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I've just been out to Donovan's until the break of day,
Years ago he married charming Kitty Maine;
He took to Kit and family, a kettle lean and thin,
The boy is like his mother and the girl is like the old man.
So we drank a health to Donovan, we sung hip-hip-hurray,
There was always full and plenty down to Donovan's every day;
To show their Irish nature and their hospitality,
This week we celebrated Donovan's jubilee.
There's little Dan McLaughlin that came from Donegal,
Handsome Joseph Callahan, stately slim and tall;
The bouncer it was Cafferty, the pride of Baron's Row,
And Mr. Michael Gallagher, the boy that used the bow.
So we drank a health to Donovan, we sung hip-hip-hurray,
There was always full and plenty down to Donovan's every day;
To show their Irish nature and their hospitality,
This week we celebrated Donovan's jubilee.
Ah, sure there must have been a thousand there,
From near and foreign parts,
Some of them came in jaunty cars, more in horse and carts;
Handsome Larry Donnelly, the pride of Kerry, as well,
And the wonderful little piper that was always raising hell.
So we drank a health to Donovan, we sung hip-hip-hurray,
There was always full and plenty down to Donovan's every day;
To show their Irish nature and their hospitality,
This week we celebrated Donovan's jubilee.
We started out the Monday, being the anniversary,
Tuesday with the ladies we passed the time away;
Wednesday and Thursday we were partly on the bum,
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and, be jeepers, we had fun.
So we drank a health to Donovan, we sung hip-hip-hurray,
There was some of it made from potatoes,
(There was more of it made from hay!)
And I had mine in the sugar bowl and Donovan thought it was tea,
And, helluva dear, he was nearly dead on Donovan's Jubilee.
Sung by Morris Houlihan (b.1885) of Flatrock, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
