The Town Of Ballybay, lyrics and guitar chords
And banjo / mandolin tab. written by Tommy Makem [ songs ] to the tune of ''The Limerick Races'' . Tommy Makem And Liam Clancy covered another great ballad written by Monaghan resident Patrick Kavanagh called On Raglan Road . Patsy Watchorn of The Dubliners does a great version also. The song is about a woman in Ballybay Co. Monaghan Ireland. Seamus Moore also recorded the song.
[C]In the town of Ballybay, there was a lassie [G7]dwelling
I[C] knew her very well and her [G7]story's well worth [C]telling Her father kept a [G7]still and he [C]was a good dis[G7]tiller But [C]when she took to the [Am]drink, well the[C] devil wouldn't [G7]fill her Chorus: [C]Ring-a-ding-a-[Am]dong, [C]ring-a-ding-a-[G7]daddy-o [C]Ring-a-ding-a-[Am]dong, [G]whack fol the [C]daddy o She had a wooden leg that was hollow down the middle She used to tie a string on it and play it like a fiddle She fiddled in the hall and she fiddled in the alleyway She didn't give a damn, for she had to fiddle anyway She said she couldn't dance, unless she had her wellie on But when she had it on, she could dance as well as anyone She wouldn't go to bed, unless she had her shimmy on But when she had it on, she would go as quick as anyone She had lovers by the score, every Tom and Dick and Harry She was courted night and day, but still she wouldn't marry But then she fell in love with a fellow with a stammer When he tried to run away, well she hit him with a hammer She had children up the stairs, she had children by the byre And another ten or twelve, sitting roaring by the fire She fed them on potatoes and on soup she made with nettles And lumps of hairy bacon that she boiled up in the kettle She led a sheltered life, eating porridge and black pudding And she terrorized her man, until he died quite sudden And when her husband died, well she wasn't very sorry She rolled him in a bag and she threw him in a quarry |
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