The Juice Of The Barley Composer(s): Liam Clancy Performer(s): The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem
In the sweet country Lim'rick, one cold winter's night All the turf fires were burning when I first saw the light And a drunken old midwife went tipsy with joy As she danced round the floor with her slip of a boy
Singing ban-ya-na mo if an-ga-na And the juice of the barley for me
Well when I was a gossoon of eight years old or so With me turf and me primer to school I did go To a dusty old school house without any door Where lay the school master blind drunk on the floor
At the learning I wasn't such a genius I'm thinking But I soon bet the master entirely at drinking Not a wake or a wedding for five miles around But meself in the corner was sure to be found One Sunday the priest thread me out from the altar Saying you'll end up your days with your neck in a halter And you'll dance a fine jig between heaven and hell And his words they did frighten me the truth for to tell
So the very next morning as the dawn it did break I went down to the vestry the pledge for to take And there in that room sat the priests in a bunch Round a big roaring fire drinking tumblers of punch
Well from that day to this I have wandered alone I'm a jack of all trades and a master of none With the sky for me roof and the earth for me floor And I'll dance out my days frinking whiskey galore
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