Oh, the night before Larry was stretched
|
Well the boys they all paid him a visit
|
A bit in their sacks too they fetched
|
For they sweated their duds till they rivered
|
For Larry was always the lad
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When a boy was condemned to the Squeezer
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Would fence all the duds that he had
|
For to help his poor friend to a sneezer -
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- And warm his own god 'fore he died
|
|
Well the boys they came crowding in fast
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And they threw all their stools 'round about him
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Six glims round his trap-case was placed
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For he couldn't be well-waked without them
|
|
When one of them asked, "Could he die
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Without having duly repented?"
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Said Larry, "That's all in the eye
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And first by the clergy invented -
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- For to get a fat lid for themselves"
|
|
Oh and Algie cut up like a pie:
|
"I may not from me buddy be parted."
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"You're in the wrong box, then, says I,
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For bless me if they're so hard-hearted
|
|
"A chalk on the back of your neck
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Is all that Jack Catch does to give you
|
Then mind not such trifle's effect
|
Oh why should the likes of them grieve you? -
|
- And now boys, come tip us the deck."
|
|
Well the cards being called for they played
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Until Larry found one of them cheated
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[?] A godflew was napperly made [?]
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For the boy he being easily heated
|
|
"Oh, hold me the hokey, you thief!
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I'll scuffle your knob with me dardle!
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You cheat me because I'm in grief
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Ah, but soon I'll be molish and muddle -
|
- And leave you your claret to drink"
|
|
Then the clergy came in with his boon
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And he spoke him so smooth and so civil
|
Larry tipped him A Kilmaven wink
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And he pitched his big wig to the devil
|
|
Then sighing he threw back his head
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For to get a sweet drop of the bottle
|
And dutiful sighing he said,
|
"Oh the hemp 'twill be soon 'round me throttle -
|
- And choke me poor windpipe to death.
|
|
"Oh then sure it's the best way to die
|
[?] Oh the dead are the better the living [?]
|
For now in the gallows is hiding
|
A journey that's surely to heaven."
|
|
But what harasses Larry the most
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And makes his soul poor melancholy
|
Is he thinks of the time when his ghost
|
It will come in a sheet to Sweet Molly -
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- "Oh sure, it'll kill her alive"
|
|
So moving, these last words he spoke
|
We all vented our tears in a shower
|
For me own part I thought me heart broke
|
For to see him cut down like a flower
|
|
On his travels we watched him next day
|
The throttler I thought I could kill him
|
But Larry not one word did say
|
Nor change did he come to King William -
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- And mutter, "His color be White."
|
|
When he came to the old Dublin Shed
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He was tucked up so neat and so pretty
|
[?] The rumbler jumped far from his feet [?]
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And he died with his face to the city
|
|
He came to, but that was all pride
|
For soon you might see 'twas all over
|
Soon after the noose was untied
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In darkness we waked him in clover -
|
- And sent him to take his ground sweat
|
|
Oh, the night before Larry was stretched
|
Well the boys they all paid him a visit
|
A bit in their sacks too they fetched
|
For they sweated their duds till they rivered
|
|
For Larry was always the lad
|
When a boy was condemned to the Squeezer
|
Would fence all the duds that he had
|
For to help his poor friend to a sneezer -
|
- And warm his own god 'fore he died
|
- And warm his own god 'fore he died
|
|
-----------------
|
The Night Before Larry Was Stretched
|
| Elvis Costello |
