The Little Beggarman
© 2007 by Paul Espinoza,
Forest Moon Music, BMI, all rights reserved

I am a little beggarman and begging I have been,
For three score or more in this little isle of green.
I'm known from the Liffey down to Segue,
And I go by the name of old Johnny Dhu.
Of all the trade's that's going, sure begging is the best,
For when a man is tired, he can sit down and rest.
He can beg for his dinner, if he’s nothing else to do,
Only cut around the corner with his old rig-a-doo.

 I slept in the barn, down in Caurabawn,
The wet night came on and I slept 'till the dawn.
With holes in the roof and the rain coming through,
And the rats and the cats, they were playing peek-a-boo.
When who did I waken but the woman of the house,
With her white spotty apron and her calico blouse
She began to frighten and I said "boo,
Aarah, don't you be afraid mum it's only Johnny Dhu"

 I met a little flaxen-haired girl one day,
"Good morning little flaxen-haired girl" I did say.
"Good morning little beggarman, a how do you do,
With your rags and your tags and your old rig-a-doo."
I'll buy a pair of leggings, a collar and a tie,
And a nice young lady I'll fetch by and by.
I'll buy a pair of goggles and I'll color them blue,
An old fashioned lady I will make her too .

 Over the hills with my pack on my back,
Over the fields with my great heavy sack,
With holes in my shoes and my toes peeping through,
Singing skinny-me-rink a doodle o and me old rig-a-doo.
Now I must be going to bed for it's getting late at night,
The fire's all raked and out goes the light
So now you've heard the story of my old rig-a-doo,
So good-bye and God be with you says old Johnny Dhu

Copyright © 1998 - 2007 by Golden Bough, Inc.