The Galway Races
- traditional

As I rode down to Galway Town
To seek for recreation on the 17th of August
Me mind being elevated
There were multitudes assembled
With their tickets at the station
And me eyes beggan to dazzle
And they off to see the races

With me wack fol the do fol
The diddle idle day

There were passengers from Limrick
And passengers from Nenagh
The boys of Connemara
And the Clare unmarried maiden
There were people from Cork City
Who were loyal, true and faithful
Who brought home the Fenian prisoners
From dying in foreign nations

With me wack fol the do fol
The diddle idle day

And it's there you see the pipers
And the fiddlers competing
And the sporting wheel of fortune
And the four and twenty quaters
And there's others without scruple
Pelting wattles at poor Maggie
And her father well contented
And he gazing at his daughter

With me wack fol the do fol
The diddle idle day

And it's there you see
The jockeys and
They mounted on so stably
The pink, the blue, the orange, and green
The colours of our nation
When the bell was rung for starting
All the horses seemed impatient
Their feet they hardly touched the ground
The speed was so amazing!

With me wack fol the do fol
The diddle idle day
There was half a million people there
Of all denominations
The Catholic, the Protestant, the Jew
The Presbyterian
There was yet no animosity
No matter what persuasion
But failte hospitality
Inducing fresh acquaintance

With me wack fol the do fol
The diddle idle day

Galway Bay
- Dr. Arthur Colahan

If you ever go across the sea to Ireland,
Then maybe at the closing of your day,
You will sit and watch the moon rise over Glodagh,
And see the sun go down on Galway Bay.

And if there's to be a life in the hereafter,
And somehow I'm sure there's going to be,
I will ask my God to let me make my heaven,
In that dear land across the Irish sea.

Just to hear again the ripple of the trout stream
and the women in the meadows making hay,
to sit beside the turf fire in the cabin
and watch the barefoot gossams (spelled phonetically) at their play.

For the breezes blowin' o'er the sea from Ireland
are perfumed by the heather as they blow
And the women in the upland diggin' tatties
speak a language that the strangers do not know.

For the strangers came and tried to teach us their way.
They scorned us just for bein' what we are.
But they might as well go chasin' after moon beams
Or light a penny candle from a star.

And if there's to be a life in the hereafter,
And somehow I'm sure there's going to be,
I will ask my God to let me make my heaven,
In that dear land across the Irish sea.


General Taylor
- traditional

General Taylor gained the day

Walk him along, John, Carry him along
General Taylor gained the day
Carry him to his burying ground

(chorus)
To me way, hey, hey Stormy

Walk him along, John, carry him along
Way, hey, hey, Stormy
Carry him to his burying ground

I wish I was sold Stormy's son

Walk him along, John, Carry him along
I'd build me a ship of ten thousand ton
Carry him to his burying ground

(chorus)

I'd load her down with ale and rum

Walk him along, John, Carry him along
And every shellback should have some
Carry him to his burying ground

(chorus)

We dug his grave with a silver spade

Walk him along, John, Carry him along
His shroud of the finest silk was made (chorus)

We lowered him down on a golden chain

Walk him along, John, Carry him along
On every link we carved his name
Carry him to his burying ground

(chorus)

General Taylor died long ago

Walk him along, John, Carry him along
He's gone to where the winds don't blow
Carry him to his burying ground

(chorus)

Goodbye Mrs. Durkin
- traditional

(chorus)

Goodbye Mrs. Durkin,
I'm sick and tired of working
No more I'll dig the praties,
No longer I'll be poor
As sure as my name is Barney,
I'll go off to Californie
Instead of digging praties,
I'll be digging lots of gold

In the days when I was courtin',
I was never tired of resortin'
To the ale house and the playhouse,
And the other house besides
But I told my brother Shamus,
I'll be off now and grow famous,
And before that I return again,
I'll have roamed the whole world wide

(chorus)

I've courted girls in Blarney, in Antraman, Klarney
In Dublin and in Kerry, down to the coast of Cork.
But I'm tired of all this pleasure, so now I'll take the leisure
And the next time you hear from me, I'll write your from New York.

(chorus)

When I landed in Ameri-Ka, I met a man named Burt.
He told me if I stayed awhile, he surely find me work.
Well work he didn't find me, so there's nothing here to bind me.
I'm bound for San Fransico, in Californ-i-a

(chorus)

Well I'm down in San Fransico and me fortune it is made.
Made pockets load down with gold and threw me spade.
I'll go back to the land I larence and me fortune never carried.
I'll marry Queen Victoria, Mrs. Durkin for dispite.

(chorus)


*Also know as Muirshin Durkin







Return To SongBook Index