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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).
