Song Sheet

A Jug of Punch (Traditional) (The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem)

First line: "One pleasant evening in the month of June"

Sheet Music:
A Jug Of Punch-Irish Folk Songs.pdf

A Scottish Soldier (Andy Stewart, 1960 to the tune "The Green Hills of Tyrol."

First line:  "There was a soldier, a Scottish soldier"

A "pibroach" is a funeral dirge.

Sheet Music:
A Scottish Soldier-Partionsdechansons.pdf

Green Hills of Tyrol - Hamilton's Universal Tune-Book.jpg

Black Velvet Band (Traditional) (The Dubliners)

Black Velvet Band (The Irish Rovers) 

First line: "In a neat little town they call Belfast"

Note that "Van Dieman's Land" is the former name for Tasmania. See Concerning "Van Dieman's Land".

Sheet Music:
The Black Velvet Band-C.pdf

Danny Boy (Frederic Weatherly, 1913, to the tune "Londonderry Air")

First line: "Oh Danny Boy"

Although is frequently printed in four verses, the actual song has only two verses (each 8 lines long). Sinead O'Connor added a third verse to her rendition; other third verses exist according to posts in the Mudcat Cafe and at The Danny Boy Trivia Collection.

Sheet Music:
Danny Boy_Lead Sheet.pdf

Dirty Old Town (Ewan MacColl, 1949)

It was made popular by the Dubliners and has been recorded by many others.

Down by the Glenside (Am & Em) an Irish rebel song written at about the time of the 1916 Easter Rising by Peadar Kearney, a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, popularly known as the Fenians, and composer of numerous rebel songs. The song is referring back to the earlier Fenian Rising of 1867. Kearney was the author of "The Soldier's Song" ("Amhrán na bhFiann"), now the Irish National Anthem.

Drunken Sailor (Traditional) (The Irish Rovers)  (Am & Em)

What Do We Do With a Drunken Sailor - TVUC Songbook #213 (A & D)

Also found as "Weigh, Hey, And Up She Rises"

Drunken Sailor (Dm)_Sheet Music.pdf

Finnegan's Wake (C & G) , a comic street song from the 1850s first published in 1864 as "Finigan's Wake."
The song formed the basis for the James Joyce novel, Finnegans Wake (1939). The web page for the song contains an explanation of several of the terms of the song, Finnegan's Wake.

Finigan's Wake - the sheet music (1864)

Flower Of Scotland (Roy Williamson, mid-1960s) (in C and G)
Scottish Gaelic: "Flùr na h-Alba." The lyric was written in the mid-1960s by Roy Williamson (1936-1990), one of the 3 musicians who formed the folk group The Corries, to music composed by Peter Dodds McCormick (c. 1834-1916). It was first heard publicly in a 1967 BBC television series. The words refer to the victory of the Scots, led by Robert the Bruce, over Edward II of England at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Together with "Scotland the Brave," it is one of two unofficial Scots national anthems, and is the official anthem of the Scottish Football Team and the Scottish Rugby Team. In 1974 the band released "Flower of Scotland" as a single. On August 12, 1990, Mr. Williamson died from a brain tumour. The Corries were inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame in 2007.
Flower of Scotland; Flower of Scotland, Wikipedia; Flower of Scotland, Songfacts; Roy Williamson, Wikipedia.

The Flower of Scotland_Sheet Music.pdf.

Galway Bay (Dr. Arthur Colahan, ca. 1927) (D F)

Also available:

• Galway Bay (A)

• Galway Bay (C & G)

Featured in the 1952 movie "The Quiet Man," starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, filmed in Ireland.

