Back to song list Previous song The Fields of Athenry Next song The Flight of Earls FINNEGAN'S WAKE Tim Finnegan lived in Watling street A gentleman Irishman -- mighty odd He'd a beautiul brogue, so rich and sweet And to rise in the world, he carried the hod But, you see he'd sort of a tipping way With a love for the liquor poor Tim was born And so to help him through with his work each day He'd drop of the craythin' every morn Chorus: Whack; fol-de-dooh-dah, dance to your partner Welt the floor, yer truthers shake Isn't it the truth I've told ye? Lots of fun at Finnegan's wake One morning Tim was rather full His head felt heavy, which made him shake He fell from the ladder and broke his skull So they carried him home a corpse to wake They rolled him up in a nice clean sheet And laid him out upon the bed With fourteen candles round his feet and a gallon of porter at his head Chorus: Whack; fol-de-dooh-dah, dance to your partner Welt the floor, yer truthers shake Isn't it the truth I've told ye? Lots of fun at Finnegan's wake His friends assembled at his wake Missus Finnegan called for the lunch First they laid in tea and cake Then pipes and tobacky and whiskey-punch Miss Biddy O'Brien began to cry 'Such a dacent corpse did you ever see? Arrah! Tim avourmeen, an why did ye die?' 'Ooh, none of your gab,' sez Billy Magee Chorus: Whack; fol-de-dooh-dah, dance to your partner Welt the floor, yer truthers shake Isn't it the truth I've told ye? Lots of fun at Finnegan's wake Then Peggy O'Connor took up the job 'Aargh! Biddy, says she, 'Ye'r wrong, I'm sure' But Biddy then gave her a belt on the gob And left her sprawling on the floor Each side in war did soon engage 'Twas woman to woman and man to man Shullelah law was all the rage And a row and a rucus soon began Chorus: Whack; fol-de-dooh-dah, dance to your partner Welt the floor, yer truthers shake Isn't it the truth I've told ye? Lots of fun at Finnegan's wake Mikey Mulvaney raised his head When a gallon of whiskey flew at him It missed him -- and hopping on the bed The liquor scattered all over Tim! Bedad he revives! See how he rises! An' Timothy, jumping from the bed Cried, while he lathered round like blazes 'In the name of the devil, d'ye think I'm dead' Chorus: Whack; fol-de-dooh-dah, dance to your partner Welt the floor, yer truthers shake Isn't it the truth I've told ye? Lots of fun at Finnegan's wake 119/319, 2400 characters