Lyrics Finnegan's Wake - The Dubliners

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

Whack fol the dah now dance to yer
Partner around the flure yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake

One morning Tim got rather full
His ol' head felt heavy which made him shake
He 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 around the flure yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake

Well his friends assembled at the wake
And Mrs Finnegan called for lunch
Well first she brought in tay and cake
Then pipes, tobacco and brandy punch
Biddy O'Brien began to cry
"Such a lovely clean corpse, did you ever see
Tim Avourneen, why did you die?"
"Will ye hould your gob?" said Paddy McGee

Whack fol the dah now dance to yer
Partner around the flure yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake

Oh when Maggie O'Connor took up the job
"Biddy" says she "you're wrong, I'm sure"
Biddy fetched her a belt in the gob
And left her sprawling on the floor
Oh civil war did then 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 around the flure yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake

Well Mick Maloney ducked his head
When a bucket of whiskey flew at him
He ducked and landing on the bed
The whiskey scattered over Tim
Bedad he revives, see how he rises
Tim falling and rising in the bed
Saying "Whittle your whiskey around
Like blazes, with a t'underin' Jaysus, do ye think I was dead?"

Whack fol the dah now dance to yer
Partner around the flure yer trotters shake
Wasn't it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake