Finnegan’s Wake – The Comic Irish Ballad of Tim Finnegan’s Fall and Rise From the Dead

 

Finnegan’s Wake — A Comic Masterpiece of Irish Wit

Finnegan’s Wake is one of Ireland’s most beloved and light-hearted ballads — a song that turns tragedy into laughter.
It tells the story of Tim Finnegan, a Dublin labourer with a fondness for whiskey, who falls from a ladder to his apparent death.
At his wake, the mourners drink, fight, and spill whiskey over his body — only for Finnegan to spring back to life with a roar for another drop.

Originally written in the mid-1800s, the song became a favourite in Irish pubs and music halls across the world.
Its chorus, “Whack fol the dah!”, captures the humour and resilience that run deep in Irish storytelling — the ability to face hardship with a grin and a glass raised high.

Finnegan’s Wake reminds us that in Irish music, even death can be outwitted by laughter, community, and




LYRICS

Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin Street
A gentle Irishman mighty odd
He’d a beautiful brogue so rich and sweet
To rise in the world he carried a hod

You see he’d a sort of a tippler’s way
But the love for the liquor poor Tim was born
To help him on his work each day
He’d a drop of the craythur every morn

Whack fol the dah, now dance to yer partner
‘Round the floor yer trotters shake
Wasn’t it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan’s Wake!

One morning Tim got rather full
His head felt heavy which made him shake
Fell from a ladder and he broke his skull
And they carried him home his corpse to wake

Rolled him up in a nice clean sheet
And laid him out upon the bed
A gallon of whiskey at his feet
And a barrel of porter at his head

Whack fol the dah, now dance to yer partner
‘Round the floor yer trotters shake
Wasn’t it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan’s Wake!

His friends assembled at the wake
And Mrs. Finnegan called for lunch
First she brought in tay and cake
Then pipes, tobacco and whiskey punch

Biddy O’Brian began to cry
“Such a nice, clean corpse, did you ever see
Tim avourneen, why did you dye?”
“Will ye hould your gob?” said Paddy McGee

Whack fol the dah, now dance to yer partner
‘Round the floor yer trotters shake
Wasn’t it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan’s Wake!

Then Maggie O’Connor took up the job
“Biddy,” says she, “you’re wrong, I’m sure”
Biddy gave her a belt in the gob
And left her sprawling on the floor

Then the war did soon engage
T’was woman to woman and man to man
Shillelagh law was all the rage
And a wrow and a ruction soon began

Whack fol the dah, now dance to yer partner
‘Round the floor yer trotters shake
Wasn’t it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan’s Wake!

Then Mickey Maloney raised his head
When a bucket of whiskey flew at him
It missed, and falling on the bed
The liquor scattered over Tim

Tim revives, see how he rises
Timothy rising from the bed
Said, “Whirl your whiskey around like blazes
Thanum an Dhul, do ye think I’m dead?”

Whack fol the dah, now dance to yer partner
‘Round the floor yer trotters shake
Wasn’t it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan’s Wake!

Now Tim’s alive, the wake was stunned,
They clapped and cheered to see their friend.
He swore off ladders, hods, and rum —
But soon he was as drunk as sin.

They helped poor Tim up on the floor,
He swore he cheat the grave once more,
They laughed and cheered to hear him roar,
“I’ll dance this tune forever more!”

Whack fol the dah, now dance to yer partner
‘Round the floor yer trotters shake
Wasn’t it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan’s Wake!

Whack fol the dah, now dance to yer partner
‘Round the floor yer trotters shake
Wasn’t it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan’s Wake!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

The Wearing Of The Green — A Powerful Irish Rebel Ballad

Image
The Wearing Of The Green | Powerful Irish Rebel Song (They’re Hanging Men & Women) The Wearing Of The Green — A Powerful Irish Rebel Ballad “The Wearing of the Green” is one of Ireland’s most enduring rebel ballads — a powerful anthem of resilience and resistance that has echoed through generations of Irish hearts. Born in the dark days of the 1798 Rebellion , when the United Irishmen rose against British rule, the song became a symbol of defiance, unity, and national pride. At its core, the ballad laments the brutal suppression of Irish identity. Wearing a simple green ribbon — the color long associated with Irish nationalism — became a punishable act. The lyrics speak of arrests, executions, and forced exile for those who dared to display their loyalty to Ireland. The song’s central figure is often portrayed as a young Irishman being led to execution for the crime of wearing green — his only offence being pride in his heritage. Yet, amidst the sorrow, the message...
Read more

Rain on Kilmainham – A Ballad for the Fallen of 1916

Image
In the grey stillness of dawn, as rain taps gently on old stone, the echoes of gunfire still seem to linger in Kilmainham Gaol. Over a century has passed, but the memory remains sharp — a wound etched into the soul of Ireland. “Rain on Kilmainham” is a ballad of sorrow and remembrance, written for those who stood before a British firing squad in May 1916, condemned not by crime but by conscience. This song is not a call to arms — it is a lament. It mourns the loss of brave souls who gave everything for the dream of a free Ireland. It recalls the final steps of men like Pádraig Pearse , James Connolly , Thomas Clarke , and others — led from their cells by the boots of Empire, blindfolded in a cold yard as dawn broke through the mist. The ballad draws its power not from rage, but from grief — from the quiet dignity of sacrifice, from the soft weeping of a nation watching its future die behind prison walls. Kilmainham was never just a prison. It became a place of martyrdom, of transfor...
Read more

The Great Hunger by Lady Jane Wilde, (A Poem About Those Who Perished During An Górta Mór)

Image
The Famine Year – Lady Jane Wilde’s cry from the grave of a starving nation “The Famine Year” remains one of the most important poetic documents of Irish suffering, anger, and historical truth. Written by Lady Jane Wilde — mother of Oscar Wilde, and known in her own right as a fierce nationalist, a radical intellectual, and a woman who risked her position in society to speak for the poor — this poem is not simply literature. It is testimony. A direct accusation. A written scream from the shores of a nation left to die. When we talk about the Great Famine (1845–1852) in general terms, we often hear cold language: crop failure, blight, emigration, poverty, “famine conditions.” But Lady Wilde strips away the polite terms. She removes the veil. In “The Famine Year,” she writes from inside the wound. This is a poem written as the horror unfolded — not as history, not from academic distance, not with comfortable hindsight. Lady Wilde stood in the middle of a country where mothers buried th...
Read more