• Song:

    The Little Beggarman

  • Artist:

    Dubliners

Chorus to be played after every section

A                                       D
I'm a little beggarman, a begging I have been
A                             G 
For three score years in this little isle of green
A                                   D            A
I'm known along the Liffey from the Basin to the Zoo
A                             E              A
And everybody calls me by the name of Johnny Dhu

Chorus
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Of all the trades a going, sure the begging is the best 
For when a man is tired he can sit him down and rest 
He can beg for dinner, he has nothing else to do 
But to slip around the corner with his old rigadoo
 
 
I slept in a barn one night in Currabawn 
A shocking wet night it was, but I slept until the dawn 
There was holes in the roof and the raindrops coming thru 
And the rats and the cats were a playing peek a boo
 
Who did I waken but the woman of the house 
With her white spotted apron and her calico blouse 
She began to frighten and I said boo 
Sure, don't be afraid at all, it's only Johnny Dhu
 
I met a little girl while a walkin out one day 
Good morrow little flaxen haired girl, I did say 
Good morrow little beggarman and how do you do 
With your rags and your tags and your auld rigadoo 

I'll buy a pair of leggins and a collar and a tie 
And a nice young lady I'll go courting by and by 
I'll buy a pair of goggles and I'll color them with blue 
And an old fashioned lady I will make her too 

So all along the high road with my bag upon my back 
Over the fields with my bulging heavy sack 
With holes in my shoes and my toes a peeping thru 
Singing, skin a ma rink a doodle with my auld rigadoo 

O I must be going to bed for it's getting late at night 
The fire is all raked and now tis out of light 
For now you've heard the story of my auld rigadoo 
So good and God be with you, from auld Johnny Dhu
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