Galway Girl (Steve Earle, 2000) (C & G)

Galway Girl (Steve Earle song), Wikipedia

I'll Take You Home, Kathleen (Thomas P. Westendorf, 1875)  (C & G)

I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen-Sheet Music.pdf

I'll Tell Me Ma (aka "Belle of Belfast City") (Traditional) (D & G)
A well-known children's song, collected in various parts of England in the 19th century and again after the turn of the 20th century. In Ireland the chorus often refers to Belfast City and is known colloquially as "The Belle of Belfast City", although it is also adapted to other Irish cities, such as Dublin. English versions refer to the "Golden City" or "London City". This song is Roud Folk Song Index 2649.
The song accompanies a children's game. A ring is formed by the children joining hands, one player standing in the centre. When asked, "Please tell me who they be," the girl in the middle gives the name or initials of a boy in the ring (or vice versa). The ring then sings the rest of the words, and the boy who was named goes into the centre.
The song appears under numerous titles including:
  "I'll Tell Me Ma"
  "Tell Me Ma"
  "The Belle of Belfast City"
  "The Boys Won’t Leave the Girls Alone"
  "The Wind" (from Alice Bertha Gomme, "The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland" (Vol 2 of 2) (1894, 1898), pp. 387-390. Also:
     Books by Alice Bertha Gomme, Project Gutenberg.
     Alice Bertha Gomme, Internet Archive
     Alice Gomme, Wikipedia

I'll Tell Me Ma, Wikipedia; I’ll Tell Me Ma – all the cities are fighting for her, Irish Music Daily.

I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover (C & G)  (Mort Dixon & Harry Woods, 1927)

Sheet Music (with chord diagrams for C-Tuned ukulele):
     I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover _Chords.pdf

Loch Lomond or "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond" (Traditional) (C & G)
This traditional Scottish song (Roud No. 9598), is a farewell to his lover from a Jacobite man who is facing execution. Loch Lomond is the of the Scottish lakes.

According to historian Murray G. H. Pittock, this is a Jacobite adaptation of an eighteenth-century erotic song. The Jacobites supported the restoration of the House of Stuart to the British Thone in the person of "Bonnie Prince Charlie," that is Charles Edward Stuart, grandson of James II. After the Jacobite rising of 1745 failed at the bloody Battle of Culloden in April, 1746, some of the commoner supporters were hanged, many commoners were deported, and the senior leaders was taken to England, tried for High Treason, and executed as several locations. Wounded soldiers who had fled the battlefield were hunted down and put to death.

Several versions of these lyrics exist including verses found by Lady John Scott and Miss F. Mary Colquhoun, plus the poem of Andrew Lang. It has been covered extensively as a pop ballad, rock and roll (Runrig), and jazz. The popular version by The Corries can be found at Ultimate Guitar, Loch Lomond (The Corries).

In Scots, "bonnie" means "pretty", often in reference to a female."Brae" is a steep hillside or cliff.
The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond, Wikipedia ;Loch Lomond - The Acoustic Music Archive (The Bonnie Banks Of Loch Lomond); The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond, Andrew Lang poem.

Sheet music:
Loch Lomond from The Public Domain Song Anthology,
Loch Lomond from Robert Ford, Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland (1899), pp. 161-164. Two versions of the lyrics with notes.
The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond from G. Farquhar Graham, The Popular Songs and Melodies of Scotland (1908), pp. 394-395.
The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond from A. C. MacLeod and Harold Boulton, eds., Songs of the North, Gathered Together from the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland, Vol. 1 & 2 (20th Edition, 1884), pp. 9-12; The music arranged by Malcolm Lawson.

Maid of Fife-E-O (Traditional) (The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem) (C & G)

First line: "There once was a troop of Irish dragoons"

Also known as "There once was a troop o' Irish dragoons," "The Maid of Fife," "The Auld Maid of Fife," "The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie," "Peggy-O", and "Fennario"

Sheet Music:
The Maid of Fife Sheet Music - 1.pdf

Mary Mac (Traditional) (also "Mary Mack") (Makem & Clancy)

First line: "There's a little lass and her name is Mary Mac"

Sheet Music:
Mary Mack Sheet Music 1.pdf

Men of Harlech (John Guard, published 1900; the version performed by the Royal Regiment of Wales).
English translation from the Welsh; the tune is "Rhyfelgyrch Gwyr Harlech." There are as many as six different English lyrics for this melody. The song describes events during the seven-year siege of Harlech Castle, 1461 - 1468, the longest known siege in the history of the British Isles. Also known as "Through Seven Years"
John Guard lived c. 1800-1857 and was the author of other pieces of music.

