Muirsheen Durkin

Lyrics

In the days I went a courting, I was never tired of sporting To the alehouse and the playhouse and many's the house besides, So I told me brother Seamus I'd go off and go right famous And before I'd return again I'd roam the whole world wide.

Chorus So goodbye, Muirsheen Durkin, I'm sick and tired of working, No more I'll dig the praties, no longer I'll be poor. For as sure as me name is Carney I'll be off to California, where instead of digging praties I'll be digging lumps of gold.

I've courted girls in Blarney, in Kanturk, and in Killarney In Passage, and in Queenstown--that is, the Cobh of Cork. But goodbye to all this pleasure, for I'm going to take me leisure And the next time that you hear from me Will be a letter from New York.

Goodbye to all the boys at home, I'm sailing far across the foam To try to make me fortune in far America, For there's silver there aplenty for the poor man and the gentry And when I do come back again I never more will stray.

"Muirsheen Durkin" is a traditional Irish folk song about emigration, although atypically optimistic for the genre. The name "Muirsheen" is a good phonetic approximation to the pronunciation of "Máirtín" (Martin) in the West of Ireland; it could alternatively be construed as a diminutive of "Muiris" (Maurice). A pratie is a potato, the historical staple crop of Ireland. "America" is pronounced "Americay", to rhyme with "stray", "away", etc.

Recordings

* Four to the Bar on their live album Craic on the Road.

* The Pogues
* The Vandon Arms
* The Irish Rovers (as "Goodbye Mrs. Durkin")

* The Dubliners
* The Poxy Boggards
* Golden Bough

The Irish Rovers made several changes to the lyrics:
*Retitled to "Goodbye Mrs. Durkin"
*"I was never tired resortin'"
*"and the other house besides", suggesting a "house of ill repute"
*"as sure as my name is Barney"
*"I'll write you from New York", which fits the meter better
*Includes some lyrics contained in the song "Molly Durkin"

ee also

*"Molly Durkin"