133. The Irish Ballad (Tom Lehrer)

This is an ancient Irish ballad, which was written by the great musical satirist, Tom Lehrer. It has a modal tune, which, Lehrer explained in his introduction, means that he plays a wrong note every now and then.

He had to admit that it is not really like a genuine folk ballad because the words which are supposed to rhyme actually do.

You can hear a playlist of my satirical and parody songs here:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=EFC5EFD3C7FC636C

For lyrics and chords of my songs please see my website: http://www.raymondcrooke.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• folk
• song
• parody
• satire
• humour
• ballad
• murder
• irish

[francismassacre]

Between the inimitably comprehensive Child Ballad compilation and this Lehrerism (which I found independently) you are about my favorite person ever.

[raymondcrooke]

@francismassacre That's nice to know. I'm glad you're enjoying the songs.

[raymondcrooke]

@francismassacre Thanks for subscribing.

[pissinthenightaway2]

What are the chords to this song?

[raymondcrooke]

@pissinthenightaway2 You can find them on my website. (See the link in the information panel above). Click on "My Folk Songs", then "Singer Songwriters", then "Tom Lehrer" and you'll find them with the words.

[MySerpentine]

Oh - one more thing. One of the more important aspects of public folk singing is audience participation, and this happens to be a good song for group singing. So if any of you feel like joining in with me on this song, I'd appreciate it if you would leave - right now. (Starts to play, and continues...)

[3FNGRPCKR]

I really enjoy your rendition. It's good for a few laughs. Thanks.

[raymondcrooke]

@BigDaddysGirly I agree with you, but this song is actually making fun of Irish ballads! Tom Lehrer was no fan of folk music.

[timbertable]

Schön. Very Nice

[dreamsofequal]

@raymondcrooke All I can say to that is well done sir, and you have good taste

[raymondcrooke]

@dreamsofequal I can't remember. I've been singing this song for about 45 years.

[dreamsofequal]

Where did you get tabs? Or did you just work something out?