First line: "Tongues of fire on Idris flaring"

Sheet Music:
March of the Men of Harlech-Partionsdechansons.com.pdf

Molly Malone (Traditional) Also known as "Cockles and Mussels" or "In Dublin's Fair City" (The Dubliners)

First line: "In Dublin's fair city, where the girls are so pretty,"

Sheet Music:
Molly Malone_Lead Sheet.pdf
Cockles and Mussels-Partionsdechansons.pdf

My Wild Irish Rose  (Chauncey Olcott, 1899) (Version 2) (C & G)

• Also available:  My Wild Irish Rose (Version 1) (C & G)

Sheet music:

• My Wild Irish Rose-1899-Sheet Music.pdf

• My Wild Irish Rose (Public Domain Song Anthology)

• My Wild Irish Rose-C-franzdorfer.com.pdf

• My Wild Irish Rose-G-franzdorfer.com.pdf

Nancy Mulligan (Ed Sheeran, 2017)
The story of how his grandparents, William Sheeran, a Protestant from Belfast, Northern Ireland and Nancy Mulligan (real name Anne Mulligan), a Catholic from the Republic of Ireland, met, fell in love during the Second World War and got married at the Wexford border. Wikipedia.

Pretty Irish Girl (Lawrence Edward Watkin & Oliver Wallace, "Darby O'Gill And The Little People," Disney, 1959)

Scotland The Brave (Cliff Hanley, 1950). The lyrics were written for the singer Robert Wilson, the arrangement was by Marion McClurg.

First line: "Hark when the night is falling, Hear! Hear! The pipes are calling."

Scottish Gaelic: "Alba an Àigh" (1911)

Sheet Music:
Scotland The Brave - Melody Line.pdf

The Ferryman (Pete St. John, 1985, from "The Fields of Athenry: Songs of Pete St. John")
Laments the closure of Dublin's Liffey Ferry (The Workers' Ferry) from Grand Canal Basin to Spencer Dock over the River Liffey in October, 1984. The Ferry has operated for 320 years. "Anna Liffey" is a local reference to the River. Molly is Pete's wife.

The Green Fields of France (also known as "No-Man's Land" or "Willie McBride") (Eric Bogle, 1976) (G & C).
Bogle was born in Scotland and raised in Australia. Bogle stated "It's a song that was written about the military cemeteries in Flanders and Northern France."

The Whistling Gypsy_(Clancy Bros.) (C & G) (Leo Maguire, 1951) (The Clancy Brothers)

• The Whistling Gypsy (The Irish Rovers)

First line: "A gypsy rover came over the hill."

McGuire is quoted as saying that he wrote the song because of a dare  he could not compose "an Irish song with a happy ending." This song "borrows strongly" from several traditional Irish folk songs, particularly the "Gypsy Davy" family of songs; see the Child Ballads #200 (reproduced at Wikisource), The Raggle Taggle Gypsy (Child Ballads 200 at Wikipedia), Roud 1, the Ballad Index C200. The earliest text may be "The Gypsy Loddy", published in the Roxburghe Ballads (ca. 1720). There is a strong indication that the Irish folk songs were derived from earlier Scots songs and traditions, namely 'Johnny Faa' (that debate, heated at times, continues). Similar Irish songs have titles such as "The Raggle Taggle Gypsy", "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies", "The Gypsy Laddie", "Nine Yellow Gypsies", "Gypsie Davie" and "Black Jack Davie." See: The Gypsy Laddie, et al, at "Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music" and "Romance And Retribution: 'The Whistling Gypsy Rover,"' at Comparative Video 101, Selected Videos of and Commentary About Some Classic Folk, Roots, and Americana Songs, March 13, 2009.

Sheet Music:
The Gypsy Rover Sheet Music - 1.pdf

The Leprechaun (James Weston Joyce, 1853) (Dm & Am)
Roud #5274 (Vaughan Williams Memorial Library)

Sheet Music:

• The Leprehaun from P.W. Joyce, Ancient Irish Music (1873), pp. 100-101.

