Mick McGilligan’s Ball

Michael McGilligan one fine day
Got a lot of money from the USA
All through the death of his uncle Joe
He got a million and a half or so
Says McGilligan: “I’ll give a fancy ball
Down at the old ancestral hall”
Invited the neighbours everyone
For to have some music and some rare old fun

So they all went down to Mick McGilligan’s ball
Where they had to tear the paper off the wall
To make room for all the people in the hall
Oh, the girls and boys made a devil of a noise
At Mick McGilligan’s ball

All of the neighbours came from near and far
Mulligan arrived there in a motor car
Old Missus O’Reilly, bless her heart
Came with the family in a donkey cart
Pat O’Rafferty arrived in an aeroplane
You’ll never see the like again
And there was a shout when two old Skins
Came along at a gallop with two Miss Quinns

And they all went down to Mick McGilligan’s ball
Where they had to tear the paper off the wall
To make room for all the people in the hall
Oh, the girls and boys made a devil of a noise
At Mick McGilligan’s ball

Fluters and fiddlers danced around
Drumming on the moleskin made a lovely sound
They blew a gale on the old trombone
Then reeled and rollicked to the piper’s drone
When they’d finished with the whiskey, beer and wine
They took a hand in “Auld Lang Syne”
There ne’r was the like I do declare
As that grand old hooley down in sweet Kildare

When they all went down to Mick McGilligan’s ball
Where they had to tear the paper off the wall
To make room for all the people in the hall
Oh, the girls and boys made a devil of a noise
At Mick McGilligan’s ball