Popular
IRISH & CELTIC Tunes
I - M
ISN’T IT GRAND, BOYS
Look at the coffin - with golden handles
Isn't it grand boys to be bloody well dead?
CHORUS
Let's not have a sniffle,
Let's have a bloody good cry
And always remember the longer you live,
The sooner you'll bloody well die
Look at the preacher,
bloody well sanctified (or -bloody sanctimonious)
Isn't it grand boys to be bloody well dead?
CHORUS
Look at the choir boys, bloody castrati
Isn't it grand boys to be bloody well dead?
CHORUS
Look at the widow, bloody great female
Isn't it grand boys to be bloody well dead?
CHORUS
Look at the mourners, bloody great hypocrites
Isn't it grand boys to be bloody well dead?
CHORUS
Look at the flowers, all bloody wilted
Isn't it grand boys to be bloody well dead?
CHORUS
Look at the tombstone, bloody great boulder
Isn't it grand boys to be bloody well dead?
CHORUS
Look at the whiskey, in buckets and bottles
Isn't it grand boys to be bloody well dead?
CHORUS
***
(The) LAST FAREWELL
Ronald Webster and Roger Whittaker
There's a ship lies rigged and ready in the harbour
Tomorrow for old Ireland she sails.
Far away from your land of endless sunshine
To my land full of rainy skies and gales.
And I shall be aboard that ship tomorrow
Though my heart is full of tears at this farewell
CHORUS:
For you are beautiful
And I have loved you dearly,
More dearly than the spoken word can tell
I heard there's a wicked war a blazing
And the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a raising
Their guns on fire as we sail into hell
I have no fear of death; it brings no sorrow
But how bitter will be this last farewell
CHORUS
Though death and darkness
gather all about me
And my ship be torn apart upon the seas,
I shall smell again
the fragrance of these islands
In the heaving waves
that brought me once to thee.
And should I return safe home - again to Ireland,
I shall watch the Irish mist
roll through the dell.
CHORUS - 2 X
***
LOCH LOMOND
By yon bonnie banks
and by yon bonnie braes,
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond
Where me and my true love
were ever wont to gae,
On the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
CHORUS
Oh! Ye'll take the high road,
and I'll take the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye,
But me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
'Twas then that we parted,
In yon shady glen,
On the steep, steep side of Ben Lomond,
Where, in purple hue,
The highland hills we view,
And the moon coming out in the gloaming.
CHORUS
The wee birdies sing,
And the wild flowers spring,
And in sunshine the waters sleeping.
But the broken heart it kens,
Nae second spring again,
Though the waeful may cease
frae their greeting.
CHORUS
***
JUG O’ PUNCH
As I was sittin' with my jug and spoon
one fine mornin' in the month of June
A birdie sang in an ivy bunch - and the song he sang
was the jug o' punch
Tooriloorilay, Tooriloorily
Tooriloorilay, Tooriloorily
A birdie sat in an ivy bunch,
and the song he sang was the jug o' punch.
--------------------
What more diversion can a man desire
than be sittin' down by a snug turf fire.
A pretty maid seated on the bench
and on the table a jug o' punch
Tooriloorilay, Tooriloorily
Tooriloorilay, Tooriloorily
a pretty maid seated on the bench and on the table a jug o' punch
--------------------
If I get drunk well the money's me own
and them don't like it - they can leave me 'lone
I'll tune my fiddle and I'll rosin my bow
and I'll be welcome where e're I go
Tooriloorilay, Tooriloorily
Tooriloorilay, Tooriloorily
I'll tune my fiddle and I'll rosin my bow
and I'll be welcome where e're I go
--------------------
And when I'm dead and laid in my grave
no costly tombstone will I crave.
Just bury me in my native peat
with a jug o' punch at my head and feet
Tooriloorilay, Tooriloorily
Tooriloorilay, Tooriloorily
just bury me in my native peat
with a jug o' punch at my head and feet
***
The LIFE OF THE ROVER
Ewen MacColl
The old ways are changing,
you cannot deny,
The day of the traveller is over.
There is nowhere to go,
and there is nowhere to buy
Goodbye to the life of the rover.
​
CHORUS
Farewell to the tent and the old caravan
To the tinker, the gypsy, the travelling man,
Farewell to the life of the rover
​
Farewell to the songs
and the travelling tongue
Farewell to the horse and the bridle
The buying, the selling,
the old fortune telling
The knock on the door and the hawking.
-----
You've got to move fast - to keep up with the times
For these days a man cannot dander
There's a by-law to say - you must be on your way
And another to say you can't wander
CHORUS
The old ways are passing - and soon they'll be gone
And I lost the old friends of my younger days
So I'll sing the old songs - when the evenings are long
And I'll drink to the life of the rover
CHORUS: 2X to fin.
​
***
MOONSHINER
(Chorus & 1st Verse)
I’m a rambler, I’m a gambler,
I’m a long way from home
And if you don’t like me, then leave me alone
I’ll eat when I’m hungry,
I’ll drink when I’m dry
If the moonshine don’t kill me,
I’ll live ‘til I die
I’ve been a moonshiner for many a year
I’ve spent all me money on whiskey and beer
I’ll go to some hollow to set up my still
And I’ll make you a gallon for a two dollar bill
Chorus
I’ll go to some hollow in this coun-ter-ie
Ten gallons of wash, I can go on a spree
No woman to follow, and the world is all mine.
I love none so well as I love the moonshine
Chorus
Moonshine, dear moonshine,
oh how I love thee
You killed my poor father,
but dare you try me
Bless all moonshiners
and bless all moonshine
Its breath smells as sweet
as the dew on the vine
Chorus 2X
***