Lyr Req: The Waterford Boys

Subject: Request Lyrics "The waterford Boys"
From: Ezra Dessers - Belgium
Date: 18 Jan 99 - 05:20 AM

Hello,

I'm looking for the lyrics of the song "the waterford boys". I know it from an album of The Dubliners, and noticed it's a traditional. However, I tried several folk song-databases on the web, and none of them contains this song.

(Maybe it's better known with a different title?)

If anyone knows the lyrics, please sent it to this forum.

thank you,

Ezra

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WATERFORD BOYS (Dubliners)
From: MudGuard
Date: 18 Jan 99 - 05:45 AM

The Waterford Boys

as perfomed by The Dubliners on their Live in Carré, Amsterdam CD.

For fun and diversion we have met together,
I tell you from Waterford hither we came,
We crossed the big ocean in dark stormy weather,
Our pockets were light and our hearts were the same,

Sad at leaving old Ireland we're once more on dry land,
By the roadside a tavern I chanced for to spy,
As I was melting my pockets I felt in
For the price of a drink, I was mortally dry.

Chorus [after second, sixth and last verse]
For we are the boys of such fun and such eloquence,
Drinking and dancing and all other joys,
For ructions, destructions, diversions and devilment,
Who's to compare with the Waterford boys.

In the tavern I rolled in the landlord he strolled,
And good morrow says he and says I if you please,
Will you give me a bed and then bring me some bread,
And a bottle of porter and a small piece of cheese,

My bread and cheese ended I then condescended,
To take my repose sure I bade them good-night,
When under the clothes I was trying to doze,
First I stuck in my toes and then popped out the light.

Well I wasn't long sleeping when I heard something creeping,
And gnawing and chewing around the bed post,
My breath I suspended but the noise never ended,
Thinks I you have damnable claws for a ghost,

Now to make myself easy for I felt rather lazy,
Well over my head I again pulled the clothes,
When Moses what's that, sure a great big jack rat,
With one leap from the floor jumped right up to my nose.

Well I reached for a hobnail and made him a bobtail,
And wrestled with rats to the clear light of day,
When the landlord came in and he says with a grin,
For your supper and bed you've five shillings to pay,

Five shillings for what, now don't be disgracing yourself,
Says I to the rogue if you please,
When I can't sleep with these rats you've the Devil's own face on you,
To charge me five shillings for dry bread and cheese.

Oh the landlord went raring and leaping and tearing,
He jumped through the window and he kicked in the door,
When he could go no further he roared "meela murder",
These rats they are eating me up by the score,

Sure they sleep in my stable, they eat from my table,
They've wrestled my dogs and they've killed all my cats,
Truce then, says I, just give me those five shillings,
And I'll tell you a way to get rid of the rats.

I will, then said he, well invite them to supper,
And dry bread and cheese lay before them for sure,
Never mind if they're willing, but charge them five shilling,
And Devil the rat will you ever see more.

Subject: RE: Lyrics
From: Ezra
Date: 20 Jan 99 - 07:08 AM

Thanks a lot, AndreasW. This is the first time I use this forum. I'm sure going to visit it again soon.

Bye

Subject: RE: Lyrics
From: Dave Brennan
Date: 26 Jan 99 - 09:29 PM

I would just like to say how much I enjoyed hearing Paddy Tunney sing this song.

Subject: Tune for Waterford Boys/Pawnbroker's Wife
From: katmuse
Date: 30 Jan 99 - 02:40 PM

Looking for tune here -- is it possibly of the "Larry O'Gaff"/"Father O'Flynn" ilk?

Subject: Waterford Boys?
From: GUEST,Magpie
Date: 28 May 01 - 07:32 AM

I turn to you lot again for the lyrics to a song I can't seem to find anywhere else. I'm not sure of the title, but The Waterford Boys might be it.

I have it on an old recording by The Dubliners, but I haven't got the inlay card. The song is about a man staying at an inn, but is being bothered by rats all night. The next morning, when the landlord presents him with a bill of six shillings, he tells the landlord to give him back the money, and he'll show him a way to get rid of the rats.

Does this seem familiar to anyone?

Magpie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Waterford Boys?
From: Wolfgang
Date: 28 May 01 - 07:45 AM

Magpie,

this is what I found by entering 'Waterford boys' into the Digitrad and Forum search window: click.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Waterford Boys?
From: Magpie
Date: 28 May 01 - 04:43 PM

Thanks a million, Wolfgang. I actually searched, but obviously not in the right place.

Pop over, and I'll sing it to you once I've learned it. (Might be a bit far, though. Oslo.)

Thanks again!

Magpie

Subject: RE: Lyrics "The waterford Boys"
From: MMario
Date: 16 Apr 03 - 03:34 PM

tune?

