traditional
In the town of Athy, young Jeremy Lanigan
Battered away till he hadn’t a pound
His father he died, made him a man again,
Left him a farm and ten acres of ground
He gave a grand party to friends and relations,
Didn’t forget him when come to the wall
If you’ll but listen, I’ll make your eyes glisten
At rows and ructions at Lanigan’s Ball
Chorus:
Six long months I spent in Dublin
Six long months doing nothing at all
Six long months I spent in Dublin
Learning to dance at Lanigan’s Ball
I stepped out and I stepped in again
I stepped in and I stepped out again
I stepped out and I stepped in again
Learning to dance at Lanigan’s Ball
Meself to be sure got free invitations
For all the nice girls and boys I might ask
Just in a minute both friends and relations
Were dancing as merry as bees round a cask
There were lashings of punch, wine for the ladies,
Potatoes and cake, bacon and tea
There were the Nolans, the Dolans, O’Gradys,
Courting the girls and dancing away
They were doing all kinds of nonsensical polkas,
All round the room in a whirlygig
Then Julia and I soon banished their nonsense,
Tipped them a twist of a real Irish jig
Oh that girl she got mad at me,
Danced till you’d think the ceiling would fall
I spent three weeks at Brooks Academy,
Learning the steps for Lanigan’s Ball
Chorus
The boys were all merry
The girls all hearty
Dancing together in couples and groups
Till an accident happened young Terence McCarthy
Put his right leg through Miss Finnerty’s hoops
The creature she fainted and cried Meelia Murther
Called for her brothers and gathered them all
Carmody swore that he’d go no further
He’d have satisfaction at Lanigan’s Ball
In the midst of the row Miss Kerrigan fainted
Her cheeks at the same time as red as a rose
Some of the boys declared she was painted
She took a small drop too much I suppose
Her sweetheart Ned Morgan so powerful and able
When he saw his fair colleen stretched by the wall
He tore the left leg from under the table
And smashed all the dishes at Lanigan’s Ball
CHORUS
Boys, oh boys ’twas then there were ructions
Meself got a kick from big Fhelim McHugh
But soon I replied to his kind introduction
And kicked up a terrible hullabaloo
Old Casey, the piper was near being strangled
They squeezed up his pipes, bellows, chanters and all
The girls in their ribbons they all got entangled
And that put an end to Lanigan’s Ball
CHORUS
song, irish, lyrics
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