The Galbally Farmer Lyrics

One evening of late I happened to stray

To the county Tipperary I straight took my way

To dig the potatoes and work by the day

I did hire with the Galbally farmer

I asked him how far we were bound for to go

For the night it was dark, and the cold winds did blow

I was hungry and tired, and my spirits were low

For I got neither whiskey nor cordial

He made me no answer but mounted his steed

To the Galbally Mountains he rode with great speed

And surely I thought that my heart would bleed

To be trudging behind that old miser

When I came to his cottage, I entered it first

It looked like a kennel or a ruined old church

Said I to myself, "I am left in the lurch

In the house of old Darby O'Leary"

I well recollect it was Michaelmas night

To a hearty fine supper, he did me invite

A cup of sour milk that would physic a snipe

It would give you the trotting disorder

And the wet old potatoes would poison the cat

And the barn where my bed was swarming with rats

'Twas little I thought it would e'er be my lot

For to lie in that hole until morning

From what he had said to me I understood

That my bed in the barn it was not very good

The blankets were made in the time of the flood

And the quilts and the sheets in proportion

'Twas on this old miser I looked with a frown

When the straw was brought out, for to make my shake down

And I wished that I'd never seen Galbally town

Or the sky over Darby O'Leary

Now I've worked in Kilconnell, and I've worked in Kilmore

I've worked in Knockainy and Shanballymore

In Pallas-a-Nicker and Sollohodmore

With decent respectable farmers

I've worked in Tipperary, the Rag, and Rosegreen

At the mount of Kilfeakle, at the Bridge of Aleen

But such woeful starvation I've never yet seen

As I got from old Darby O'Leary