The Ragmans Ball

Come pay attention for a while, my good friends one and all
And I’ll sing to you a verse or two about a famous ball
Now this ball was given by some friends who lived down in Ash Street
In a certain house in the Liberties where the ragmen used to meet

Well the names were called at seven o’clock and every man was on the spot
And to show respect for the management every ragman brought his mot
Now I must admit that I brought mine at twenty-five minutes to eight
And the first to stand up was Kieran Grace for to tell me that I was late

Then up jumps Humpty Soodlum and he says I think somehow
By the way yous are going on tonight yous are looking for a row
Now look at here Grace if you want your face you’d better not shout nor bawl
There’s a lot of hard chaws to be here tonight to respect the ragman’s ball

Then we all sat down to some fish and chips and every man was there
Oh and as the place of honor Billy Bowlin’ took the chair
Well he swiped the chair and sold it to an old one in Carmen Hall
And he danced on the face of Kieran Grace the night of the ragman’s ball

Ah says my one you’re a queer one now and Billy you’re hard to beat
Oh when up jumps Eliza Bowlin’ and she told her to hold her prate
Ah but my one made a clout at her and she missed and struck the wall
And the two of them went in the ambulance the night of the ragman’s ball

Now to make the thing a swell affair we brought friends quite a few
Oh we brought up Blind Garth Whelan and Big Dan Kenny too
And the gallant Jack Tar smoked his cigar and he slipped coming through the hall
And he lost a new bag and all his swag the night of the ragman’s ball

Now to keep the house alive me boys we brought some music too
Oh we brought up Tommy Reynolds and his old tin whistle too
Well he played that night with all his might until coming on to dawn
But we couldn’t find any to dance with Dan Kenny the night of the ragman’s ball

Well for eating we had plenty there as much as we could hold
We drank Brady’s loop-line porter till around the floor we rolled
In the midst of the confusion someone shouted for a song
When up jumps Old Dunlavin and sings keep rolling your barrel along

Then we all sat down to some ham pairings when everything was quiet
And for broken noses I must say we had a lovely night
Ah black eyes they were in great demand not to mention split heads and all
So if anyone wants to commit suicide let them come to the ragman’s ball