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Darby O'Leary (The Galbally Farmer)

  • (Trad)

    One evening of late as I happened to stray
    To the County Tipperary I straight took my way
    To dig the potatoes and work by the day
    For a farmer called Darby O'Leary
    I asked him how far we were bound for to go
    The night being dark and the cold wind did blow
    I was hungry and tired and my spirits were low
    For I got neither whiskey nor water

    The dirty old miser he mounted his steed
    To the Galbally mountains he rode in great speed
    I followed behind 'til my poor feet did bleed
    And we stopped when his old horse was weary
    When we came to his cottage I entered it first
    It seemed like a kennel or a ruined old church
    Says I to myself I am left in the lurch
    In the house of old Darby O'Leary

    I well recollect it was Michaelmas night
    To a hearty good supper he did me invite
    A cup of sour milk that was more green than white
    And it gave me the trotting disorder
    The wet old potatoes would poison the cats
    And the barn where my bed was was swarming with rats
    The fleas would have frightened the fearless St. Pat
    Who banished the snakes o'er the border

    He worked me by day and he worked me by night
    While he held an old candle to give me some light
    I wished his potatoes would die of the blight
    Or himself would go off with the fairies
    It was on this old miser I looked with a frown
    When the straw was brought in for to make my shakedown
    And I wished that I'd never seen him nor his town
    Nor the sky above Darby O'Leary

    I've worked in Kilconnel, I've worked in Killmore
    I worked in Knockainy and Shanballymore
    In Pallas-a-Nicker and Sollohodmore
    With farmers so decent and cheery
    I've worked in Tipperary, the Rag and Rosegreen
    At the mount of Kilfeakle, the Bridge of Aleen
    Such woeful starvation I never yet seen
    As I got from old Darby O'Leary

    As sung by The Dubliners

Susannes Folksong-Notizen

  • [1965:] [The Galbally Farmer] One of the best- known humorous ballads in the South. [...] My father, John O Lochlainn, knew most of it from his childhood in Listrolin near Mullinavat, Co. Kilkenny, but he always sang 'The Gaabally Farmer'. (O Lochlainn II, 214)

  • See also
    Lyr Add: Darby O'Leary
    Darby O Leary
    Galbally Farmer
    Galbally Farmer

Quelle: Ireland

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15.04.2003, aktualisiert am 1.09.2003