A point, Bill.
Max: that difficulty of reading the Wake, at least more than one page at a time…
And the ballad is fun, but I need the music I suspect….
Doug
On Nov 21, 2014, at 7:56 PM, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I laughed, Max. Hope your friend in Dunedin eschewed the glue component. Might I suggest the lack of response thus far is due to your too-early posting. Come December, it's bound to better received.
>
> Bill
>
>
>> On 22 Nov 2014, at 2:53 am, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> My friend in Dunedin - his childhood was spent near Belfast - has been preparing the family Christmas cake with the ingredients below,
>> and kindly forwards me his inspiration.
>>
>> Season’s greetings from Max in Seattle
>>
>> MISS HOOLIGAN’S CHRISTMAS CAKE
>>
>> As I sat at my windy one evening,
>> The letter man brought unto me
>> A little gilt edged invitation,
>> Saying, Gilhooly, come over to tea.
>> Sure I knew that the Hooligans sent it,
>> So I went just for old friendship’s sake,
>> And the first thing they gave me to tackle
>> Was a piece of Miss Hooligan’s cake.
>> Chorus:
>> There was plums and prunes and cherries,
>> Citron and raisins and cinnamon too,
>> There was nutmeg, cloves, and berries,
>> And the crust it was nailed on with glue.
>> There were carraway seeds in abundance,
>> Sure ‘twould build up a fine stomach-ache,
>> ‘Twould kill any man twice to be ‘ating a slice
>> Of Miss Hooligan’s Christmas cake.
>>
>> Miss Mulligan wanted to taste it,
>> But really there wasn’t no use,
>> They worked at it over an hour,
>> And they couldn’t get none of it loose.
>> Till Hooligan went for the hatchet,
>> And Killy came in with a saw,
>> That cake was enough, by the powers,
>> To paralyze any man’s jaw.
>> (Chorus)
>>
>> Mrs Hooligan, proud as a peacock,
>> Kept smiling and blinking away,
>> Till she fell over Flanigan’s brogans,
>> And spilled a whole brewing of tay.
>> ’Oh, Gilhooly,’ she cried, ‘you’re not ‘ating,
>> Try a little bit more for my sake,’
>> ’No, Mrs Hooligan,’ sez I,
>> ’But I’d like the resate of that cake.’ [receipt / recipe]
>> (Chorus)
>>
>> Maloney was took with the colic,
>> M’Nulty complained of his head,
>> M’Fadden lay down on the sofa,
>> And swore that he wished he was dead.
>> Miss Daly fell down in hysterics,
>> And there she did wriggle and shake,
>> While every man swore he was poisoned,
>> Through ‘ating Miss Hooligan’s cake.
>> (Chorus)
>
Douglas Barbour
[log in to unmask]
Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuation 2 (UofAPress).
Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
that we are only
as we find out we are
Charles Olson
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