Subject: RE: Lyrics "The waterford Boys"
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 16 Apr 03 - 04:16 PM

Now you're just toying with me! I'll do that after Easter too.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyrics "The waterford Boys"
From: MMario
Date: 16 Apr 03 - 04:18 PM

nope.   just going through the "Missing tunes" list...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waterford Boys (Author)
From: GUEST, GEST
Date: 17 Apr 03 - 09:16 AM

I note author info is not included for The Waterford Boys in the DigiTrad. The following appears to be authoritative. :-)

"Wrestling With Rats (The Waterford Boys)
Lyrics: Harry Clifton (1832-1872)

Harry Clifton was a London music-hall writer and performer who popularised such songs as 'On Board the Kangaroo' and 'Pulling Hard Against The Stream'. 'The Waterford Boys' was originally published in broadsheet form and later appeared in 'The Mercier Book Of Old Irish Street Ballads' (1989). Most versions can be traced to Paddy Tunney who recorded it on 'A Wild Bees' Nest' (1965)."

http://www.sceilig.com/wrestling_with_rats.htm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waterford Boys
From: Noreen
Date: 17 Apr 03 - 09:45 AM

Did Harry Clifton write the lyrics, though?

I would say, from the style of them that he's probably been responsible for popularising a pre-existing song, as he was for the two other songs mentioned above.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waterford Boys
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 17 Apr 03 - 10:44 AM

Harry Clifton was responsible for a good few songs which entered late tradition and were later re-discovered by the folk song revival; beside those mentioned above, there's The Calico Printer's Clerk, The Dark Girl Dressed in Blue, and, I gather, I'll Go and Enlist for a Sailor. There doesn't seem to be evidence of the songs existing before Clifton, and without that I don't see any particular reason to challenge his authorship; the editors of the Greig-Duncan collection don't seem to doubt his authorship of Kangaroo, for example. Quite a lot of the songs found in tradition by the collectors of the early 20th century turned out to be mid-19th century stage songs, after all, and Clifton was a very successful entertainer in his day.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waterford Boys
From: Noreen
Date: 17 Apr 03 - 12:31 PM

Interesting, Malcolm.

I don't know anything about Harry Clifton or his writing ability, but the style of this song is very diffreent from Kangaroo. I can imagine Kangaroo being written by a London Music hall entertainer, but this has a totally different feel: not only because I hear Paddy Tunney singing it, but looking at the internal rhyming, turn of phrase and so on. Did Harry Clifton come from an Irish family perhaps?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waterford Boys
From: Noreen
Date: 17 Apr 03 - 12:50 PM

And MMario, the tune is Larry O'Gaff (or very similar) which you already should have; it's also the tune for Daniel O'Connell's Steam Engine and The Humours of Whiskey/Stick to the Cratur, though the DT has two totally different tunes linked to them- there have been discussions about this before.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waterford Boys
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 17 Apr 03 - 01:11 PM

I don't know about Clifton's antecedents, but see this earlier discussion: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter, which includes comments from Steve Gardham, who has been researching him. While it's certainly possible that he may sometimes have "bought in" material, as many performers did (Lannigan's Ball and Rocky Roads to Dublin, both associated with him, were written by D. K. Gavan), I don't think that he'd need Irish connections to write a piece in the style we see in Waterford Boys; "Stage Irish" songs were popular, and any good writer could turn them out. Clifton often set songs to existing tunes, of course.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waterford Boys
From: Noreen
Date: 17 Apr 03 - 01:48 PM

I defer to Steve Gardham's scholarship and yours of course, Malcolm (interesting thread you linked to, thank you) but this doesn't strike me as 'Stage Irish'.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waterford Boys
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 17 Apr 03 - 02:09 PM

I take your point; I meant the general principle, really. The style here is rather tighter than typical stage productions, but that doesn't of itself guarantee authenticity. The style is easily pastiched by a professional; and Clifton was certainly that. Here is some more material:

At  Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads:

clifton, harry, 1832-1872

At  Lester Levy:

The Waterford Boys Written By Harry Clifton. Arranged by M. Hobson. London: Ashdown & Parry, Hanover Squre, n.d.

Plus a good few others, including Where The Grass Grows Green (I'm Denny Blake from Country Clare...); Paddle Your Own Canoe; The Dark Girl Dress'd In Blue; Darby McGuire; Polly Perkins of Abington Green; Pulling Hard Against the Stream, and so on.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waterford Boys
From: MMario
Date: 17 Apr 03 - 02:20 PM

Thanks Malcolm! I apologize - I normally check Levy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waterford Boys
From: GUEST,Noreen
Date: 18 Apr 03 - 06:21 AM

