I was laughing when I sang many of the Irish songs I grew up with, yesterday. And I was crying with others. But laughing and crying simultaneously is kind of my specialty. It’s an Irish thing. Especially well captured in the song “Finnegan's Wake”, which encapsulates the essence of my experience growing up Irish.
“Wasn’t it the truth I tell you- lots of fun at Finnegans wake” is how the song basically begins. Which cracks me up because they say the difference between an Irish wedding and an Irish wake, is one less person. So, I grew up singing this song and only today did I really pay attention to the lyrics.
It tells the story of a guy named Tim, who had a beautiful, lilting brogue and liked his liquor. How one day he got drunk and fell off a ladder and cracked his skull. They carried him home, wrapped him in a sheet and held the wake. His wife, Mrs. Finnegan, brought up the tea and cakes and ultimately, the whiskey punch .
Among the mourners, who were crying out in grief, a good old fashioned brawl broke out and “shillelagh law was all the rage”. Someone threw a bottle of Whiskey at Mikey Maloney’s head but he ducked and the bottle spilled all over Tim… who then sat up straight on the bed and said, “whirl your whiskey round like blazes! Thundering Jesus do ya think I’m dead?!” And the dancing and merriment ensued.
So, that pretty much sums up my childhood experience growing up Irish. Dancing, singing, laughing and learning when to duck.
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