Tommy Makem – Red Haired Mary lyrics

While going to the fair of Dingle
One fine morning last July
While going up the road before me
A red haired girl I chanced to spy

I went up to her, says I "Young lady
My donkey he will carry two
But seeing as how you have a donkey
To the Dingle fair I'll ride with you"

Now, when we reached the town of Dingle
I took her hand to say goodbye
When a tinker man stepped up beside me
And he belted me in my left eye

Chorus:
Keep your hands off red haired Mary
Her and I will soon be wed
We'll see the priest this very morning
And tonight we'll lie in a married bed

Now, I was feeling kind of peevish
And my poor old eye was sad and sore
So I tapped him gently with my hobnail
And he fell back through Murphy's door

A policeman came around the corner
And he told me I had broke the law
Then, the donkey kicked him in the kneecap
And he fell down and broke his jaw

Then he went off to find his brother
The hot biggest man you ever did meet
And he gently tapped me with his knuckles
And I was minus two front teeth

The red haired girl, she kept on smiling
"I'll go with you young man" she said
"We'll forget the priest this very morning
And tonight we'll lie in Murphy's shed"

(last two lines of chorus):
We'll forget the priest this very morning
And tonight we'll lie in Murphy's shed

Now, through the town we rode together
My black eye and her red hair
Smiling gaily at the tinkers
And by God, we were a handsome pair

(last two lines of chorus):
We'll forget the priest this very morning
And tonight we'll lie in Murphy's shed