While going to the fair of Dingle One fine morning last July While going up the road before me A red haired girl I chanced to spy
I went up to her, says I "Young lady My donkey he will carry two But seeing as how you have a donkey To the Dingle fair I'll ride with you"
Now, when we reached the town of Dingle I took her hand to say goodbye When a tinker man stepped up beside me And he belted me in my left eye
Chorus: Keep your hands off red haired Mary Her and I will soon be wed We'll see the priest this very morning And tonight we'll lie in a married bed
Now, I was feeling kind of peevish And my poor old eye was sad and sore So I tapped him gently with my hobnail And he fell back through Murphy's door
A policeman came around the corner And he told me I had broke the law Then, the donkey kicked him in the kneecap And he fell down and broke his jaw
Then he went off to find his brother The hot biggest man you ever did meet And he gently tapped me with his knuckles And I was minus two front teeth.
Written by Sean McCarthy
The red haired girl, she kept on smiling "I'll go with you young man" she said "We'll forget the priest this very morning And tonight we'll lie in Murphy's shed"
(last two lines of chorus): We'll forget the priest this very morning And tonight we'll lie in Murphy's shed
Now, through the town we rode together My black eye and her red hair Smiling gaily at the tinkers And by God, we were a handsome pair
(last two lines of chorus): We'll forget the priest this very morning And tonight we'll lie in Murphy's shed.