Garryowen celebrates the wild, good‑humoured swagger of Limerick streets — a rollicking drinking and street-song from the 19th century that paints its singers as proud, rowdy lads who prefer brown ale to spa waters. Its jaunty chorus and braggadocio made the tune memorable enough to travel far beyond the city, later being taken up as a quick march by cavalry units and remaining a touchstone of Irish social humour and local pride.
Let Bacchus’s sons be not dismayed,
But join with me each jovial blade;
Come booze and sing, and lend your aid
To help me with the chorus;
Instead of Spa we’ll drink brown ale,
And pay the reckoning on the nail;
No man for debt shall go to gaol
From Garryowen in glory!
We are the boys that take delight in
Smashing the Limerick lamps when lighting,
Through the streets like sporters fighting,
And tearing all before us.
Instead of Spa we’ll drink brown ale,
And pay the reckoning on the nail;
No man for debt shall go to gaol
From Garryowen in glory!
We’ll break windows, we’ll break doors,
The watch knock down by threes and fours;
Then let the doctors work their cures,
And tinker up our bruises.
Instead of Spa we’ll drink brown ale,
And pay the reckoning on the nail;
No man for debt shall go to gaol
From Garryowen in glory!
We’ll beat the bailiffs, out of fun,
We’ll make the mayor and sheriffs run;
We are the boys no man dares dun,
If he regards a whole skin.
Instead of Spa we’ll drink brown ale,
And pay the reckoning on the nail;
No man for debt shall go to gaol
From Garryowen in glory!
Our hearts, so stout, have got us fame,
For soon ’tis known from whence we came;
Where’er we go they dread the name
Of Garryowen in glory.
Instead of Spa we’ll drink brown ale,
And pay the reckoning on the nail;
No man for debt shall go to gaol
From Garryowen in glory!
Johnny Connell’s tall and straight,
And in his limbs he is complete;
He’ll pitch a bar of any weight
From Garryowen to Thomond Gate.
Instead of Spa we’ll drink brown ale,
And pay the reckoning on the nail;
No man for debt shall go to gaol
From Garryowen in glory!
Garryowen is gone to wrack
Since Johnny Connell went to Cork,
Though Darby O’Brien leapt over the dock
In spite of all the soldiers.
Instead of Spa we’ll drink brown ale,
And pay the reckoning on the nail;
No man for debt shall go to gaol
From Garryowen in glory!
Want more? The Celtic Music Live Stream plays the best of Irish music 24/7.
Explore more Irish music stories at Music Of Paddies Land.
Comments
Post a Comment