Irish Jubilee (OT2003-3001-001)

Irish Jubilee (OT2003-3001-001)

Song excerpted from audio recording OT2003-3001, part of VFC2003-0007 Margaret MacArthur Collection.

Margaret MacArthur Collection -- VFC2003-0007. Vermont Folklife Center Archive, Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, Vermont, United States of America.

1961-08-16

en

VFC2003-0007 OT2003-3001-001

Vermont Folklife Center

Irish Jubilee

Once upon a time boys, an Irishman named Doherty
Was elected to the senate by a very large majority

He was so elated that he went to Dennis Cassidy
Who keeps a barroom of very great capacity

Said he to Dennis Cassidy, go over to the brewer
And order up a keg of beer and give it to the poor

Then go to the butcher shops and order up a ton of meat
Be sure that the boys and girls have all they want to drink and eat

They made me their senator, and now to show my gratitude
They'll have the greatest supper ever [performer stumbles] the finest supper ever given in this latitude

Send out invitations in twenty different languages
And don't forget to tell them to bring their own sandwiches

Whatever the expenses are, remember I'll put up the tin
If anyone doesn't come be sure and do not let him in

Tell them the music will be furnished by O'Rafferty
Assisted on the bagpipes by Felix McCafferty

[Performed notes that the following stanza is out of sequence]

Cassidy at once sent out the invitations
Everyone that came was a credit to his nations

Some came on bicycles because they had no fare to pay
And those who didn't come at all made up their minds to stay away

Two by three they marched into the dining hall
Young men, old men and girls who were not men at all

Single men, double men, men who had their glasses on
Blind men, deaf men and men who had their teeth in pawn

Before many minutes nearly every seat was taken
The front rooms and washrooms were full packed to suffocations

When all were seated they started to lay out the feast
Cassidy said rise up and gave us each a piece of yeast

Then said as manager he would try to fill the chair
We all sat down and looked at the bill of fair

There were pigs' heads, goldfish, mockingbirds and ostriches
Ice cream, cold cream, vaseline and sandwiches

Bluefish, green fish, fishhooks and partridges
Fishballs, snowballs, cannon balls and catridges

Then we ate oatmeal til we could hardly stir about
Ketchup, hurry up, sweet kraut and sauerkraut

Roast beef and naked beef and beef with all its dresses on
Soda crackers, firecrackers, limburger cheese with tresses on

Beefstake and mistakes were down on the bill of fare
Roast ribes, spare ribs, and ribs that we could not spare

Reindeer, snow deer, dear me and antelope
The women ate so much melon, the man said the can't elope

Red herrings, smoked herrings, herrings from old Erin's isle
Balogna and fruit cake and sausages a half a mile

There was hot corn and cold corn, corn cake [performer stumbles] salve and honeycomb
Read books, reed birds, seabass and sea foam

Fried liver, baked liver, Carter's Little Liver Pills
Everyone wondered who's going to pay the bills

For dessert we had toothpicks, ice picks and skipping rope
And washed them all down with a great big piece of shaving soap

We ate everything that was down upon the bill of fare
Then looked on the back of it to see if any more was there

The piper piped bagpipes, gas pipes and Irish reels
And we danced to the music of "The Wind that Shakes the Barley Fields"

Then he piped old tunes, spittoons so very fine
Then in came piper Reidseek and handed him a glass of wine

The welted the floor til they could be hear for miles around
When Gallagher was in the air, his feet was never on the ground

A finer lot of dancers you never set your eyes upon
[Performer says the next line is missing]

Some danced two steps, jigstems and highland flings
Murphy took out his knife and tried to cut a pigeon wing

Cassidy then told us to join hands together and sing this good old chorus:

Should old acquaintance be forgot wherever we may be
Think of the good old times we had at the Irish Jubilee

6:38