Finnegan's Wake
Traditional Irish


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

Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
Welt the floor yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told ya
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake

One morning Tim felt rather full
his head felt heavy which made him shake
Fell from a ladder and he broke his skull, and
they carried him home his corpse to wake
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

Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
Welt the floor yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told ya
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake

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

Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
Welt the floor yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told ya
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake

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 the war did soon engage
t'was woman to woman and man to man
Shillelagh law was all the rage
and a row and a ruction soon began

Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
Welt the floor yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told ya
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake

Mickey Maloney ducked his head
when a bucket of whiskey flew at him
It missed, and falling on the bed
the liquor scattered over Tim

Tim revives, see how he rises
Timothy rising from the bed
Cryin, "Will ye walup each girl and boy,
t'underin' Jaysus, do ye think I'm dead?"

Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
Welt the floor yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told ya
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake

Whack fol the dah now dance to yer partner
Welt the floor yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told ya
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake