Click here to hear Jim Flanagan performing this song.
When I was a young apprentice
And less than ...
I took leave of all my senses
With a maid I fell in love
Oh, her ringlets did entwine me
Aphrodite's smile did blind me
Cupid's arrow struck behind me
And her father owned the pub
In her father's licensed premises
That's where I met my nemesis
Like a seraphim of Genesis
Sat Mary Ann McGuire
Arrayed in fine apparel
Astride a porter barrel
She looked the sort of girl
That would fill you with desire
All the turtledoves were cooing
When I took to my wooing
Her loveliness pursuing
In the springtime of that year
But she said I should be older
And more gallant and much bolder
In the uniform of a soldier
That's when she'd hold me dear
In extremis(?) and euphoria
I joined with Queen Victoria
For a spell of death or glory
Fighting with the ...
To the wind I threw all caution
I'd return with fame and fortune
And together make a portion
Of matrimony's chores
On the gravestone of her mother
She swore she loved no other
And I did soon discover
That she played me for a ...
For lady luck has beached me
And intelligence has reached me
When I was overseas
That she had married to a Turk
Well, me, I then deserted
To find the girl who flirted
Back to Ireland I reverted
For my jealousy was roused
In McGuire's pub in Derry
I found him making merry
With his arms around my Mary
While together they caroused
So I took my time and waited
Until his thirst was sated
And home he navigated
Through the streets of Derry town
At his lodgings he stood knocking
And whilst they were unlocking
I put a stone into a stocking
On his head I brought it down
Tis then the night's serenity
Was rent with loud obscenity
And Ottoman profanity
I couldn't understand
With an oath he made to grab me
With full intent to stab me
But as he tried to kebab me
I went screaming down the strand
All around the town's perimeter
He chased me with a simiter(?)
A powerful passion-limiter
To an errant in his prime
To the waterside he chased me
To the Bridge of Foy(?) he raced me
And at at Derry ... he face me
So I jumped into the tide
For bravery's no virtue
When some heathen's trying to hurt you
And all noble thoughts desert you
When you see his curly knife
For there's many things worth trying for...
And occasionally worth lying for...
But there's bugger all worth dying for
So I'll stick to the soldier's life
To buy Jim Flanagan's CD Anso is Ansud mail him at james.flanagan@usm.edu