Appalachian Celtic Consort: Music

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One of the common themes of Irish song concerns drinking, and this song is no exception. Followed by a jig named after the town of Monaghan.

I’ll tell you a story that happened to me, ☼ One day as I went down to Yawl by the sea. ☼ The sun it was bright, and the day it was warm. ☼ Says I, “A quiet pint wouldn’t do me no harm.” ☼ I went into the barman, I said “Give me a stout.” ☼ Says the barman, “I’m sorry, all the beer is sold out.” ☼ “Try whiskey or vodka, ten years in the wood.” ☼ Says I, “I’ll try cider, I heard that it’s good!” §
§ Oh never, oh never, oh never again… ☼ If I live to a hundred or a hundred and ten. ☼ For I fell to the ground and I couldn’t get up, ☼ after drinking a pint of that Johnny Jump Up!
After lowering the third, I headed straight for the yard, ☼ where I bumped into Brophy, the big civic guard. ☼ “Come here to me boy, don’t you know I’m the law?” ☼ Well I up with me fist, and I shattered his jaw! ☼ He fell to the ground with his knees doubled up, ☼ but it wasn’t I hit him, ‘twas the Johnny Jump Up. ☼ The next thing I met down in Yawl by the sea, ☼ was a cripple on crutches and says he to me: ☼ “I’m afraid of me life, I’ll be hit by a car… ☼ won’t you help me across to the Railwayman’s Bar?” ☼ And after three pints of that cider so sweet, ☼ he threw down his crutches, and he danced at his feet! §
I went up the Lee Road, a friend for to see. ☼ They call it the Madhouse in Cork by the Lee. ☼ And when I got up there, the truth I do tell; ☼ they had the poor bugger locked up in a cell! ☼ Says the guard testing him, “Say these words if you can: ☼ ‘Round the ragged rocks, the ragged rascal ran!” ☼ “Tell them I’m not crazy, tell them I’m not mad! ☼ ‘Twas only six pints of that cider I had!” §
Now a man died in the Union by the name of McNabb. ☼ They washed him and placed him outside on a slab. ☼ And after the coroner, his measurements did take, ☼ then his wife took him home to a bloody fine wake! ☼ ‘Twas about 12 o’clock, and the beer it was high, ☼ the corpse he sat up, and he said with a sigh: ☼ “I can’t get to heaven… they won’t let me up… ☼ ‘til I bring them a pint of that Johnny Jump Up!” §