What could possibly be better than celebrating Saint Patrick's Day 2008 at the Buggleskelly Motor Show? Sponsored by Flanagan's Garage the highlight of this year's show is Mr. O'Rafferty's kit-car. Internationally famous as the founder of Ireland's home-built car industry, Dinny O'Rafferty's roadster is a superb example of Irish ingenuity and engineering skill.
Capable of an astonishing 90mph on just one gallon of Guinness, it remains the envy of more sophisticated automotive designers.

X:68 % number
T: O'Rafferty's Motor Car % title
C:Tommie Connor % composer
O:Songs and Dances of Ireland% origin.
M:6/8 % meter
L:1/8 % length of shortest note
P:AB
Q:180 % tempo
K:C % key
V:1 % voice 1
P:A
G |: "C" ccc "F" ccc | "C" c2 G EFG | "D7" A2 c "G7" d2 B | "C" c3-c2 G |
w:Now Din-ny O' Raf-fer-ty's mo-tor car is the great-est I de-clare,_ It's
Gcc "F" c2 c | "C" c2 G E2 G | "D7" A2 d d2 c | "G7" B3-B2 G |
w:made up of bits and piece-s that he's picked up here and there,_ The
"F" A2 A A2 c | "Em" B2 G EFG | "F" A2 G "G7" F2 A |"C" G3-GGG |
w:en-gine must be age-s old but it's still got lots of power,_ With a
Gcc "F" cBc | "C" c2 G EFG | "D7" A2 c "G7" d2 B | "C" c3-c2 G ||
w:gal-lon of stout in the pet-rol tank it does nine-ty miles an hour!_ Oh
P:B
"C" e2 c cBc | e2 c cGG | "D7" A2 c "G7" B2 c |
w:What a won-der-ful mo-tor car, it's the great-est ev-er
"C" c3-c2 G | Gcc "F" ccc | "C" c2 G EFG | "D7" A2 d d2 c |
w:seen!_ It used to be black as me fath-er's hat, now it's For-ty Shades of
"G7" B3-B2 G | "F" A2 A A2 c | "Em" B2 G EFG | "F" A2 G F2 A |
w:Green!_ On T. V. and the Ra-di-o and in ev-'ry pub-lic
"C" G3-G2 G | "F" G2 c "F#dim" c2 c | "C" c2 G EGG | "D7" ABc "G7" d2 B |
w:bar,_ the burn-ing ques-tion of the day is O'-Raf-fer-ty's mo-tor
[1-4 "C" c3-c2 z | z4 z G : |[5 "C" c3-c z3 : |
w:car!_ Now car!_
W:
W:Now two of the wheels are triangular and the third one's off a pram.
W:The Fourth is the last remaining wheel from off a Dublin tram,
W:The number plate's in Gaelic and the plugs won't even spark,
W:And the chassis came off of a tinker's cart that collapsed in Phoenix Park.
W:
W:Chorus
W:
W:Now go for a ride in that motor car and you'll end up with the shakes;
W:The road from Cork to Dublin is a vale of pains and aches,
W:When traffic lights turn red ahead then you'd best jump out the door,
W:For the minute that Dinny treads on the brake, then his foot goes through the floor!
W:
W:Chorus
W:
W:Now if you could see the upholstery, then your eyes would start to pop,
W:It's nothing but empty beer crates with a load of sacks on top.
W:The windscreen's gone to Lord-knows-where and there's mothballs in the horn,
W:And I reckon he'd only get half a quid if he took it to the pawn.
W:
W:Chorus
W:
W:Now Dinny was driving 'round last week when the engine did the splits!
W:It went up in smoke and nearly blew O'Connell Street to bits!
W:They searched for Dinny and they found he'd landed up by heck
W:Away on top of the G.P.O.¹ with his L-plates² round his neck!
W:
W:Chorus

1. General Post Office
2. L-plates, used to identify a learner driver

X:69                          % number
T:My Car                     % title
C:Myscha Aiken               % composer
O:Deer Run Lane Asylum for the Musically Incompetent % origin.
M:4/4                        % meter
L:1/4                        % length of shortest note
Q:240                        % tempo
K:C                          % key
V:1                          % voice 1
F D C F | C D C F | D C F2 |
w:I bought a car to-day, I got a good deal!
F G D E | D G D E | D G E D | G2 z C |
w:It has-n't got a sun-roof or a ste-er-ing wheel, but
D E E D | C E C D | C F F E | ^D =D2 z |
w:It's got a lot of fea-tures that I think are re-al neat;
D D G G | A G2 F | D E F ^F | G3 z |
w:I can e-ven e-ject from the pas-sen-ger seat!
W:
W:I took it to the carwash to get the full wax
W:It made the rust fall off, but it filled all the cracks
W:Then out onto the motorway, we really had fun
W:We shot a ring and blew smoke till we blacked out the sun!
W:
W:Underneath the dashboard I pulled out a loose wire,
W:It turned the heater on and the dashboard caught fire!
W:I doused it with my mug of tea, you know what I mean,
W:And when the sparks stopped we had a smoky windscreen.
W:
W:I sold my car today, the buyer paid cash.
W:I didn't hang about, I was gone in a flash.
W:It's hard to get the parts for these peculiar makes;
W:It hasn't got an oil filter, headlamps or brakes!

