THE JUICE OF THE BARLEY — Traditional
From the singing of the Clancy Brothers
video
In the sweet county 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 typsy with joy
As she danced rond the floor with her slip of a boy.
Singing ban-ya na mo is an gan-na,
And the juice of the barley for me.
Well when I was a gosson of eight years 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 alter,
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,
I’ll dance out me days drinking whisky galore.