Play recording: Jug of Punch, The
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- Teideal (Title): Jug of Punch, The.
- Uimhir Chatalóige Ollscoil Washington (University of Washington Catalogue Number): 850401.
- Uimhir Chnuasach Bhéaloideas Éireann (National Folklore of Ireland Number): none.
- Uimhir Roud (Roud Number): 1808.
- Uimhir Laws (Laws Number): none.
- Uimhir Child (Child Number): none.
- Cnuasach (Collection): Joe Heaney Collection, University of Washington, Seattle.
- Teanga na Croímhíre (Core-Item Language): English.
- Catagóir (Category): song.
- Ainm an té a thug (Name of Informant): Joe Heaney.
- Ainm an té a thóg (Name of Collector): Jill Linzee.
- Dáta an taifeadta (Recording Date): between 1982 and 1984.
- Suíomh an taifeadta (Recording Location): University of Washington, United States of America.
- Ocáid an taifeadta (Recording Occasion): private.
- Daoine eile a bhí i láthair (Others present): unavailable.
- Stádas chóipcheart an taifeadta (Recording copyright status): unavailable.
One pleasant evening in the month of June
As I sat weaving on my loom
I heard a bird singing on a bush
The song he sang was ‘The Jug of Punch.’
Toora loora lay, toora loora lay
Toora loora lay, toora loora lay
I heard a bird singing on a bush
The song he sang was ‘The Jug of Punch.’
What more pleasure can a man desire
Than sitting down beside the fire
On the table a jug of punch
And on his knee one tidy wench.
Toora loora lay, toora loora lay
Toora loora lay, toora loora lay
On the table a jug of punch
And on his knee one tidy wench.
What more hardship can a man endure
Than sitting down behind the door
On the table no jug of punch
And on his knee no tidy wench.
Toora loora lay, toora loora lay
Toora loora lay, toora loora lay
On the table no jug of punch
And on his knee no tidy wench.
No learned people with all their art
Can cure the impression that’s on me heart
Even a cripple forgets his limp
When he’s snug inside with a jug of punch.
Toora loora lay, toora loora lay
Toora loora lay, toora loora lay
Even a cripple forgets his limp
When he’s snug inside with a jug of punch.
If I get drunk, the money’s my own
And if you don’t like me, just leave me alone!
I’ll tune my fiddle and rosin my bow,
And I’ll be welcome where’er I go.
Toora loora loo, toora loora lay
Toora loora lay, toora loora lay
I’ll tune my fiddle and rosin my bow
And I’ll be welcome where’er I go.
And when I’m dead and in my grave
No costly tombstones do I crave
Just lay me down in my native heath
With a jug of punch at my head and feet.
Toora loora lay, toora loora lay
Toora loora lay, toora loora lay
Just lay me down in my native heath
With a jug of punch at my head and feet.
Notes
This is the simpler of two versions of this song that Joe knew. The other can be heard on the double CD compilation The Road from Conamara, assembled from recordings made by Ewan Mac Coll and Peggy Seeger in 1963. In his comprehensive review of that CD, the late Tom Munnelly remarks of this song that it was a ‘standard of the ‘sixties popularised by the Mc Peakes and Clancys. It does not seem to turn up among the earlier recordings of Heaney’. Other songs which Joe may have picked from the McPeakes include The Wild Mountain Thyme (‘Will ye go, lassie go’) and The Real Old Mountain Dew.