Fair Nelly

Oh Fair Nelly my darling, and Fair Neillí my dear,
If you would come with me to the pleasant wood of nuts
I’d give you the pleasures of the big town which would lift your heart
And riding in carriages through the roads of Ballyboy.

‘Tis a pity I’m not in Monaghan and me a cloth merchant,
With my Fair Neillí by my side, I long for that day,
If she paid the bar bill I’d hit the counter myself
And I’d spend the tab on my fair curly-haired one.

I’ll go over to Flanders and abandon my family,
Over to the East Indies and my love will cease
You won’t see me anymore oh gentle, handsone girl,
And other men will be kissing my fair-haired flower

I’ll cut a rod of rowan with a turn on top of it
And I’ll tie my Fair Neillí tighly to its centre
There is not a knot that I’d tie that would ever be released
And my gentle comrade I bid you farewell

I’m a long time in this town, a year and three days
The likes of my Neillí I could not hope to find
When I’d call for a strong drink, Neillí would pay the bill
And I’d swim Loch Erne with my fair, gentle handsome girl

Oh dear woman of the house my heart is dying with thirst
Oh landlady, my darling, bring a fine filled quart to me
Here’s a golden guinea on the counter for you to pay for the damage
While I drink to the health of my sweet lass and her fair hair.

One Sunday afternoon a disaster befell me.
My young girl was married before I could get there
All the doctors of Ireland would not cure my case
You, most sweet, have betrayed me, oh pearl of the fair hair.

If I had a long white pipe ‘tis tobaco I’d put in it
A bottle of whiskey and a barrel full of ale
If I had toe-bits on my heels or soles on the bottom
I’d be each Sunday evening in the place where she’d be found