Macidol Mac music community

Song Information:

Credits
Loops from GarageBand World Jam Pack
Arrangement, Keyboard & Vocals by slumbering
Guitar & Vocals by Stuart "Gumbo" Walker
Image contains Jameson Whiskey Label

Finnegan's Wake is a traditional Irish street song that i love.

Last St Paddy's Day, i got drunk and recorded this arrangement and my singing. (It was all done with loops, all these Irish things i found in the Jam Pack.)

Yesterday i asked Stu if he'd like to sing along, and he agreed. I think he might have been a little tipsy. And he also added some lovely guitar playing.

We didn't sing the lyrics exactly as they're written here. The lyrics i posted for the song were got from Mudcat.org.

We wanted to rap (well, i wanted us to), but we were afraid we'd sound like dumbasses.

Song Lyrics:

Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin' Street
A gentleman, Irish, mighty odd;
He had a brogue both rich and sweet
And to rise in the world he carried a hod.

Now Tim had a sort of the tipplin' way
With a love of the whiskey he was born
And to help him on with his work each day
He'd a "drop of the cray-thur" every morn.

chorus:
Whack fol the darn O, dance to your partner
Whirl the floor, your trotters shake;
Wasn't it the truth I told you
Lots of fun at Finnegan's wake!

One mornin' Tim was feelin' full
His head was heavy which made him shake;
He fell from the ladder and broke his skull
And 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 gallon of whiskey at his feet
And a barrel of porter at his head.

chorus

His friends assembled at the wake
And Mrs. Finnegan called for lunch,
First they brought in tay and cake
Then pipes, tobacco and whiskey punch.

Biddy O'Brien began to bawl
"Such a nice clean corpse, did you ever see?
O Tim, mavourneen, why did you die?"
"Arragh, hold your gob!" said Paddy McGhee

chorus

Then Maggie O'Connor took up the job
"O Biddy," says she, "You're wrong, I'm sure"
Biddy she gave her a belt in the gob
And left her sprawlin' on the floor.

And then the war did soon engage
'Twas woman to woman and man to man,
Shillelagh law was all the rage
And a row and a ruction soon began.

chorus

Then Mickey Maloney ducked his head
When a noggin of whiskey flew at him,
It missed, and falling on the bed
The liquor scattered over Tim!

The corpse revives! See how he raises!
Timothy rising from the bed,
Says,"Whirl your whiskey around like blazes
Thanum an Dhul! Do you thunk I'm dead?"

chorus