The Juice Of The Barley

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