The Tail iv Me Coat.
I larned me reading an’ writing,
At Ballyragget where I wint to school,
’Twas there I first took to fighting,
With the schoolmaster Misther O’Toole;
He and I there had many a scrimmage,
The divil a copy I wrote,
But not a gossoon in the village,
Dare thread on the tail iv me coat.
I an illigant hand was at courting,
For lessons I took in the art,
Till Cupid, that blaggard, while sporting,
A big arrow sint smack through me heart;
Miss O’Connor, I lived straight fornnist her,
And tindher lines to her I wrote,
Who dare say a black word against her,
Why I’d thread on the tail iv his coat.
A bog-trotter wan, Mickey Mulvany,
He tried for to coax her away;
He had money an’ I hadn’t any,
So a challenge I sint him wan day;
Next morning we met at Killhealy,
The Shannon we cross’d in a boat,
There I lather’d him with me shillely,
For he trod on the tail iv me coat.
Me fame spread through the nation,
Folks flock for to gaze upon me,
All cry out without hesitation,
“Och, yer a fightin’ man, Mickey Magee!”
I fought with the Finegan faction,
We bate all the Murphies afloat,
If inclined for a row or a ruction,
Why, I’d tread on the tail of their coat.