So the original tune was original (!) but Paddy Tunney sang it to Larry O'Gaff

Subject: Tune Add: THE WATERFORD BOYS
From: MMario
Date: 21 Apr 03 - 09:59 AM

X:1
T:THE WATERFORD BOYS
C:Harry Clifton
N:Levy box 49 item 86
I:abc2nwc
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:D
z4z(A/2 G/2)|F G F E F E|D E D D F A|B c d A G F|F G F E2(A/2 G/2)|
w:Well_ boys for Di-ver-sion we've met all to-geth-er,I tell you from Wa-ter-ford hi-ther we came,We_
F G F E F E|D E D D F A|B c d A G F|G F E D2z|
w:crossed the Big O-cean in dark stor-my weath-er, Our pock-ets were light and our Hearts were the same,
z4zA/2 A/2|A A A A A A|B A ^G A B c/2 c/2|d c B A G F|G F G E2z/2A/2|
w:Sad at leav-ing Old Ire-land we're once more on dry land,By the road-side a tav-ern I chanced for to spy, And
A A A A A A|B A ^G A B c|d c B A G F|G F E D2(A/2 G/2)|
w:as I was melt-ing my pock-ets I felt in,For the price of a drink I was mort-'lly dry. For_
F G F E (F E)|D E D D F A|B c d A G F|F G F E2(A/2 G/2)|
w:we are the boys of_ Fun wit and El-e-ment,Drink-ing and Danc-ing and all oth-er Joys, For_
F G F E F E|D E D D F A|B c d A G F|G F E D2z
W:Ruct-ions Des-truct-ions Di-ver-sions an De-vil-ment,Who's to com-pare with The Wa-ter-ford Boys.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waterford Boys
From: masato sakurai
Date: 21 Apr 03 - 11:28 AM

An American song sheet (WATERFORD BOYS, H. De Marsan, Publisher, 60 Chatham Street, N. Y. [n. d.]) says: "Air: The Flaming O'Flannigans." I haven't found its tune, but one stanza (lyrics only) is quoted in William H.A. Williams, 'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream (University of Illinois Press, 1996, p. 154), from Fred Shaw's Dime American Comic Songster (New Orleans: R. Coburn, [ca. 1858], pp. 61-62).

For that was the way with the Flaming O'Flannigans,
They were the terrible boys of the name,
For kissing, and courting, and filling the can agin',
They were the boys for to keep up the game.

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waterford Boys
From: MMario
Date: 21 Apr 03 - 11:31 AM

The tune as given at Levy seems (to me at least) to be similar

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waterford Boys
From: Gurney
Date: 22 Apr 03 - 06:50 AM

If you see Sean Cannon, ask him to sing it. Great song.

Subject: Tune Add: THE WATERFORD BOYS
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 28 Apr 03 - 01:37 PM

Since it's not the same as the original posted above, here's my memory of Sean Cannon's version (from the days before he joined The Dubliners).

Mick

---

X: 1
T:The Waterford Boys
M:6/8
L:1/8
Q:1/8=130
C:Harry Clifton
S:MCP's memory of Sean Cannon
K:D
((3:2F/G/F/ E2)|D> B, C D E F|F d> c ((3:2B/c/B/) A
w:For___ fun and di-ver-sion we have met to-ge__ther,
F|A> F E D> E F|E< D C D>
w:I tell you from Wa-ter-ford hi-ther we came,
(A F)|D> E D D F A|d> c d ((3:2B/c/B/) A
w:We_ crossed the big o-cean in dark stor-my wea__ther,
F|A F E D> E F|((3:2E/F/E/) D C|D>
w:Our pock-ets were light and our hearts__ were the same,
F F|E> E E E A d|((3:2c/d/c/) A A B A
w:Sad at leav-ing old Ire-land we're once__ more on dry land,
F/ F/|E> D E d c B|A F A B3|
w:By the road-side a tav-ern I chanced for to spy,
A> B c d> e d|d c B A F
w:As I was melt-ing my pock-ets I felt in
A/ A/|A> F E D> E F|E> D C|D3||
w:For the price of a drink, I was mort-al-ly dry.
"Chorus"((3:2F/G/F/ E2)|D> B, C D E F|F d> c ((3:2B/c/B/) A F|
w:For___ we are the boys of such fun and such el__o-quence,
E> D E d> c B|A F A B2
w:Drink-ing and danc-ing and all oth-er joys,
A|A> B c d> e d|d> c B A< F A|
w:For ruc-tions, des-truc-tions, di-ver-sions and de-vil-ment,
B> A F D> E F|((3:2E/F/E/) D C D3-|D3||
w:Who's to com-pare with the Wa__ter-ford boys_.

Subject: lannigans ball
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Jun 06 - 04:35 AM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waterford Boys
From: GUEST,Nigel Burns
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 01:46 AM

I have to say this is one of my most merriment songs I've come across in my lifetime. Growing up in Ireland and moving away a few years ago, this song on this years Saint Paddy's day was played many a time during and after Saint Paddy's Day and it gave me a great big smile