Page 109
This is in a different key from the printed book because the notes in my copy say to play it in D to make it easier for the fiddler.
Juice of the Barley, The
by trad
In the [D] sweet county Lim’rick one [G] cold winter’s [D] night
there was [D] bonfires and fiddlin when I [G] first saw the [A] light
and the [D] lanky legged midwife went [G] tipsy with [D] joy
As she [D] staggered around with a [G] slip of a [A] boy,
( Chorus
singing [D] “Bain-ne na mbo is na [G] gamh- [D] na
and the [D juice of the [A] barley for [D] me!” )
Well when I was a lad of only eight years or so
with me turf and me primer to school I did go
to a dusty old school house without any door
where lay the schoolmaster blind drunk on the floor
(Chorus)
At the learnin I wasn’t much a genius I’m thinking
but I soon beat the master entirely at drinking
not a wake or a wedding for five miles around
but myself in the corner was sure to be found
(Chorus)
One Sunday the priest read me out from the altar
saying you’ll end up your days with your neck in a halter
and you’ll dance a fine jig between heaven and hell
and his words they did frighten me, truth for to tell
(Chorus)
So the very next morning as the dawn it did break
I went down to the vestry the pledge for to take
and there in that room sat the priests in a bunch
Round a big roaring fire drinking tumblers of punch
(Chorus)
From that day to this I have wandered alone
A jack of all trades, aye, and a master of none
With the sky for me roof and the earth for me floor
sure I’ll dance out my days drinking whiskey galore
(Chorus)
there was [D] bonfires and fiddlin when I [G] first saw the [A] light
and the [D] lanky legged midwife went [G] tipsy with [D] joy
As she [D] staggered around with a [G] slip of a [A] boy,
( Chorus
singing [D] “Bain-ne na mbo is na [G] gamh- [D] na
and the [D juice of the [A] barley for [D] me!” )
Well when I was a lad of only eight years or so
with me turf and me primer to school I did go
to a dusty old school house without any door
where lay the schoolmaster blind drunk on the floor
(Chorus)
At the learnin I wasn’t much a genius I’m thinking
but I soon beat the master entirely at drinking
not a wake or a wedding for five miles around
but myself in the corner was sure to be found
(Chorus)
One Sunday the priest read me out from the altar
saying you’ll end up your days with your neck in a halter
and you’ll dance a fine jig between heaven and hell
and his words they did frighten me, truth for to tell
(Chorus)
So the very next morning as the dawn it did break
I went down to the vestry the pledge for to take
and there in that room sat the priests in a bunch
Round a big roaring fire drinking tumblers of punch
(Chorus)
From that day to this I have wandered alone
A jack of all trades, aye, and a master of none
With the sky for me roof and the earth for me floor
sure I’ll dance out my days drinking whiskey galore
(Chorus)