Here's a song I recorded and transcribed from Alfie Duggan's singing in 1982. I'm pretty sure he wrote the song (and so probably has a copyright on it). Alfie lived in Dublin at the time (and is Irish himself), so this is a bona fide Irish song. ;- )   I've sung it probably every Christmas since I got it because it keeps on being requested and is great fun for the singer and audience. It deserves a wider audience.

Alfie, if you're out there, thanks for this song. It's great fun to sing (and hear)! And please feel free to make any corrections, especially in the first two lines.

Christmas Eve
by Alfie Duggan

One Christmas Eve to Bethlehem, Joe and me we made our way
The frost was lying thick and cold and the winter winds did flay
Oh the winter winds did flay, me boys, they chilled us to the bone,
And we were there for the census sake, a hundred miles from home.

Well, Joe he knocked on the first inn door to see if there was room.
"There's nothin' I can do for yez until the first of June.
There's nothin' I can do for yez, if you're too dignified,
But if in a stable you will lay, you can step around the side."

Well now, I was nearly nine months gone, on that cold old Christmas eve.
And the tale of who the father was, sure no one would believe.
Sure no one would believe, me boys, the tale I'll tell ye now,
Of how I came to be lyin' there with a donkey and a cow.

Well, Joseph was a poor old fool who thought babies came from God.
And I didn't like to contradict, he was such a nice old sod.
He was such a nice old sod, me boys, that him I could not tell
How in early spring when small birds sing, I was met by Gabriel.

"Hail Mary, dear, you're full of grace." says Gabbie then to me.
"And I got a bit of news for you," he continued pleasantly.
"You're goin' to have a baby boy," he went on with a grin,
"And you'll be the first to have the likes, without committin' sin."

Well, it came to me as quite a shock to hear this bit a news.
And that I was goin' to have a babe, the first of the Christmas Jews.
That I was going' to have a babe, the savior of yez all.
And that's how I came to lyin' there, that evenin' in the stall.

Well, Joe was pacin' up and down and he was shakin' like a leaf,
And when the baby boy was born, oh he heaved a sigh of relief.
Says I to Joe, "Thank God for that," in accents sweet and mild,
"Yerra, Jaysus Christ," says Joesph, [spoken] and that's what we called the child.


The tune is off the shelf but I don't know its name. Here is my first attempt at ABC:

X: 1
T: ?
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Cmin

C | CGGF | _EDC C/2D/2 | _E_EDB, | C3 C |
CGGF | _ED C/2D/2 | _E_EFF | G3 G |
cGGG | F_ED F | _BFF_E | D3 C |
CGGF | _EDCD | _E_EDB, | C3 ||


Enjoy!

David