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The Night Pat Murphy Died Lyrics

Artist: Great Big Sea
Album: Play

Oh the night that Paddy Murphy died, is a night I'll never forget
Some of the boys got loaded drunk, and they ain't got sober yet;
As long as a bottle was passed around every man was feelin' gay
O'Leary came with the bagpipes, some music for to play

Chorus:
That's how they showed their respect for Paddy Murphy
That's how they showed their honour and their pride;
They said it was a sin and shame and they winked at one another
And every drink in the place was full the night Pat Murphy died

As Mrs. Murphy sat in the corner pouring out her grief
Kelly and his gang came tearing down the street
They went into an empty room and a bottle of whiskey stole
They put the bottle with the corpse to keep that whiskey cold

Chorus

About two o'clock in the morning after empty'ing the jug
Doyle rolls up the ice box lid to see poor Paddy's mug
We stopped the clock so Mrs. Murphy couldn't tell the time
And at a quarter after two we argued it was nine

Chorus

They stopped the hearse on George Street outside Sundance Saloon
They all went in at half past eight and staggered out at noon
They went up to the graveyard, so holy and sublime
Found out when they got there, they'd left the corpse behind!

Chorus

Oh the night that Paddy Murphy died, is a night I'll never forget
Some of the boys got loaded drunk and they ain't been sober yet;
As long as a bottle was passed around every man was feelin' gay
O'Leary came with the bagpipes, some music for to play

Chorus

Comments/Interpretations

by me on 5/25/2008 5:24am
wicked song

by humpthewind on 5/29/2008 2:21am
this is the song. this song is awesome

by PartIrish on 7/16/2008 8:21pm
This song is great, my friends and I think its the best drinking song there is.

by ivana, croatia on 7/19/2008 4:13pm
ajme. brutalno!!! :) I like this, haha, they've forgot the corpse...

by eric on 8/25/2008 11:54am
this is the best thing about the culture. These ideals should be spread through the world. Death is a part of life and the life of a person should be celebrated, not mourned.

by evelyn on 10/9/2008 11:22am
Dudes, this is really a good song and why do you have the time to be writing lyrics all the time?

by John on 11/19/2008 5:52pm
I had always heard part of a verse as:
"The only thing they did that night that filled my heart with cheer, They took some ice right off the corpse and put it on the beer"
Chorus
With most good drinking songs, I'm sure there's a million verses.

by sean on 11/20/2008 6:53am
i play this song all the time and some of these lyrics are wrong...

by redordead on 11/21/2008 7:27am
great song, great lyrics

by John on 12/17/2008 5:24pm
great.. big sea

i just feel like that needs to be added on to redordead's comment lol

by William on 1/29/2009 7:29am
This is one is just amazing

by A true Irish girl on 3/17/2009 2:45am
It seems some of you think Great Big Sea wrote this. Although they did a great job of the song it was written by Johhny Burke in the 1800's and has been remade several times.

by redordead on 9/3/2009 6:37am
by sean on 11/20/2008 6:53am
i play this song all the time and some of these lyrics are wrong...
====
the lyrics are not wrong, this is traditional song and lyrics could be different in different places...compare the different version of whiskey in the jar...

by aigai on 10/3/2009 7:25am
I love this song, so funny, wish I'll have a funeral like that

by kyle m on 11/19/2009 11:18am
this is the best freaking song by great big sea... it awsome!!!

by eug on 11/25/2010 3:55pm
I 54 now,when i was 10 I heard this.On the night paddy Murphy died I will never forget, for we got stinking drunk that night on Bullmers ciderett,the thing that we done that night that filled our hearts with fear, we took yhe eyes out of paddy's courps and put them in our beer.

by but-seriously-folks on 1/19/2011 11:48am
I swear I heard a version of this in which they started stealing things from the house. The fourth line of the chorus went, "Everything in the wake house went when Paddy Murphy died."

by Hal DeHaven (age78) on 8/6/2011 9:23pm
Old verses: Now everything was goin merry, there was no row atall, 'till Finnegan told Flannagan he had an awful gall, I thought that that would start a fight and sure enough it did, for Flannagan had carved his name upon the coffin lid.
Now as the fight grew fierce and wild, everyone joined in, someone tore the whiskers off poor old Darby Flynn, and Dirty Andy Burt was threr and wha -do -you think he donw?, he stood the corpse upon his head in the corner just for fun.
Now someone hollered for the cops, they burst in through the door, they jumped upon poor paddys corpse and they beat him to the floor, they kicked him twice behind the ears, they hit him on the head, but when they jumped upon his chest, they found that he was dead.
Now Mrs. Murphy she took in a battelin with the cops, she beat 'em all but one big dick she chased for forty blocks, What a wonderful time was ahd by all, 18 of us were tried, for having caused a riot on the night Pat Murphy died.

by Dave Sullivan on 8/14/2015 1:19pm
My dad had his own ersion and one part I recall

"The thing that they di makes quake with fear for they the ice from off the corps and placed in on the beer.