Song Information

Song Title

The Piper of Connemara

Song Lyrics

There once was a piper in old Connemara,
He had but one eye and his name was O’Hara,
And och! when he played all the people cried “Arrah,
There’s nothing to equal it, not in the land!”

His tunes did ye good like a physic or dinner,
Made thin people fat and made fat people thinner;
They’d soften the heart of the hardest old sinner,
Bring a laugh to your lips or the tears to your eyes.

At everyone’s funeral, weddin’ or christenin’,
O’Hara was there with his one eye a-glistenin’,
And folk gathered round all laughin’ and listenin’,
For Paddy O’Hara could beat any band.

But alas, Paddy played with such mighty persistence,
One day he flew up in the air quite a distance,
And piped himself clean out of mortal existence,
At least so I’m told if it isn’t all lies.

Song First Line

There once was a piper in Old Connemara

Chords In Text

ABC notation exported from Musescore:

X:1
T:The piper of Connemara
C:Irish folk song
L:1/8
Q:3/8=80
M:6/8
I:linebreak $
K:D
V:1 treble-8
V:1
A | ded cBA | ded f!fermata!aA | ded cBA | ded f!fermata!ad | ggg fff | efd cBA | ded cBA | %8
ABc d3 |] %9

Chord Tab

Link to Song

Comments

This song, which I learned from my primary schoolteachers, is undocumented as far as I know.

It’s interesting because of its subject: our piper “had but one eye”, his tunes “made thin people fat and made fat people thinner”, he “could beat any band”.  Paddy was obviously in a very high state.

I hope I’ve used the sections above to convey the tune correctly.