"Medley (The Recruiting Sergeant / The Rocky Road To Dublin / Galway Races)" lyrics

[The Recruiting Sergeant]

As I was walking down the road
A feeling fine and larky oh
A recruiting sergeant came up to me
Says he, "You'd look fine in khaki, oh"
"For the king, he is in need of men
Come read this proclamation, oh
A life in Flanders for you then
Would be a fine vacation, oh"

"That may be so," says I to him
"But tell me, sergeant dearie-oh
If I had a pack stuck upon my back
Would I look fine and cheerie oh?
For they'd have you train and drill until
They had you one of the Frenchies, oh
It may be warm in Flanders
But it's draughty in the trenches, oh"

The sergeant smiled and winked his eye
His smile was most provoking, oh
He twiddled and twirled his wee mustache
Says he, "You're only joking, oh
For the sandbags are so warm and high
The wind you won't feel blowing, oh
Well, I winked at a cailin passing by
Says I, "What if it's snowing, oh?"

Come rain or hail or wind or snow
I'm not going out to Flanders, oh
There's fighting in Dublin to be done
Let your sergeants and your commanders go
Let Englishmen fight English wars
It's nearly time they started, oh
I saluted the sergeant a very good night
And there and then we parted, oh

[The Rocky Road To Dublin]

[Instrumental]

[The Galway Races]

As I went down to Galway Town to seek for recreation
On the seventeenth of August, me mind being elevated
There were passengers assembled with their tickets at the station
Me eyes began to dazzle and they off to see the races

With me wack fol the do fol
The diddle idle ay

There were passengers from Limerick and passengers from Nenagh
The boys of Connemara and the Clare unmarried maidens
There were people from Cork City who were loyal, true and faithful
Brought home the Fenian prisoners from dying in foreign nations

With me wack fol the do fol
The diddle idle ay

And it's there you'll see the pipers and the fiddlers competing
The sporting wheel of fortune and the four and twenty quarters
There's others without scruple, pelting wattles at poor Maggie
And her father well-contented and he gazing at his daughter

With me wack fol the do fol
The diddle idle ay

With me wack fol the do fol
The diddle idle ay

And it's there you'll see the jockeys and they mounted on so stably
The pink, the blue, the orange, and green, the colors of our nation
The time it came for starting, all the horses seemed impatient
Their feet they hardly touched the ground, the speed was so amazing

With me wack fol the do fol
The diddle idle ay

There was half a million people there of all denominations
The Catholic, the Protestant, the Jew, the Presbyterian
Yet there was no animosity, no matter what persuasion
But fáilte hospitality inducing fresh acquaintance

With me wack fol the do fol
The diddle idle ay