Tim Finnegan liv'd in  Walkin Street,

A gentleman Irish mighty odd.

He had a tongue both rich and sweet,

An' to rise in the world he carried a hod,

Now Tim had a sort of a tipplin' way

With a love of the liquor he was born,

An' to help him on with his work each day,

He'd a drop of the craythur ev'ry morn.

 

Chorus :

 

Whack fol the dah, dance to your partner

Welt the flure, yer trotters shake,

Wasn't it the truth I told you,

Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake.

 

One morning Tim wa rather full,

His head felt heavy which made him shake,

He fell from the ladder and broke his skull,

So they carried him home his corpse to wake,

They rolled him up in a nice clean sheet,

And laid him out upon the bed,

With a gallon of whiskey at his feet,

And a barrel of porter at his head.

 

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.

Miss Biddy O'Brien began to cry,

'Such a neat clean corpse, did you ever see,

Arrah, Tim avourneen, why did you die?'

'Ah, hould your gab,' said Paddy McGee.

 

Then Biddy O'Connor took up the job,

'Biddy,' says she, 'you're wrong, I'm sure,'

But Biddy gave her a belt in the gob,

And left her sprawling on the floor;

Oh, then the war did soon enrage;

'Twas woman to woman and man to man,

Shillelagh law did all engage,

And a row and a ruction soon began.

 

Then Mickey Maloney raised his head,

When a noggin of whiskey flew at him,

It missed and falling on the bed,

The liquor scattered over Tim;

Bedad he revives, see how he rises,

And Timothy rising from the bed,

Says, 'Whirl your liquor round like blazes,

Thanam o'n dhoul, do you think I'm dead?'     (Your soul to the Devil)