This is the song we recorded from Travellers and from West Clare, along with the notes we used for Vincie Boyle's version on the CD, 'Around The Hills of Clare'.
It can also be found on a shorter version on the Travellers' CD, From Puck to Appleby,
Jim Carroll

THE HALF CROWN
Roud 16988

Vincie Boyle
Miltown Malbay.

'Twas lately DeValera set out in the Dail,
Said the population of Ireland was beginning to fall;
And then to prevent it and not let it down,
To every child born he'd give a half crown.

I'm a young single man and I'm fed up of life,
I lately set out in search of a wife,
I married a widow and we both settled down,
And I'm doing my best for the blooming half crown.

The job, it proved harder than people may think.
The night we got married, sure, I ne'er slept a wink.
The wife, she keeps at me, she calls me a clown,
And said I'm doing nothing for the blooming half crown.

I'm a young married man and I'm tired of life;
Half killed and half crazy from this strap of a wife;
If we haven't a family 'tis me she will drown.
I'm in a hell of a fix for the blooming half crown.

Since the blooming thing started I'm nearly half dead;
Last night we broke down all the springs in the bed;
Said, she, "it's no us, for I'm now sixty three".
"Oh bedad then", says I, "there's no half crown for me".

So now I resemble a half hungry goose;
Every bone in my body disjointed and loose;
The people when pass me, they say with a frown;
"The cause of your death will be the half crown".

So all ye who're about to be wed;
Check your wife's age before going to bed;
Don't have her to tell you, as mine told me;
There's no half a crown from a three score and three.

A Children's Allowance of two shillings and sixpence for each child, introduced by Eamon deValera's newly elected Fianna Fa/il government in the early 1930s, gave rise to a number of songs and poems, and gave the term "making a half crown" a special meaning. This is one of those songs.