Lyr Req: The Cap Me Granda Wore (Mick Thomas)

Subject: Lyr Req: the cap me granda wore
From: quokka
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 09:25 AM

Hi all, wondering if anyone knows the lyrics to the song 'The Cap Me Granda Wore' by Mick Thomas (from Weddings Parties Anything). I think the song dates from after WPA broke up in 1998. The chorus goes something like

The hurling stick from Derry
The door knocker from Cork
The cap upon the wall just like the one I saw me Granda wearing
Up above the doorway DeValera smiling down
And the poster in the hallway of the pubs in Dublin town.

The song tells the story of a young man who comes out to Australia and after a while gets homesick, goes home but finds everything has changed or been sold. It's quite a funny song.
Thanks...
Quokka

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the cap me granda wore
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 09:34 AM

here 'tis

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the cap me granda wore
From: quokka
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 09:46 AM

Thanks a million Sandra, I have heard Mick sing it live but old CDs are rare as hen's teeth in Perth. BTW, recent WPA gigs here in Fremantle were BRILLIANT! They are in London this ANZAC Day (25 Apr) so anythone who wants to hear some Aussie folk rock get along! They do some Oz traditional stuff (The Streets of Forbes) some Stan Rogers
(Barrett's Privateers) plus mostly their own stuff. I think this is a one-off reunion so it may be your only chance to see one of the best Australian live bands ever...
Quokka

Subject: Lyr Add: THE CAP ME GRANDA' WORE (Thomas, O'Prey)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 09:26 PM

THE CAP ME GRANDA' WORE.
Mick Thomas, Stephen (Irish) O'Prey
As sung by Mick Thomas and the Sure Thing on "Paddock Bomb" (2007)

Well, who could blame me? I was just a lad of eighteen years
    I was looking for adventure. I was heading for the sun.
So I left the polytechnic; I left it for the southern hemisphere.
Me Ma said not to drink too much. I knew that I'd drink far too much,
    'Cause Dezzy Rielly wrote me and he told me it was so much fun.
The day that I got off the plane, he met me there with Frank McShane.
    They took me to the city and we stopped in for the one.

CHORUS: And I saw a hurling stick from Derry and a door knocker from Cork,
And a cap upon the wall just like the one I saw me Granda' wearing,
Up above the doorway, De Valera smiling down
And a poster in the hallway of the pubs of Dublin Town.

Well, who could blame me? I could hold a tune and play a bit.
    I'd only ever been in rock bands, but me accent it was right,
We played the tunes, we sang the songs, I do believe I was a hit,
And I liked the girl behind the bar. She was out six months from Mullingar.
    We'd all stop and have a jar, after work on Friday nights.
She told me that she loved this place. I leant across; I kissed her face.
    Me Irish heartbeat it did race. Me Celtic head felt light.

CHORUS: Beneath the hurling stick from Derry and a door knocker from Cork,
And a cap upon the wall just like the one I saw me Granda' wearing,
Up above the doorway, De Valera smiling down
And a poster in the hallway of the pubs of Dublin Town.

Well, who could blame me? I was now a man of nineteen years,
    It was the first time I'd spent Christmas on me own.
Me visa had expired; I'd begun to like Australian beer,
And the cap upon the wall just like the one I saw me Granda' wearing
    Made me long for Ireland; hey, I booked a ticket home.
I walked into the house in Dublin City asking about family history,
    The photos and the trinkets and the cap me Granda' owned,
But then me ma looked at me in shock. She said, "Me boy, we've sold the lot
    To a pleasant man from Melbourne who called us on the phone."

CHORUS: She'd sold the hurling stick from Derry and the door knocker from Cork,
And the cap upon the wall; it was the one I saw me Granda' wearing,
Up above the doorway De Valera had come down,
An ashtray that me Da' stole from a pub in Dublin Town,

An accordion from Italy that had never played a tune,
And a shamrock made of plastic and a world cup team from ninety,
A horseshoe and a briar pipe, an ancient brick of peat.
I looked down in surprise to see the floor beneath me feet,

A recording by the Waterboys, a recipe for stew,
And a litre of the Liffey and picture of James Galway,
Textbooks from the poly, over which we used to toil,
And a paperback edition of The Works of Roddy Doyle.

She'd sold the crystal vase from Waterford, the Cup from Donegal.
She'd gone and sold the toilet seat. I had to stand to do me business.
A blackthorn stick from Arklow, some driftwood from the shore,
The fiddle in the attic, and the sash me father wore.

She'd sold the hurling stick from Derry and a door knocker from Cork,
The cap upon the wall just like the one I saw me Granda' wearing,
Up above the doorway, De Valera had come down,
An ashtray that me Da' stole, from a pub in Dublin Town.

So I think perhaps I'll get drunk at the pub in Dublin Town.

[Sung by Mick Thomas on "Under Starter's Orders: Live at the Continental" (1998) and "The Horse's Prayer" (2003).]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the cap me granda wore
From: quokka
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 12:58 AM

Again, Jim, thanks! You're a legend!
Quokka