Nelson's Farewell - The Dubliners
Composer: Joe Dolan
Commemorates the blowing up of Nelsons column in Dublin in 1966.
From the album "Finnegan Wakes" released as the Dubliners first single.
Intro - tin whistle plys part of The British Grenadiers:
D A D A D
#1
D
Oh, poor old Admiral Nelson is no longer in the air.
D A7 D
Toora loora loora loora loo!
D
On the eighth day of March in Dublin City fair,
D A7 D
Toora loora loora loora loo!
D A7
From his stand of stones and mortar
A7
He fell crashing through the quarter,
A7 D
Where once he stood so stiff and proud and rude.
D G
So let's sing our celebration,
G
It's a service to the nation.
D A7 D
So poor old Admiral Nelson, toora loo!
#2:
D
Oh, fifty pounds of geliganite it sped him on his way,
D A7 D
Toora loora loora loora loo!
D
And the lad that laid the charge, we're in debt to him today.
D A7 D
Toora loora loora loora loo!
D A7
In Trafalgar Square it might be fair
A7
To leave old Nelson standing there
A7 D
But no one tells the Irish what they'll view.
D G
So the Dublin Corporation
G
Can stop deliberation
D A7 D
For the boys of Ireland showed them what to do!
#3:
D
For a hundred and fifty-seven years it stood up there in state
D A7 D
Toora loora loora loora loo!
D
To mark old Nelson's victory o'er the French and Spanish fleet,
D A7 D
Toora loora loora loora loo!
D A7
But one-thirty in the morning,
A7
Without a bit of warning,
A7 D
Old Nelson took a powder and he blew!
D G
Now at last the Irish nation
G
Has Parnell in higher station
D A7 D
Than poor old Admiral Nelson, toora loo!
#4:
D
Oh the Russians and the Yanks, with lunar probes they play,
D A7 D
Toora loora loora loora loo!
D
And I hear the French are trying hard to make up lost headway,
D A7 D
Toora loora loora loora loo!
D A7
But now the Irish join the race,
A7
We have an astronaut in space,
A7 D
Ireland, boys, is now a world power too!
D G
So let's sing our celebration,
G
It's a service to the nation.
D A7 D
So poor old Admiral Nelson, toora loo!
Outro (tin whistle plays Rule Brittania):
D G D G D Em D A D Em D G D A D