Obviously this is related to Brendan Shine's song, but I don't know which came first:


THE MOBILE GOAT
As sung by the Tom Morrissey Band on "Island Man"

Have you heard the story of the Mobile goat on the grand old southern shore,
In the lovely isle of Newfoundland, where goats don't roam no more?
It's about a man named Dillon whose cursin' was of note,
And how he was diggin' for spuds one day, when he spoke to the Mobile goat.

Now the goat was stealin' Dillon's spuds for twenty years or more,
And every time he saw him, Dillon cursed and raged and swore.
He was diggin' hard in his field this time and the goat was chewin' away
Near a great big six-foot granite rock, when Dillon heard him say: CHORUS

CHORUS: Are you diggin' 'em, Dillon? Are you diggin' 'em deep?
Are you pilin' 'em, Dillon, in a great big heap?
"Oh, I'm diggin' 'em," says Dillon, "but not enough to fill a boat,
But I'd be diggin' 'em more if it wasn't for you, you rotten, stinkin' goat!
Oh, I'd be diggin' 'em more if it wasn't for you, you rotten, stinkin' goat!"

Now Dillon got the fright of his life when he knew what just took place,
And he said to the good Lord, "'Tis the devil himself come [to] snatch me from your grace,
Come take me for my sacrilege and my rotten life of sin!"
And he ran like mad down the hill to home and the goat just pitched right in.

But they say it was a priest just passin' by when he heard old Dillon curse
On the goat and the spuds and the Lord above for makin' all things worse.
Just to hush the roars of the heavens above, he thought he'd bid good day,
And as he passed that garden fence, the good priest he did say: CHORUS

You could never tell Dillon 'twas the priest who spoke to stop his curses free,
Passin' quietly behind the rock so Dillon couldn't see.
And to this day in Mobile on that grand old southern shore,
There's a thousand who believe the goat spoke out when Dillon swore! CHORUS