| Finnegans Wake |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT FINNEGANS WAKE | |
| 1850s songs | |
| irish-american culture | |
| irish folk songs | |
| vaudeville | |
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"Finnegan's Wake" is a ballad which arose in perhaps the 1850 s in the vaudeville tradition of comical Irish songs. It is famous for being the basis of James Joyce 's masterwork, '' Finnegans Wake , ''where the comic resurrection becomes symbolic of a universal cycle of life. Whiskey , which brought both Finnegan's fall and his resurrection, is derived from Irish '' Uisce Beatha '' (), meaning "water of life." So too, the word "wake" is both of a passing and of a new rising. Joyce removed the Apostrophe in the title to assert an active process in which a multiplicity of "Finnegans," that is, all of us, wake, that is, arise after falling. It also featured as the climax of the primary storyline in Philip José Farmer 's award-winning Novella , '' Riders Of The Purple Wage ''. The song is a staple of the Irish folk-music group, The Dubliners , who have played it on many occasions and included it on several albums. RECORDINGS
LYRICS Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin StreetActually located in Kilkenny City , not Dublin City as one might assume. Now called Friary Street. A gentle Irishman, mighty odd; He'd a beautiful Brogue so rich and sweet And to rise in the world he carried a Hod . Now, Tim had a bit of the tipplin' way With a love for the liquor poor Tim was born And to help him on with his work each day He'd a "drop of the Craythur every morn. ''Chorus:'' Whack fol the dah O, dance to your partner Welt the floor, your trotters shake; Wasn't it the truth I told you Lots of fun at Finnegan's wake! One mornin' Tim was rather full His head felt heavy which made him shake; He fell from the ladder and broke his skull And they carried him home his corpse to Wake . They rolled him up in a nice clean sheet And laid him out upon the bed, A gallon of whiskey at his feet And a barrel of Porter at his head. ''Chorus'' His friends assembled at the wake And Mrs. Finnegan called for lunch, First she brought in Tay and a cake Then pipes, tobacca' and whiskey punch. Biddy O'Brien began to cry "Such a nice clean corpse, did you ever see? "O Tim, mavourneenfrom , lit. ''my darling'', why did you die?" "Arragh, hold your gobMouth." cried Paddy McGee! ''Chorus'' Then Maggie O'Connor took up the job "O Biddy," says she, "You're wrong, I'm sure" Biddy she gave her a belt in the gob And left her sprawlin' on the floor. And then the war did soon engage 'Twas woman to woman and man to man, Shillelagh Law was all the rage And a row and a soon began. ''Chorus'' Then Mickey Maloney ducked his head When a noggin of whiskey flew at him, It missed, and falling on the bed The liquor scattered over Tim! Tim revives! See how he rises! Tim he rises from the dead, Says, "Whirl your whiskey around like blazes" "Thanum an DhulShort for "In the ''ainm an Diabhal''" (Irish for "In the name of the devil". "Be the thunderin' Jaysus" is sometimes used instead., do you thunk I'm dead?" ''Chorus'' NOTES |
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