Let Mr. McGuire Sit Down lyrics
The Irish RoversOh, me name is Mick McGuire and I'll quickly tell to you
Of a girl that I admired, she's Katy Donahue
Ah, she's fair and fat and forty and believe me when I say
Whenever I came through the door I could hear her mother say
"Johnny, get up from the fire, get up and give your man a sate
Can't you see it's Mick McGuire and he's courting your sister Kate
You know very well he owns a farm a wee bit out of the town
Arragh, get out of that, you impudent brat, and let Mr McGuire sit down"
Well, the first time that I met her was a dance at Tarmagee
When I very kindly asked her if she'd dance a step for me
I asked if I could take her home for she'd be on me way
Whenever I came through the door I could hear her mother say
"Johnny, get up from the fire, get up and give your man a sate
Can't you see it's Mick McGuire and he's courting your sister Kate
You know very well he owns a farm a wee bit out of the town
Arragh, get out of that, you impudent brat, and let Mr McGuire sit down"
And now that we are married, her mother changed her mind
All because I spent the money her father left behind
She hasn't got the decency to give me time of day
Whenever I came through the door I could hear her mother say
"Johnny, come up to the fire, come up, you're sitting in the draft
Can't you see it's old McGuire and he nearly drives me daft
Sure I don't know what gets in him, and he's always on the tare
So sit where you are and never you dare, give old McGuire the chair"
Diddle e dowdle-owdle-owdle-owdle diddle e owdle-owdle-ow
Diddle e dowdle-owdle-owdle-owdle diddle e owdle-owdle-ow
Sure I don't know what gets in him when he's always on the tare
So sit where you are and never you dare, give old McGuire the chair"
Song Details
Writer: Traditional
Brief: Fun ditty about a man who courts and marries a fair buxom woman in her forties named Katie Donahue who lived with her mother and brother Johnny. While courting, every time Mick would visit the mother would always beckon Johnny to move and let Mick sit down.
After Mick and Katie got married, he squandered all the money Katie's father had left her. Needless to say, her mothers attitude towards Mick changed and she no longer had the time of day for him.
References:
sate - archaic word for 'sit'
Arragh - an exclamation expressing emotion or excitement
tare - weed
daft - insane, crazy, mad
Category: Irish Folk Song
Covers: The Irish Rovers (featured), Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem, The Donnybrooks, The Wolfe Tones, Sean & John Doyle, Orthodox Celts ...
Album: Celtic Collection, The Next Thirty Years
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