The Juice of the BarleyAll the turf fires were burning when I first saw the light And a drunken oul midwife went tipsy with joy As she danced round the floor with her slip of a boy Chorus Singing bainne na mbo is an gamhna * And the juice of the barley for me Well when I was a gossoon of eight years or so With me turf and me primer to school I did go To a dusty old schoolhouse without any door Where lay the schoolmaster blind drunk on the floor Chorus At the learning I wasn't such a genius I'm thinkin' But I soon beat the master entirely at drinkin' Not a wake or a wedding for five miles around But meself in the corner was sure to be found Chorus One Sunday the priest read 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 frighten me, truth for to tell Chorus 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 Chorus Well form 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 me days drinking whiskey galore Chorus *Gaelic meaning 'the milk of the cows and the calf' Pronounced ' bawn-ya na mo is (as in this) an gown-na' |