Van Langen

Johnny jump up

Van Langen


I´ll tell you a story that happened to me 
One day as I went down to Youghal by the sea, 
The sun it was bright and the day it was warm 
Says I „a quiet pint wouldn´t do me no harm. 
I went in and I called for a bottle of Stout 
Says the barman „I´m sorry all the beer is sold out, 
Try whisky or Paddy ten years in the wood" 
Says I „I´ll try the cider, I hear that it´s good". 

REF: Oh never oh never oh never again 
If I live to a hundred or a hundred and ten! 
I fell to the floor and I couldn´t get up 
After drinking a quart of the Johnny Jump Up. 

After leaving the third I went to the yard 
Where I bumped into Brophy the big civic guard. 
„Come here to me boy, don´t you know I´m the law?" 
I upped with my fist and I shattered his jaw. 

He fell to the ground with his knees doubled up 
But it wasn´t I hit him, it was Johnny Jump Up. 
The next thing I met down in Youghal by the sea 
Was a cripple on cruches and he says to me: 

„I´m afraid of my life, I´ll be hit by a horse, 
Won´t you help me across to the Railway Man´s bar?" 
After drinking a quart of the cider so sweet 
He threw down his crutches and he danced in the street. 

REF: Oh never oh never oh never again..... 

I went to the Lee Road friends for to see, 
They call it the madhouse in Cork by the Lee. 
But when I got up there the truth I do tell, 
They had the poor beggar locked up in a cell. 

Said the guard testing him „say these words if you can - 
Around the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran". 
Tell them I´m not crazy, tell them I´m not mad, 
It was only a drop of the cider I had. 

REF: Oh never oh never oh never again..... 

A man died in the Union by the name of Mac Nabb. 
They washed him and laid him outside on a slab 
And after O`Connor his measurements did take, 
His wife took him home for a bloody fine wake. 

About twelve o´clock and the beer it was high, 
When the corpse he sat up and he says with a sigh: 
„I can´t get to heaven, they won´t let me up 
`Till I bring them a quart of the Johnny Jump Up 

REF: Oh never oh never oh never again...