The Dubliners – Darby Oleary (Guitar)

Am                       C           F
One evening of late as I happened to stray,

       C                  G
to the county Tipperary I straight took my way,

   Am                   C           F
to dig for potatoes and work by the day,

      C             G       Am
for a farmer called Darby O'Leary.

Am                          C
I asked him how far we were bound for to go,

    F                      G
the night being dark and a cold wind did blow,

      Am                      C            F
I was hungry and tired and me spirits were low,

      C           G           Am
for I got neither whiskey nor water.

Am                     C           F
The dirty old miser he mounted his steed,

       C                     G
to the Galbally Mountains he rode in great speed,

  Am                      C             F
I followed behind 'til my poor feet did bleed,

        C                G             Am
when we stopped when his old horse was weary.

Am                            C
When we came to his cottage I entered it first,

   F                       G
it seemed like a kennel or ruined old church,

     Am                 C           F
says aye to myself I am left in the lurch,

       C            G       Am
in the house of old Darby O'Leary.

Am                      C          F
I well recollect it was Michalmass night,

     C                     G
to a hearty good supper he did me invite,

  Am                        C               F
a cup of sour milk that was more green than white,

       C           G        Am
and it gave me the trotting disorder.

Am                         C
The wet old potatoes would poison the cats,

        F                          G
and the barn where me bed was, was swarming with rats,

    Am                              C              F
the fleas would have frightened the fearless Saint Pat,

    C            G               Am
who banished the snakes o'er the border.

Am                         C            F
He worked me by day and he worked me by night,

         C                     G
while he held an old candle to give me some light,

  Am                        C          F
I wished his potatoes would die of the blight,

      C             G            Am
or himself would go off with the fairies.

Am                         C
't Was on this old miser I looked with a frown,

         F                           G
when the straw was brought in for to make my shakedown,

      Am                         C           F
and I wished that I'd never seen him nor his town,

        C        G       Am
nor the sky over Darby O'Leary.

Am                          C            F
I worked in Kilconnel, I've worked in Kilmore,

     C                        G
I've worked in Knockranny and Shanballymore,

    Am              C        F
and Kalisanaker and Sollahed Moore,

     C          G          Am
with farmers so decent and cheery.

Am                            C
I've worked in Tipperary, the Rag in Ross Green,

       F                       G
at the mount of Killfegal, the Bridge of Orleans,

     Am                  C         F
such woeful starvation I never yet seen,

     C            G       Am
as I got from old Darby O'Leary.