• The Leprechaun from Hughes, Irish Country Songs, Vol. III (1909)

The Spanish Lady (Traditional - Version 3) (The Dubliners)

Also available:

• The Spanish Lady (C & G) (Versions 1 & 2) 

First line: "As I came down through Dublin City"

A traditional Irish folk song, also found in England. The Bodleian Library has several broadsides of an English ballad with this name, one dating from the 17th Century. Fragmentary or related versions from the US date from 1883. It is #542 in the Roud Folk Song Index and E098 in The Traditional Ballad Index. There's a good article "The Spanish Lady / Dublin City" at Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music. Lyrics and chords are available at the Irish Music Daily, The Spanish Lady.

The Spanish Lady Sheet Music - Traditional Music UK

The Unicorn (Shel Silverstein, 1962) (C)

The Unicorn (Version 2 by the Irish Rovers) (C & G)

First line: "A long time ago, when the Earth was green"

The Wild Colonial Boy (Traditional)

First line: "There was a wild colonial boy"

Featured in the 1952 movie "The Quiet Man," starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, filmed in Ireland. The musician playing the Button Accordian in the Pub Scene was Ken Curtis, a member of the Sons of Pioneers, and an actor best known for his role in "Gunsmoke:" Festus! This song is in listed in several ballad indexes including Roud 677. See: The Wild Colonial Boy, Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music.

Sheet Music:
The Wild Colonial Boy-Partionsdechansons.pdf

The Wild Rover (Traditional)

First line: "And it's no, nay, never"

In the Roud 1173 index, there are over 200 versions of this song. See: The Wild Rover, Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music.

This copy is in one key; I'll get and post the copy that has the key changes in the later verses.

Sheet Music:
The Wild Rover-C.pdf
The Wild Rover-Partionsdechansons.pdf

There's No One As Irish As Barack O'Bama (Hardy Drew and The Nancy Boys / Corrigan Brothers) (D & G)

Toora Loora Looral (James Royce Shannon, 1913)
"Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That's an Irish Lullaby)" is an Irish-American song written for the Broadway musical "Shameen Dhu" (32 performances; Feb. 2, 1914 - Feb. 28, 1914). The original recording of the song on July 30, 1913 by Chauncey Olcott, peaked at #1 on the music charts in December 1913. Bing Crosby's performance in the 1944 "Going My Way" renewed the song's popularity. Crosby's single sold over a million copies and peaked at #4 on the Billboard music charts; because of problems with the original, he re-recorded the song on July 17, 1945. It has been recorded by many artists.

Sheet Music:
Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral-Original Sheet Music

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (Chauncey Olcott, Ernest Ball & George Graff, 1912) (C & G), plus this second version:

• When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (McCormick 1917) (F C)

First line: "There's a tear in your eye, and I'm wondering why"

Plus a copy in G:

• When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (McCormick) (G)

Sheet Music:
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling-Original Sheet Music.pdf

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling-Original Sheet Music with Chords.pdf

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (Public Domain Song Anthology)

Whiskey in the Jar (Traditional)

First line: "As I was goin' over the far famed Kerry Mountains"

Also found under the title "Gilgarry Mountain," "Darlin' Sportin' Jenny," and variants.

Clapping in the chorus:

• First line: 4 claps

• Second line: 2 claps

• Fourth line; 1 clap (on the word "whiskey")

Contrary to common belief, The Clancy Brothers never recorded the song. The confusion stems from the album "Irish Drinking Songs," which is composed of separate tracks by The Dubliners and The Clancy Brothers, with The Dubliners performing "Whiskey in the Jar" and the Clancy Brothers singing "Whiskey, You're The Devil", in which the line "There's whiskey in the jar" occurs several times.

Sheet Music:
Whiskey In The Jar-FreeSheetMusic.net.pdf
Whiskey In The Jar-Partionsdechansons.pdf

Who Threw The Overalls In Mrs. Murphy's Chowder (George L. Giefer, 1898)