This has just reminded me of a song that we used to sing In the camper when I went on holiday with my parents. I can't find it in the DT so here goes:MICK MCGILLIGAN'S BALL
(Michael Casey)
Michael McGilligan one fine day
Got a lot of money from the USA.
All through the death of his uncle Joe,
He got a million and a half or so.
Says McGilligan: "I'll give a fancy ball
Down at the old ancestral hall,"
Invited the neighbours everyone
For to have some music and some rare old fun.
CHORUS
So they all went down to Mick McGilligan's ball
Where they had to tear the paper off the wall,
To make room for all the people in the hall.
Oh, the girls and boys made a devil of a noise
At Mick McGilligan's ball.
All of the neighbours came from near and far;
Mulligan arrived there in a motor car;
Old Missus O'Reilly, bless her heart,
Came with the family in a donkey cart.
Pat O'Rafferty arrived in an aeroplane,
You'll never see the like again;
And there was a shout when two old Skins
Came along at a gallop with two Miss Quinns.
And they all went down to Mick McGilligan's ball
Where they had to tear the paper off the wall
To make room for all the people in the hall
Oh, the girls and boys made a devil of a noise
At Mick McGilligan's ball
Fluters and fiddlers danced around;
Drumming on the moleskin made a lovely sound;
They blew a gale on the old trombone,
Then reeled and rollicked to the piper's drone.
When they'd finished with the whiskey, beer and wine
They took a hand in "Auld Lang Syne."
There ne'er was the like I do declare
As that grand old hooley down in sweet Kildare
CHORUS
When they all went down to Mick McGilligan's ball,
Where they had to tear the paper off the wall
To make room for all the people in the hall.
Oh, the girls and boys made a devil of a noise
At Mick McGilligan's ball.
Jon
This song can be found in A Little Bit of Heaven: An Irish-American Anthology, by Sean McMahon (Mercier Press, 1999)(no melody provided).
Notes in the McMahon book say that this is a British music hall song which has found popularity in Ireland and in America.