Re: "Guinness Song".I knew I'd heard this song somewhere,and even owned a recording of it.I finally tracked it down; its on the Topic Voice of The People series that Malcolm mentioned earlier, in Volume 13 They ordered their pints of beer & bottles of sherry :The joys & curse of drink under a different title:

Two Hundred years A-Brewing

Come all you thirsty tourists and travellers everywhere,
Till I sing to you a verse or two in a grand old Irish air.
It's all about our famous stout that's known the world wide,
And it's made for you this lovely brew down by the Liffeyside.

If you want to see our grand brewery at the top of James's Street-
Don't make a fuss - just take a bus or travel on your feet.
That well known site is on the right; at the door there stands a guide,
Who will point out to you where the stout is made down by the Liffeyside.

Our barges neat nigh Watling Street rock gently to and fro'
With winch and sling the barrels swing into the hatch below.
With hold and decks full of double X they sail down with the tide.
All specially made for the foreign trade down by the Liffeyside.

And if you stray Glasneven (sic)when some old friend is dead,
The mourners stand with hat in hand as the funeral prayers were said.
The graves are filled. The tears they spill; their eyes they quickly dry
With a pint or two in the old Brien Boru down by the Liffeyside.

Come fill your glasses to the brim and drink a toast with me
To the noble house of Guinness's and their world famed brewery.
We Irishmen are proud of them, their products true and tried.
Long may they live and employment give down by the Liffeyside.


This is a recording of a performance by Margaret Barry, accompanying herself on banjo, with Michael Gorman on fiddle, which was broadcast on WFMT radio in Chicago on 9 October 1961. Reg Hall's notes state that it is a modern composition (probably by that well-known Dublin character An O'Nymous). He adds that "part of her act involved implying that she was a heavy drinker (which she wasn't!). Guinness's supplied her with a few bottles of porter to take on stage each night..."
BTW Does anyone know if is true that Guinness refused to include in their Book of Records the world record for nuber of trips round their brewery completed in one day?