Cifra Club

Irish Ballad

Tom Lehrer

Chord: Principal (acoustic and electric guitars)
Cifra Club Seal: This chord has been reviewed to meet the official criteria of our Quality Team.
key: Dm
 Dm                F                            C               Dm
About a maid, I'll sing a song             Sing rickety tickety tin
 Dm                C                 F       C        Dm
About a maid, I'll sing a song   Who didn't have her family long
    F     C      Dm      F                   C                     Dm
Not only did she do them wrong           She did every one of them in,
     C       F         C           Dm
Them in, She did every one of them in

[Verse 2]
    Dm           F                   C              Dm
One morning in a fit of pique, Sing rickety tickety tin
    Dm           C                 F           C             Dm
One morning in a fit of pique, she drowned her father in the creek
    F     C      Dm        F             C                   Dm
The water tasted bad for a week    So we had to make do with gin
     C       F      C            Dm
With gin, we had to make do with gin

[Verse 3]
    Dm               F                 C               Dm
Her mother she could never stand, Sing rickety tickety tin
    Dm               C                F            C        Dm
Her mother she could never stand, and so a cyanide soup she planned
    F      C           Dm           F              C                 Dm
The mother died with a spoon in her hand,  and her face in a hideous grin
  C         F         C       Dm
A grin, her face in a hideous grin

[Verse 4]
    Dm                   F                      C               Dm
She weighted her brother down with stones, Sing rickety tickety tin
    Dm           C                 F           C               Dm
She weighted her brother down with stones, and sent him off to Davey Jones
    F        C         Dm              F            C                    Dm
And all that they ever found were some bones,   and occasional pieces of skin
   C       F        C         Dm
Of skin, occasional pieces of skin


[Verse 5]
    Dm               F                  C               Dm
She set her sister's hair on fire, Sing rickety tickety tin
    Dm               C                 f      C         Dm
She set her sister's hair on fire, and as the smoke and flames rose higher
 F      C         Dm      F       C                Dm
Danced around the funeral pyre,   playing the vi-o-lin
  C     F           C  Dm   
o-lin,  playing the violin

[Verse 6]
    Dm               F                   C               Dm    
One day when she had nothing to do, Sing rickety tickety tin
    Dm               C                  F       C               Dm
One day when she had nothing to do, she cut her baby brother in two
    F          C        Dm    F          C                        Dm
And served him up as an Irish stew,  and invited the neighbors in,
     C       F         C        Dm
Bors in,  Invited the neighbors in

[Verse 7]
    Dm                 F                  C               Dm
And when at last the police came by, Sing rickety tickety tin
    Dm                 C                 F       C                  Dm
And when at last the police came by, her foolish pranks she did not deny
       F         C          F               C                     Dm
For to do so she would have had to lie, and lying she knew was a sin
  C    F         C          Dm
A sin, lying she knew was a sin

[Verse 8]
   Dm            F                   C               Dm
My tragic tale I won't prolong, Sing rickety tickety tin
   Dm            C                  F      C       Dm
My tragic tale I won't prolong, and if you did not enjoy my song
    F      C         Dm          F       C                Dm        
You've yourselves to blame if it was too long, you should never have let me
     C            F      C         Dm
begin, Begin, you should never have let me begin
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