving Nancy Blair behind
Chorus:
And as we wallop around
Heave away, haul away
You'll wish to God you'd never been born
Chorus:
I'll Tell Me Ma
I'll tell me Ma when I go home,
The boy's won't leave the girls alone.
They'll pull my hair, they stole my comb,
Well that's alright till I go home.
Chorus:
She is handsome. She is pretty.
She is the bell of
She is courtin' one, two, three.
Please won't you tell me, who is she?
Albert Mooney say's he loves her.
All the boy's are fighting for her.
They knock at the door and ring at the bell
Sayin' "Oh my true love, are you well"?
Out she comes as white as snow,
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes.
Oul Jenny Murray say's she'll die
If you don't get the fella
With the roving eye.
Let the wind and the rain
and hail blow high
And the snow come tumbling from the sky,
She's as nice as apple pie.
She'll get her own lad by and by.
When she gets a lad of her own,
She won't tell her Ma when she comes home.
Let them all come as they will
For it's Patrick Murphy she loves still.
Beggarman
I am a little beggarman
and begging I have been
For three score or more in this little isle of green
I'm known from the Liffey down to Segue
And I'm known by the name of old Johnny Dhu
Of all the trade's that's going, sure begging is the best
For when a man is tired, he can sit down and rest
He can beg for his dinner, he has nothing else to do
Only cut around the corner with his old rig-a-doo
I met a little flaxy-haired girl one day
"Good morning little flaxy-haired girl" I did say
"Good morning little beggarman, a how do you do
With your rags and you tags and you old rig-a-doo"
I'll buy a pair of leggings, a collar and a tie
And a nice young lady I'll fetch by and by
I'll buy a pair of goggles and I'll colour them blue
And an old fashioned lady I will make her too
I’ve got the sky, I’ve got the road, I’ve
got the sky, the world is my home!
I slept in the barn, down at Caurabawn
A wet night came on and I slept 'till the dawn
With holes in the roof and the rain coming through
And the rats and the cats, they were playing peek-a-boo
When who did I waken but the woman of the house
With her white spotty apron and her calico blouse
She began to frighten and I said "boo
Aarah, don't be afraid mam
it's only Johnny Dhu"
I’ve got the sky, I’ve got the road, I’ve
got the sky, the world is my home!
Over the road with my pack on my back
Over the fields with my great heavy sack
With holes in my shoes and my toes peeping through
Singing skinny-me-rink a doodle o and old Johnny Dhu
I must be going to bed for it's getting late at night
The fire's all raked and out goes the light
So now you've heard the story of my old rig-a-doo
It's good-bye and God be with you says old Johnny Dhu