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My Grandfather O'Brien departed this life, it was on a St. Patrick's Day,
He started off to the next world without ever asking the way;
Leaving me all his riches and a great deal of wealth do ye see,
And a pair of his cloth leather breeches that buttoned up down to the knee.
Hurrah for Grandfather O'Brien, I wish he was living, och sure,
And every day he'd be dying, he would leave me ten times as much more.
He left me the whole two sides of bacon, only one half was just cut away,
A broom-stick with the head of a rake on, and a field full of straw to make hay;
A blanket made out of cloth patches, a bread-basket made out of tin ware,
A windy without and sashes, and a collar made for a mare.
Hurrah for Grandfather O'Brien, I wish he was living, och sure,
And every day he'd be dying, he would leave me ten times as much more.
He left me a mighty fine clock, too, full of brass wheels made out of wood,
A key without ever a lock to, and a stool to sit down where I stood;
A pair of old socks of his father's, a gimlet, a knife, and an awl,
A cut of cold ham in the larders and a box full of nothing at all.
Hurrah for Grandfather O'Brien, I wish he was living, och sure,
And every day he'd be dying, he would leave me ten times as much more.
He left me some whisky for drinking, and a beautiful stick, look at that,
And also a she-bull for milking, and a second-hand, silk beaver hat;
A cracky and Hanover monkey, a setter that's just turning brown,
And frankum enough on his whisker to stop all the gas-jets in town.
Hurrah for Grandfather O'Brien, I wish he was living, och sure,
And every day he'd be dying, he would leave me ten times as much more.
He left me an old pair of trousers, in the knees like the dieters are seen,
His two foxy dogs, Dan and Towser, and the leaf of an old magazine;
The Life of Cock-Robin, in tatters, and The Cab-Drivers' Rules And The Laws,
And a razor all rusty and battered for to plough a canal thru your jaw.
Hurrah for Grandfather O'Brien, I wish he was living, och sure,
And every day he'd be dying, he would leave me ten times as much more.
Published in Burke's Ballads, p.58, c.1960, compiled by John White and archived at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Libraries, Centre For Newfoundland Studies - Digitized Books collection.
