THE TOWN OF BALLYBAY

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  1. In the town of Ballybay there is a lassie dwelling.
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  I knew her very well and the story is worth telling.
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  Her father kept a still and he was a good distiller,
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  And when she took a drink, well, the devil wouldn't fill her.
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  CHORUS: With me ring a ding a dum, me ring a ding a daddio,
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  With me ring a ding a dum, a whack fol da daddio.

2. She had a wooden leg that was hollow down the middle.
She used to tie a string on it and played it like a fiddle.
She fiddled in the hall; she fiddled in the alleyway.
She didn't give a damn; she had to fiddle anyway. CHORUS

3. She said she couldn't dance unless she had her wellie on,
But when she had them on she could dance as good 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. CHORUS

4. She had lovers by the score, every Tom and Dick and Harry.
She was courting night and day, but still she wouldn't marry.
And then she fell in love with a fella with a strammer.
When he tried to run away, she hit him with a hammer. CHORUS

5. She had childer up the stairs, she had childer in the brier,
And another ten or twelve sat roaring by the fire.
She fed them on potatoes and on soup she made with nettles
Or lumps of hairy bacon that she boiled up in a kettle. CHORUS

6. She led a sheltered life eating porridge and black pudding.
She terrorised her man until he died right sudden,
And when her husband died, she was feeling very sorry.
She rolled him in a bag and she threw him in a quarry. CHORUS