DARBY O'LEARY
(Traditional Irish)

One evening of late, as I happened to stray,
To the County Tipperary I straight took my way,
To dig the potatoes and work by the day,
I hired with a Galbally farmer.
I asked him how far we were bound for to go,
The night being dark and the cold wind did blow.
I was hungry and tired and my spirits were low,
For I got neither whiskey nor water.

This niggardly miser, he mounted his steed.
To the Galbally Mountains he posted with speed.
I followed behind 'til my poor feet did bleed,
When we stopped when his old horse was weary.
When we came to his cottage, I entered it first.
It seemed like a kennel or a ruined old church,
Says I to myself, "I am left in the lurch
In the house of old Darby O'Leary."

I well recollect it was Michaelmas night.
To a hearty good supper he did me invite.
A cup of sour milk that was more green than white,
And it gave me the trotting disorder.
The wet old potatoes would poison the cats,
And the barn where my bed was, was swarming with rats.
The fleas would have frightened the fearless St. Pat,
Who banished the snakes o'er the border.

He worked me by day and he worked me by night,
While he held an old candle to give me some light.
I wished his potatoes would die of the blight
Or himself would go off with the fairies.
It was on this old miser I looked with a frown
When the straw was brought in for to make my shakedown,
And I wished I had never seen him nor his town,
Nor the sky above Darby O'Leary.

I've worked in Kilconnell. I've worked in Kilmore.
I worked in Knockane and Shanballymore,
In Pallas and Nicker and Solloghodmore
With farmers so decent and cheery.
I've worked in Tipperary, the Rag and Rosegreen,
At the mount of Kilfeakle, the Bridge of Alleen,
But such woeful starvation I've never yet seen
As I got from old Darby O'Leary.

@Irish @bitching
Related to "The Bold Tenant Farmer," which it resembles in metrical structure. R
ecorded by the Dubliners on "At It Again," 1968, and on "Original Dubliners," 20
00.
filename[ DAROLEAR
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mudcat.org

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