Finnegan's Wake

"Finnegan's Wake" lyrics and music by traditional

Performed by Marc Gunn
From Irish Drinking Songs: A Cat Lover's Companion

Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin Street,
A gentle Irishman mighty odd
He had a brogue both thick and sweet,
And to rise in the world he carried a hod
Now you see he had a sort of a tipplers way
but for the love for the liquor old Tim was born
And to help him on his way each day,
he'd a drop of the craythur every morn

* Whack fol the dah then dance to yer partner
round the flure yer trotters shake
Bend an ear to the truth they tell ye,
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake

One morning Tim felt rather foul,
His head felt heavy which made him shake
He fell from a ladder and he broke his skull,
They carried him home his corpse to wake
They 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

Tim's friends assembled at the wake,
and Widow Finnegan called for lunch
First she brought in tay and cake,
Then pipes, tobacco and brandi punch
Then Biddy O'Brien began to cry,
"Such a nice clean corpse, did you ever see,
Tim, auvreem! O, why did you die?",
"Will ye hold your gob?" said Paddy McGee

Then Maggie O'Connor took up the cry,
"O Biddy" says she "you're wrong, I'm sure"
Biddy gave her a belt in the gob
and sent her sprawling on the floor
Then civil war did soon engage,
It was woman to woman and man to man
Shillelagh law was all the rage
and a row and a ruction soon began

Then Paddy Maloney ducked his head
When a bucket of whiskey flew at him
It missed, and landed on the bed,
The liquor scattered over Tim
Now the spirits new life gave the corpse, my joy!
Tim jumped like a Trojan from the bed
Cryin, "Will ye walup each girl and boy,
t'underin' Jaysus, do ye think I'm dead?"

Molly Malone (feat. Jesse Ferguson)

Chords: KEY Bm

[Gm]Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin Street,
A [Eb]gentle Irishman mighty [F]odd
He [Gm]had a brogue both rich and sweet,
An' to [Bb]rise in the world he [F]carried a [Bb]hod
You see he'd a sort of a [Gm]tipplers way
but for the [Bb]love for the liquor poor [Gm]Tim was born
To [Bb]help him on his [Bb]way each day,
he'd a [Eb]drop of the craythur [F]every [Bb]morn

Whack fol the dah now [Gm]dance to yer partner
[Eb]round the flure yer [F]trotters shake
[Bb]Bend an ear to the [Gm]truth they tell ye,
we had [Eb]lots of fun at [F]Finnegan's [Bb]Wake

 

Background

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.

I also released a parody called "Furagone's Wake" which is the cat version of this song.

 

Finnegan's Wake Videos

Silliness from home studio

 

from Irish Drinking Songs CD

 

 

 

 

 

 

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