The Town of Ballybay

To me ringle dingle dum, to me ringle dingle laddie-o
To me ringle dingle dum, to me whack for de laddie-o.

In the town of Ballybay there was a lassie dwelling
I knew her very well and her story's worth the telling
Her father kept a still, he was a great distiller
And when she took to drinking, why the Devil couldn't fill her

To me ringle …

She had a wooden leg, 'twas hollow up the middle
She used to put a string in and play it like a fiddle
She played it day and night, played it night and day O
And when the neighbors told her "stop" she played her fiddle anyway

Now, she said she couldn't dance unless she had her wellies on
But when she had them on she could dance as well as anyone
She wouldn't go to bed unless she had her shimmy on
But when she had it on, God, she'd go to bed with anyone

She'd children up the stairs, and children in the byre
Another ten or twelve sitting roaring by the fire
She fed them on potatoes, and soup she made from nettles
and lumps of hairy bacon that she boiled up in the kettles

She's had lovers by the score, every Tom and Dick and Harry
She's courted day and night and still she wouldn't marry
And then she fell in love with a fellow with a stammer
And when he tried to run away she hit him with a hammer

Now she's led the sheltered life, eating porridge and black pudding
She terrorized her husband 'til he died right sudden
And when her husband died she felt so awful sorry
She stuffed him in a canvas bag and tossed him in the quarry

To me ringle …
To me ringle …