Gather ’round, ye lads and lasses, set ye for a while And hearken to me mournful tale about the Emerald Isle Let’s all raise our glasses high to friends and family gone And lift our voices in another Irish drinking song
Consumption took me mother and me father got the pox Me brother drank the whiskey ’til he wound up in a box My other brother in the Troubles met with his demise My sister has forever closed her smiling Irish eyes
CHORUS: Now everybody’s died So until our tears are dried We’ll drink and drink and drink and drink, and then we’ll drink some more We’ll dance and sing and fight until the early morning light Then we’ll throw up, pass out, wake up, and then go drinking once again
Kenny was killed in Kilkenny and Claire, she died in Clare Tip from Tipperary died out in the Derry air Shannon jumped into the River Shannon back in June Ernie fell into the Erne, and Tom is in the Toome
“Cleanliness is godliness” me Uncle Pat would sing He broke his neck a’slippin’ on a bar of Irish Spring O’Grady, he was 80 though his bride was just a pup He died upon the honeymoon when she got his Irish up
CHORUS
Joe Murphy fought with Reilly near the banks of old Doneen He took out his shillelagh and he stabbed him in the spleen Crazy Uncle Mike believed he was a leprechaun - In fact he’s just a leper, and his arms and legs are gone
When Timmy Johnson broke his neck it was a cryin’ shame He wasn’t really Irish, but he went to Notre Dame McNamara crossed the street and by a bus was hit But he was just a Scotsman, so nobody gave a (ARRGHH)
CHORUS
Me drunken Uncle Brendan tried to drive home from the bar The road rose up to meet him when he fell out of his car Irony was what befell my great-grand Uncle Sam He choked upon the very last potato in the land
Conor lived in Ulster town, he used to smuggle arms Until the British killed him and cut off his lucky charms And dear old Father Flanagan, who left the lord’s employ Drunk on sacramental wine, beneath the altar boy
CHORUS
(slower)
Someday soon I’ll leave this world of pain and toil and sin The Lord will take me by the hand to join all of me kin Me only wish is when the Savior comes for me and you
(a tempo)
He kills the cast of Riverdance, and Michael Flatley too