The Old and Young Courtier (1660)
Like a flourishing young gallant, newly come to his land,
Who keeps a brace of painted madams at his command,
And takes up a thousand pound upon his father's land,
And gets drunk in a tavern, till he can neither go nor stand
The Fine Old English Gentleman
He laid him down right tranquilly,
Gave up life’s latest sigh;
And mournful stillness reigned around,
And tears bedewed each eye
The Fine Ould Irish Gintleman (1845)
Written and Sung by John Brougham, [1814-1880]
sheetmusic
by John F. Poole
as sung by Tony Pastor
Air: The French Musician [abc notation]
sheetmusic
Tim Finigan's Wake
5. This fine ould Irish gintleman he was once out upon a spree,
And as many a fine ould Irish gintleman has done and more broken will do
to the end of time be got about as dhrunk as he could be,
His senses was complately mulvathered and the consequence
was that he could neither hear nor see,
So they thought he was stone dead and gone intirely,
So the best thing they could do would be to have him wake and buried dacintly,
Like a Fine Ould Irish Gintleman All of the rale ould stock.
6. So this fine ould Irish gintleman he was laid out upon a bed,
with half a dozen candles at his heels and two or three dozen
more or less about his head,
But when the whiskey bottle was uncorked he couldn’t stand it any longer
so he riz right up in bed,
and when sich mighty fine stuff as that is goin about says he
you don’t think I’d be such a soft headed fool as to be dead,
Oh this fine ould Irish Gintleman it was mighty hard to kill.
by John F. Poole
as sung by Tony Pastor
Air: The French Musician [abc notation]
TIM FINIGAN lived in Walker street,abc notation:
A gentleman Irishman-- mighty odd--
He'd a beautiful brogue, so rich and sweet,
And to rise in the world he carried the hod.
But, you see, he’d a sort of a tippling way--
With a love for the liquor poor Tim was born,
And to help him through his work each day,
He'd a drop of the craythur' every morn.
Chorus.
Whack, hurrah! blood and 'ounds, ye sowl ye!
Welt the flure, yer trotters shake;
Isn't it the truth I've tould ye,
Lots of fun at Finigan's wake!
One morning Tim was rather full,
His head felt heavy, which made him shake;
He fell from the ladder and broke his skull,
So they carried him home his corpse to wake.
They rolled him up in a nice clean sheet,
And laid him out upon the bed,
With fourteen candles round his feet,
And a couple of dozen around his head!
Whack, hurrah, etc.
His friends assembled at his wake,
Missus Finigan called out for the lunch;
First they laid in tay and cake,
Then pipes and tobaccy, and whiskey-punch.
Miss Biddy O'Brien began to cry:
"Sich a purty corpse did you ever see?
Arrah! Tim avourneen, an' why did ye die?"--
"Och, none o' yer gab!" says Judy Magee.
Whack, hurrah, etc.
Then Peggy O'Connor took up the job:
"Arrah, Biddy," says she, "ye're wrong, I'm sure."
But Judy then gave her a belt on the gob,
And left her sprawling on the flure.
Each side in the war did soon engage,
'Twas woman to woman and man to man;
Shillalah-law was all the rage,
And a bloody ruction now began.
Whack, hurrah, etc.
Mickey Mulvaney raised his head,
When a gallon of whiskey flew at him;
It missed him, and, hopping on the bed,
The liquor scattered over Tim!
Bedad, he revives! see how he raises!
And Timothy, jumping from the bed,
Cries, while he lathered around like blazes,
"Bad luck till yer sowls! d'ye think I'm dead?"
Whack, hurrah, etc.
FINNEGAN'S WAKE (Torran UíFinnguine)
AKA "Tim Finnegan's Wake" "(An) Bhean Spáinneach", "The French Musician", "Paddy Doyle", "The Spanish Lady", and
"Doran's Ass" [American, March or Reel. USA, southwestern Pa. D Major. Standard tuning. AB. According to Bayard (1981) the title is the one the tune is most commonly known by, and comes from a "stage Irish" song (known in Pennsylvania as a folk song, "Dolan's Ass"). Source for notated version: Hiram Horner (fifer from Fayette/Westmoreland Counties, Pa., 1944, who learned it from Scots fifer David P. Henderson) [Bayard]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 276, pgs. 231‑232.]
Irish, New England; Air (cut time), Polka or March (2/4). D Major
(Mallinson, Miller & Perron, Taylor):
C Major (O'Neill):
G Major (Tubridy). Standard tuning.
AB (O'Neill): AABB (Mallinson, Miller & Perron, Taylor. Tubridy).
A tune derived from a comic "stage‑Irish" song, which Bayard (1981) says was known in Pennsylvania as a folk song called "Dolan's Ass." The first part of the tune, he observes, is perhaps older than the second.
Cazden (et al, 1982) report that Edwin Ford Piper gives 1884 as the date for the first appearance of the song "Finnegan's Wake," while Charles Kennedy uses the date of about 1870 for the piece he identifies as an "Irish-American vaudeville" work.
The sheet music was listed as published in New York by Wm. A. Pond Co. in 1864, while a different reference from the same year names the air to the song as "The French Musician."
The Journal of the Folk Song Society, vol. IV, pg. 294, gives three sets of the air, two from the early 18th century and one from camp meeting spirituals known in Britain and the U.S. (all sets resemble the first strain of "Finnegan's Wake").
The song "Willie Taylor" is sometimes sung to this tune in Ireland.
Sources for notated versions: Hiram Horner (Westmoreland and Fayette Counties, Pa., 1960), Henry Yeager (Centre County, Pa., 1930's), Fred Miller and Glen Gelnette (Jefferson County, Pa., 1949) [Bayard]; set dance music recorded at Na Píobairí Uilleann, late 1980’s [Taylor]. American Veteran Fifer, No. 62. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 184A‑C, pgs. 140‑141. Mallinson (100 Polkas), 1997; No. 93, pg. 36. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 57. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903/1979; No. 265, pg. 46. Ostling, pg. 23. Roche Collection, vol 2; No 298 (4th figure and 1st tune of a quadrille). Taylor (Music for the Sets: Blue Book), 1995; pg. 21. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Book Two), 1999; pg. 6.
X:1
T:Finnegan’s Wake
L:1/8
M:C|
K:D
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|:d3d d2e2|d2c2B2A2|d3d d2e2|d2e2f4|d3d d2e2|d2c2B2A2|B3c B2A2|B2c2d4:|
Nice job...difficult song to spit out!
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