As printed in "Dublin Slang Songs, with Music," Dublin Historical Record, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Sep., 1938), pp. 75-93

Passages printed in italics in the songs are to be spoken in the "Newgate Cant" or "Slang Style"

9/8 time, "Not too fast," with a 1/8th note pickup

I

When to see Luke's last jig we agreed,
we tip'd all our gripes in a tangle,
and mounted our trotters wid speed
To squint at de snub as he'd dangle;
For he was de smart on de gap,
He boozled de bulldog and pinners
And when dat he mill'd a fat slap,
He merily melted de winners
To snack wid de boys of de pad.

II

In a giffee we blink'd at de spud,
Where de quod ids glum phiz did exhibit;
Wid a facer we coddled our blood,
For de wind id blows cold from de gibbett;
De boy he had travell'd afore,
Like ratlers we after him peg'd it;
For to miss us would grieve him full sore,
Bekase why, as a favour he begg'd it,
We'd tip him de fives 'fore his det.

III

When we came to de man-trap and saw
Poor Luke look so blue in de gabbard,
To save him I taut I could draw
Me toaster from out of de scabbard:
"Oh! Luky," sis I, " do you see!
Be de iron and steel in me daddles,
If I taut I could once set you free,
De scarlets should smoke in deir saddles
Your gullet to save from de noose!

IV

"Your soul! I'd fight blood to de eyes,
You know it, I would to content you;
But foul play I always dispise
Dat's for one to fall upon twenty!"
Sis he, "'Tis me fate for to die,
I know'd id when I was committed;
But yet, if de slang you run sly,
De trotler may still be outwitted,
And I scout again on de lay.

V

"When I dance tuxt de ert and de skies,
De clargy may bleat for de struggler;
But when on de ground your friend lies,
Oh! tip me a snig in de jugler!
Oh! you know dat id is me last hope,
As de surgints of otomy tell us,
Dat when I'm cut down from de rope
You'll bring back de puff to me bellows
And set me once more on me pins!"

VI

He finish'd dis speech wid a sigh
We saw de poor fellow was funking;
De drizzle stole down from his eye,
Tho' we taut he had got better spunk in.
Wid a tip of de slang* we reply'd,
And a blinker dat nobody noted;
De clargy stept down from his side,
And de gabbard from under him floated;
Oh be de hoky,
Id was den dat me port-royal run cold!

VII

Pads foremost he div'd, and den round
He caper'd de Kilmainham Minit;
But soon, when he lay on de ground,
Our bisness we taut to begin id.
Wid de stiff to a shebeen we hied,
But det had shut fast every grinder;
His brain-box hung all a-one-side,
And no distiller's pig could be blinder--
But dat is what we all cum to.

VIII

His grief-stricken partner came in,
From tipping de trotler a dusting.
Her stuff-shop was up to her chin,
Like a cram'd fowl wid tinderness busting.
We lent him a snig, as he said,
On de jugler, 'tis here** dat de mark is;
But soon as we found him quite ded,
In de dust-case we bundled his carcase,
And gave him a bloody long lease
Of de sanctified sod in de Ospital-fields, your soul!

* The singer, at this part, is to put the forefinger of his right hand on his nose. (Note on the broadsheet, second edition.

** Here the singer is to point the forefinger of his right hand to his neck. (Note on the broadsheet, second edition).

Notes:

Verse II. The first half of this verse in Walsh's Ireland Sixty Years Ago (p. 87) is as follows:

Along de sweet Coombe den we go,
Slap dash tro de Poddle we lark it,
But when dat we come to de Row
Oh, dere was no meat in de market.

The boys evidently expected to find the gallows erected at the upper end of Patrick Street near the Poddle (now Dean Street).

Verses IV, 8; VIII, 2. Where the engraved edition has trotler (hangman) the printed second edition has scrag-boy.

Verse V, 3-9. Before the invention of the drop, death by hanging was a slow process of suffocation. It was commonly believed, apparently with justification, that if the body were promptly cut down, animation could be restored by phlebotomy, i.e. cutting a vein ("a snig in de jugler"), thus causing the blood to start flowing again.

Verse VII, 9. This line is here shortened to make it scan. In the original prose version it reads: But dat, you know, is what we must all cum to.

Verse VIII, 10. " Ospital Fields," i.e. the burial ground at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham. In the second edition the prose following line 8 is as follows:
And gave him a barb'rous long Protestant lease of de sanctified sod yonder beyant, dere, in Bloody Finglas, your soul! Dat's for 999 annums, be de murd' ring Hemp Act passed in the last Sessions, you know.

The Act referred to seems to be 17 & 18 Geo. III, c. 49 (an Act for the relief of his Majesty's subjects of this kingdom professing the popish religion) passed in 1778. Sect. I gave to Catholics who had taken an oath of allegiance the same rights as Protestants to take leases of land for any period up to 999 years. From 1703 Catholics had been restricted to leases of 31 years.