ADD: Devil-May-Care

Subject: Devil-May-Care
From: Fiolar
Date: 27 Aug 01 - 10:35 AM

Heard a song many years ago entitled "Devil-May-Care." Briefly it's about a happy go lucky indvidual who goes thru life with a take it or leave it attitude. He joins the Easter Rising and gets killed. One of the lines ends with "the heart of a devil-may-care." Any help appreciated. Thanks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Devil-May-Care
From: GUEST,Sorch
Date: 02 Sep 01 - 02:48 PM

No luck with this one, anybody else?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Devil-May-Care
From: GUEST,#
Date: 06 Apr 21 - 02:08 PM

http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/1941%2012%2012.pdf

See p.8. I don't think it's the OP's request, but what the heck, huh?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Devil-May-Care
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Apr 21 - 05:53 PM

Gee, that sure sounds like the requested song. Anybody have time to transcribe it?

http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/1941%2012%2012.pdf - page 8

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Devil-May-Care
From: cnd
Date: 06 Apr 21 - 06:01 PM

Bump this back tomorrow and I can transcribe

Subject: ADD: Devil-May-Care
From: cnd
Date: 07 Apr 21 - 05:25 PM

You're lucky, Joe -- I somehow managed to remember on my own!

All jokes aside, here's the transcription of the above page. It comes alongside a group of about 5 other soccer songs from Tipperary. Definitely seems like the right song to me.

Note that this was reproduced as closely to as given in the paper as possible. In other words, "McCluskey" and "McClusky" both appearing is not a typo on my behalf.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A song written by Liam MacGabhann and published in "An Caman" a few years ago is well worth a place in any collection of poems. It is known as "Devil May Care."

DEVIL MAY CARE
(Liam MacGabhann)

       I.
A Devil-May-Care sort of fellow
 It may have been you or he,
That poured his young life for Ireland
 In sacrifice for the free;
A Devil-May-Care may have his fun,
 But, boys, I'm telling you square,
The dregs of gall are back of it all
 In the heart of a Devil-May-Care.

       II.
'Twas the night of Drumcondra reunion
 Said a voice that was husky and queer,
"Do ye ever hear tell of McCluskey, now,
 Played full for the College last year.
D'ye mind how he swept from the mid-field
 That ball, leaping high in the air?
And their goalie knew quick McClusky could kick,
 Though we called him the Devil-May-Care."

       III.
Sure he was a star at study,
 And at football a lightning flash;
Were you broke on a Sunday morning
 You were sure of McClusky for cash;
And the day we defeated the Rangers,
 'Twas faster than Kerry-Kildare,
And the demon to get the last goal in the net
 Was McClusky the Devil-May-Care.

       IV.
'Twas a girl that knocked out McClusky,
 One time he was down in the mouth,
And he hadn't a red when he Met her
 At a dance in a town in the South.
Well, she fell in love with McClusky,
 And McClusky played every game fair,
At love or at hate he was honest and straight,
 Though we called him the Devil May-Care.

       V.
Well, some say she jilted MeClusky,
 And some say her people were sore,
But the glamour was over forever,
 McClusky played football no more.
'Twas fate and the same old story,
 He drifted and cared not where,
Nor knew that her heart was nigh breaking apart
 For the love of the Devil-May-Care.

       VI.
'Tis queer how two lovers are severed,
 They tell how she started to rove.
In a year she was crossing the gang-way
 Of an outward-bound liner at Cobh.
And some say that she has forgotten,
 'Tis easy forget over there,
And some that at night, when all Broadway's alight,
 She hungers for Devil-May-Care.

       VII.
'Twas Easter, the guns roared in Dublin,
 The barricades crashed in the street,
Not the bang of the ball on the crossbar,
 But the sound of the rifle was sweet;
When the snipers fell back from the house-tops,
 Still daring and debonair,
When they started to run he was still by his gun,
 McClusky, the Devil-May-Care.

       VIII.
And there the Britishers found him,
 Bleeding and almost gone,
But he muttered the name of an Irish girl
 As his generous blood flowed on;
With fingers all torn and tattered,
 He fondled a lock of her hair,
And there the Britishers bared their heads
 By the body of Devil-May-Care.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Devil-May-Care
From: GUEST,#
Date: 07 Apr 21 - 05:29 PM

Beats me why people call them Roamin' Numerals when they all line up so nicely like that.

I don't know how long that took you to do, but many thanks ;-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Devil-May-Care
From: cnd
Date: 07 Apr 21 - 05:45 PM

Haha, that's a good one, thanks.

I've learned a few HTML tricks over the years, so it didn't take *too* long. HTML by default removes extra spaces (that's why my posts always have only one space after each period despite me always typing two), but if you make a special kind of space HTML knows not to ignore it. The one I like to use is called an "em" space (named after the em dash, so-named because they all share about the same length as the letter "M") and you can do it by typing " " -- once you do that, it's just a matter of hitting "preview" til it lines up nice and purdy.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Devil-May-Care
From: GUEST,#
Date: 08 Apr 21 - 05:16 PM

Thank you for the insight, cnd. I don't see much more I can help with in the Unanswered Requests. There are many that require transcription, but I figure that the people who want the lyrics/chords will be able to do some of that. Thank you for your help along the way. Always a pleasure--and an instructive one at that--to do searches with you. If I encounter any sites that would be of interest to you I'll post them where you can find 'em. Thanks once again and keep well.

Subject: RE: ADD: Devil-May-Care
From: cnd
Date: 13 Apr 21 - 08:49 PM

I appreciate it, it means a lot. I tend to transcribe ones that interest me or if I feel their source is 'unstable' (ie, likely to go off-line) but otherwise, I'm with you on the whole transcription thing.

If you find anything of interest to me, feel free to email me. I provided my email for Phil d'Conch in the Eyes of Texas thread (I'd like to minimize the number of times I post it, though).

Hope you stay well as well.

Subject: RE: ADD: Devil-May-Care
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Apr 21 - 09:22 PM

What a great song! Thanks for all the work you did transcribing it, cnd.

-Joe-