Print This Page#00948 Print This Page
I am a little beggarman, a begging I have been,
For three score years in this little isle of green;
I'm known along the Liffey from the Basin to the Zoo,
And everybody calls me by the name of Johnny Dhu.
Of all the trades a going, sure the begging is the best,
For when a man is tired he can sit him down and rest;
He can beg for his dinner, he has nothing else to do,
But to slip around the corner with his old rigadoo.
I slept in a barn one night in Currabawn,
A shocking wet night it was, but I slept until the dawn;
There was holes in the roof and the raindrops coming thru,
And the rats and the cats were a playing peek-a-boo.
Who did I waken but the woman of the house,
With her white spotted apron and her calico blouse;
She began to frighten and I said boo,
Sure, don't be afraid at all, it's only Johnny Dhu.
I met a little girl while a walkin out one day,
Good morrow, little flaxen haired girl, I did say;
Good morrow, little beggarman, and how do you do,
With your rags and your tags and your auld rigadoo?
I'll buy a pair of leggin's and a collar and a tie,
And a nice young lady I'll go courting by and by;
I'll buy a pair of goggles and I'll color them with blue,
And an old fashioned lady I will make her too.
So, all along the high road with my bag upon my back,
Over the fields with my bulging heavy sack;
With holes in my shoes and my toes a peeping thru,
Singing, skin a ma rink a doodle with my auld rigadoo.
O, I must be going to bed for it's getting late at night,
The fire is all raked and now 'tis out of light;
For now you've heard the story of my auld rigadoo,
So, good and God be with you, from auld Johnny Dhu.