To convert the code above to sheet music, or listen to the tunes, copy the code for a single song, then paste it here and [submit].

   

Over the past few weeks I've been putting a lot of energy into several projects, and felt perhaps it was time to take a break for a bit. The idea of spending a couple of hours with some good company and a drink or two seemed very appealing. I don't know what I said, or did, or whether it was Bacchus or Vulcan that I offended, but that quiet drink was interrupted by a fire alarm.
X:55                         % number
T:The Old Dun Cow            % title
C:Anon.                      % composer
O:Irish drinking song        % origin.
M:4/4                        % meter
L:1/4                        % length of shortest note
Q:240                        % tempo
P:ABA
K:C                          % key
V:1                          % voice 1
P:A
B G E E | B G E E | e e/d/ c/d/ e | e B3 |
w:Some friends and I in a public house was play-in' dom-in-oes one night
B A ^F F | B G E E | E ^F F/^G/ ^A F | B3 z |
w:When into the pub a fire-man ran, his face all a chalk-y white!
B G E E | B G E E | e e/d/ c/d/ e | e B3 |
w:"What's up?" says Brown, "Have you seen a~ghost? or have you seen your Aunt Mar-iah?"
^f g g  f | ^f e d B | A B e ^d | ^f e3 ||
w:"Me Aunt Mar-iah be buggered!" says he, "the bleed-in' pub's on fire!"
P:B
B G E E | B G E E | e/d/ c/d/ e/d/ e | B2 A2 |
w:And there was Brown, up-side down, mop-ping up the whis-ky on the floor. "Booze!"
^F>B G E | E E ^F F | ^F/^G/ ^A/^F/ | B2 "_(clap!"z "_clap!)"z |
w:"Booze!" The fire-men cried, as they came knock-ing on the door!
B G E E | B G E E | e e/d/ c/d/ e | e B2 "_Macintyre!"z |
w:Oh don't let~'em in till~it's all drunk up! Some-bo-dy shout-ed Mac-In-tyre!
e/^f/ g e ^f | d e/^f/ e/d/ B | G/A/ B e ^d | ^f e2 z |]
w:Well we all got blue-blind par-a-lyt-ic drunk when the Old Dun Cow caught fire!
W:
W:Chorus
W:
W:"Oh well," says Brown, "What a bit of luck. Everybody follow me.
W:And it's down to the cellar If the fire's not there. Then we'll have a grand old spree."
W:So we went on down after good old Brown, The booze we could not miss
W:And we hadn't been there ten minutes or more Till we were all quite pissed.
W:
W:Chorus
W:
W:Then, Smith walked over to the port wine tub And gave it just a few hard knocks (clap! clap!)
W:Started takin' off his pantaloons, Likewise his shoes and socks.
W:"Hold on, " says Brown, "that ain't allowed, Ya cannot do that thing here.
W:Don't go washin' trousers in the port wine tub When we got Guinness beer."
W:
W:Chorus
W:
W:Then there came from the old back door The Vicar of the local church.
W:And when he saw our drunken ways, He began to scream and curse.
W:"Ah, you drunken sods! You heathen clods! You've taken to a drunken spree!
W:You drank up all the Benedictine wine And you didn't save a drop for me!"
W:
W:Chorus
W:
W:And then there came a mighty crash - Half the bloody roof caved in!
W:We were almost drowned in the firemen's hose But still we were gonna stay.
W:So we got some tacks and some old wet sacks And we nailed ourselves inside
W:And we sat drinking the finest Rum Till we were bleary-eyed.
W:
W:Chorus
W:
W:Later that night, when the fire was out We came up from the cellar below.
W:Our pub was burned. Our booze was drunk. Our heads was hanging low.
W:"Oh look", says Brown with a look quite queer. Seems something raised his ire.
W:"Now we gotta get down to Murphy's Pub, It closes on the hour!"






To convert the code above to sheet music, or listen to the tunes, copy the code for a single song, then paste it here and [submit].

A comic song from the golden age of variety theatre, which I finally tracked down with the help of the Raspberry Tarts.



Download the sheet music for the song as a PDF file.