Concerning the original lyrics, the best source appears to be Maurice Lenihan's "Limerick; Its History and Antiquities" (Dublin, 1866). Lenihan writes that around the year 1800, a gang of hell-raisers "made a noise in the old town; and the parish of St. John in particular rang with the echoes of their wild revelry, while they caused their own names and fame to be wedded to verse to the immortal air of 'Garryowen,' - and air which is heard with rapturous emotion by the Limerick man in whatever clime he may be placed, or under whatever circumstances its fond familiar tones may strike upon his ear. ...The words to which this air has been wedded contain allusions not only to the state of society as is existed in Garryowen in these days, but to certain local worthies, and principally the late John O'Connell, Esq., the proprietor of the Garryowen Brewery, who was deservedly much esteemed."

To this account, Thomas Toomey and Henry Greensmyth's "An Antique and Storied Land: a History of the Parish of Donoughmore, Knockea, Roxborough and its Environs in County Limerick" (1991) adds that

"Johnny Connell, whose family owned Garryowen brewery, ...was... mentioned by the Bard of Thomond [Michael Hogan] as being the leader of a gang of early 19th century bucks in [Hogan's poem] 'Drunken Thady and the Bishop's Lady.' He was buried by candlelight in Donoughmore Graveyard after his death in 1853."

Lenihan gives,

"THE ORIGINAL SONG OF GARRYOWEN...

Let Bacchus' sons be not dismayed,
But join with me each jovial blade;
Come, booze, and sing, and lend your aid
To help with me the chorus :—

Instead of spa we'll drink brown ale,
And pay the reckoning on the nail,
No man for debt shall go to, jail
From Garryowen in glory

We are the boys that take delight in
Smashing the Limerick lamps when lighting,
Through the streets like sporters fighting
And tearing all before us.
Instead, &c.

We'll break windows, we'll break doors,
The watch knock down by threes and fours, -
Then let the doctors work their cures,
And tinker up our bruises.
Instead, the.

We'll beat the bailiffs, out of fun,
We'll make the mayor and sheriffs run ;
We are the boys no man dares dun,
If he regards a whole skin.
Instead, &c.

Our hearts so stout have got us fame,
For soon 'tis known from whence we came;
Where'er we go they dread the name
Of Garryowen in glory.
Instead, &c.

Johnny Connell's tall and straight;
And in his limbs he is complete;
He'll pitch a bar of any weight
From Garryowen to Thomond-gate.
Instead, &c.

Garryowen is gone to wreck
Since Johnny Connell went to Cork ;
Though Harry O'Brien leapt over the dock
In spite of judge and jury.
Instead, &c.

Lenihan's note informs us that, "Garryowen signifies 'John's Garden' - a suburb of Limerick in St. John's parish, in which in these times there was a public garden which the citizens were accustomed to frequent in great numbers.... The 'Nail' here mentioned is a sort of low pillar still extent in the Town-Hall, upon which payments used to be made in former times."