A Bottle O' The Best
(Jack Foley/Grian Music)
When your time o' work is done,
And you've earned yourself some fun,
In the pub you start to sup your drink,
And clinkin' every cup.
Through the pint-pots you're perusin',
And you're boozin' till you're snoozin',
And you're losin' all your senses to the drink!
But when all these folks so prim are swiggin'
Swill up to the brim,
Wi' nips* o' gin and numbered Pirn's wi'
Sugar rubbed around the rim,
Let them drink it till they drop, for the sly besotted Scot
He'll be breakin' out a bottle o' the best!
Aye, to hell wi' all the rest, give me a bottle o' the best.
The amber bead I'll down wi' speed,
It's not bad taste or waste, just greed;
And a whiskey-still I'll kill,
I'll drink my fill and if I spill a gill,
You know I will, I'll lick it off the floor.
I'll not touch Teacher's*, Grant's*
Or Haig,* give me Bowmore* or Laphroaig*,
Glen Farclas* in a glass, well you can throw the top away.
For it's no use to pretend that you'll need the cork again,
When you've broken out a bottle of the best!
And the English like their ale,
Warm and flat straight out the pail,
They aye slitter* wi' their bitter*
That would slaughter Jack the Ripper,
And they sip their cider rough,
They sniff their snuff and huff and puff,
And as if that's not enough they start to sing.
Of when Jones's Ale Was New*,
And John Barleycorn's Fine Brew*,
Fathom The Bowl*, the Barley Mow*,
Bring Us A Barrel*, just a few;
But their songs are far surpassed by the tinkle in the glass
When you've broken out a bottle of the best!
And the Irish wi' their Pride o' Erin think they can deride
Our golden water wi' their patter
When they're out on the batter*;
Sixteen hundred pints o' stout,
A drinkin' bout without a doubt.
And if they've not got the gout they start to dance.
To Father O'Flynn* and Larry O'Gaff*,
Biddy the Bowlwife* for a laugh,
The Young May Moon*, The Garryowen*,
The Blackbird * drives them daft;
But their jigs have no appeal to the Scot who likes to reel
When he's broken out a bottle of the best!
Aye, a bottle of the best, that's what it is, no idle jest:
No Mickey Finn, no bathtub gin.
No rotgut wine that tastes like Vim*,
Have no fear it's not like beer,
Malt whiskey's strong and bright and clear.
And it's also bloody dear, but what the hell!
And it belts you in the belly like a heavyweight Lochgelly*,*
A glow begins to grow, six in a row turns you to jelly.
As you fall down in a heap.
Then you dream perchance to sleep,
For you've broken out a bottle of the best!
Notes:
Nips - shots; Teacher's Grant's Haig - blended whiskies;
Bowmore. Laphroaig, Glenfarclas - single malt Scotch whiskies;
Slitter - make a mess; Bitter - English heavy beer;
Jones Ale Was New, etc. - English drinking songs.
Batter - a binge or spree; Father O' Flynn.
etc. - Irish dance tunes;
Vim - a bathroom cleanser; Lochgelly - a leather strap used
until recently for corporal punishment in Scottish schools
- Seamus Kennedy
-
Seamus Kennedy in Concert
- The Liar Time: 2:57
- Down in the Coalmine Time: 2:30
- Murphy & the Snails Time: 3:39
- Hard Times Time: 3:20
- The Drover's Dream Time: 2:24
- The Writing of 'Tipperary' Time: 5:14
- TWA Recruiting Sergeants Time: 3:45
- The Nuns & the Devil/Johnny & the Bishop Time: 1:31
- The Widow & the Fairy/The King of the Fairies Time: 3:28
- Rose Time: 0:43
- The Mouse Time: 1:22
- The Wearing of the Green/The Rising of the Moon Time: 3:41
- Moses-Ri-Tooral-I-Ay Time: 2:01
- Take Her in your Arms Time: 3:16
- Scottish People Time: 2:45
- The Greatest Love/A Bottle of the Best Time: 2:42
- Look at Maggie Now Time: 3:01
- City by the Lagan Side Time: 2:34
- Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go Time: 4:39
- The Parting Glass Time: 2:01
-
