The Night Paddy Murphy Died lyrics

Oh, the night that Paddy Murphy died

is a night I'll never forget,

Some of the boys got loaded drunk

and they ain't got sober yet;

As long as a bottle was passed around

every man was feelin' gay,

O'Leary came with the bagpipes,

some music for to play.

[Refrain:]

And that's how they showed

their respect for Paddy Murphy,

That's how they showed

their honour and their pride;

They said it was a sin and a shame

and they winked at one another,

Now every drink in the wake house went,

the night Pat Murphy died.

Mrs Murphy sat in the corner,

pourin' out her grief,

When Kelly and his friends,

came roaring down the street;

They crept into an empty room

and a bottle of whiskey stole,

They placed the bottle on the corpse

to keep the liquor cold.

At three o'clock in the morning,

after emptying the jug,

Doyle rose up the coffin lid

to see poor Paddy's mug;

He stopped the clock

so Mrs Murphy couldn't tell the time,

And at a quarter after three,

they argued it was nine.

And everyone got merry,

they didn't care for prayer,

Mrs Murphy said she'd wait

till all the gang were there;

Of all the sights I've ever seen

that made me shiver with fear,

They took the ice right off the corpse

and placed it on the beer.

Now everything was doin' fine,

there was no ill at all,

Till Finnegan told Callaghan,

"You've got an awful gall."

I thought that that might start a row,

and sure enough it did,

For Callaghan had carved his name

upon the coffin lid.

Then the fight got fierce and strong,

everyone was in,

Someone knocked the whiskers

off poor old Darby Flynn;

And Dirty Andy Burke was there,

now what'd ya think he done?

He placed the corpse right on its head,

in the corner just for fun.

Someone hollered for the cops;

they busted down the door,

They jumped upon ol' Paddy's back

and they laid him on the floor;

They knocked him twice behind the ears

and they knocked him on the head,

When they jumped up from his back,

sure they found out he was dead.

Mrs Murphy started in,

battled with them cops,

She chased 'em, every one of them;

she chased 'em several blocks;

A lovely time was had by all,

eighteen in court were tried,

For having caused a riot,

on the night Pat Murphy died.

At eight o'clock in the morning,

the procession left the house,

And everyone but poor ol' Mrs Murphy

was out soused;

They stopped on the way to the churchyard

at the old Red Door Saloon,

They staggered in at nine o'clock

and didn't come out till noon.

Someone asked ol' Finnegan

if anyone had died,

"Lou," says he, "I'm not quite sure,

I just came for the ride."

They started out for the graveyard,

all holy and sublime,

But found out when they got there,

they'd left the corpse behind.

Oh, the night that Paddy Murphy died

is a night I'll never forget,

Some of the boys got loaded drunk

and they ain't got sober yet;

As long as a bottle was passed around

every man was feelin' gay,

O'Leary came with the bagpipes,

some music for to play.

• Artist:American Folk