Characters Around Town
Recently I picked up another Dubliners disc. The most fascinating song to me was one called, "The Mero".
Somebody`s under the bed
Whoever can it be?
I feel so very nervous
I call for Joanee
Joanee lights the candle
But there's nobody there
Hey! Hi! Diddeleedai
And out goes she
Skipping rope still turning
Children at their play
In and out of Clarendon Street
In and out to pray
I haven't prayed for twenty years
Or sung a happy song
Since praying went with innocence
And the devil played along
And we all went up to the Mero
Hey there! Who's your man?
It's only Johnny '40 coats'
Sure he's a desperate man
Bang, bang shoots the buses
With his golden key
Hey! Hi! Diddeleedai
And out goes she
Me father was a stater
And me mother loved a tan
She loved her Hafner's sausages
And her soldier fancy man
Noel's up in Jacob's
And Mary's on the town
And I joined the transport union
When they said my nose was brown
And we all went up to the Mero
Hey there! Who's your man
It's Alfie Byrne out walking
Sure he's a decent man
Bang, bang shoots the buses
With his golden key
Hey! Hi! Diddeleedai
And out goes she
I've a tanner for the Mero
And me confo money's hid
If Mary's in the family way
She can blame the Cisco kid
I'll be langers in the morning
Me longers need a patch
Ah, Jesus! There's lone' Martin
I hope he's won the match
Me uncle had a wolfhound
That never had to pee
But Hairy Lemon snatched it
Down on Eden quay
Now I have me primo
And me scapulars are blue
For helping the black babies
And Dolly Fossett too
And we all went up to the Mero
Hey there! Who's your man?
It's Brendan Behan out walking
Sure he's a ginger man
Bang, bang shoots the buses
With his golden key
Hey! Hi! Diddeleedai
And out goes she
It's true that Dublin's changing
Since the pillar was blown down
By the winds of violence
That are buggering up the town
We used to solve a difference
With a digging match and a jar
But now they're all playing bang-bang
That's going too bleeding far
And we all go up to the Mero
Hey there! Who's your man?
It's only me guardian angel
Get a large one for your man
There's no use bleedin` Russia
Sure now it's the holy hour
A plenary indulgence
And another baby power
Commentators have been known to observe that the Irish make more use of the English language than the English. This gives some challenges in vocabulary sometimes but it makes the texture very rich. The words are credited to Pete St. John, but some of the words may be lifted from earlier songs.
The Mero is a district in Dublin. The song describes a series of well-known characters around the city. Bang-Bang, whose real name was Thomas Dudley wandered about Dublin waving a gold-coloured key and he would pretend to shoot people with it. Now we might reasonably fear he would be tasered if not shot. In the 1950's and '60's, people merely returned "fire" with their fingers, sometimes while riding the buses. Similarly, Johnny forty-coats was another well-known character.
The song is not just about identifying with a city full of characters it is that these unusual folks were part of life in the city. People loved them. Sometimes in our drive for inclusion we seem to want to whitewash everything that smacks of emotion or eccentricity. A lot of that stuff gets clinicalized. We are too easily offended or are unwilling to find out more about the person who may at first appear prickly or not "like us". And yet some of these characters become icons of vitality. They can show us how to live. Because they find life so challenging their willingness to find life even at the cost of being different should be a breath of fresh air for us. Inclusion is not achieved through a policy, it happens by choosing to be in relationship with each other.
The song includes some lament that life has become meaner and that there is no longer the same place for the eccentrics of the city. While we hurry about we may have to work harder to find that texture. As each of us is made in the image of God, it is more than worth it. You can easily find the song being sung by the Dubliners of YouTube.
Somebody`s under the bed
Whoever can it be?
I feel so very nervous
I call for Joanee
Joanee lights the candle
But there's nobody there
Hey! Hi! Diddeleedai
And out goes she
Skipping rope still turning
Children at their play
In and out of Clarendon Street
In and out to pray
I haven't prayed for twenty years
Or sung a happy song
Since praying went with innocence
And the devil played along
And we all went up to the Mero
Hey there! Who's your man?
It's only Johnny '40 coats'
Sure he's a desperate man
Bang, bang shoots the buses
With his golden key
Hey! Hi! Diddeleedai
And out goes she
Me father was a stater
And me mother loved a tan
She loved her Hafner's sausages
And her soldier fancy man
Noel's up in Jacob's
And Mary's on the town
And I joined the transport union
When they said my nose was brown
And we all went up to the Mero
Hey there! Who's your man
It's Alfie Byrne out walking
Sure he's a decent man
Bang, bang shoots the buses
With his golden key
Hey! Hi! Diddeleedai
And out goes she
I've a tanner for the Mero
And me confo money's hid
If Mary's in the family way
She can blame the Cisco kid
I'll be langers in the morning
Me longers need a patch
Ah, Jesus! There's lone' Martin
I hope he's won the match
Me uncle had a wolfhound
That never had to pee
But Hairy Lemon snatched it
Down on Eden quay
Now I have me primo
And me scapulars are blue
For helping the black babies
And Dolly Fossett too
And we all went up to the Mero
Hey there! Who's your man?
It's Brendan Behan out walking
Sure he's a ginger man
Bang, bang shoots the buses
With his golden key
Hey! Hi! Diddeleedai
And out goes she
It's true that Dublin's changing
Since the pillar was blown down
By the winds of violence
That are buggering up the town
We used to solve a difference
With a digging match and a jar
But now they're all playing bang-bang
That's going too bleeding far
And we all go up to the Mero
Hey there! Who's your man?
It's only me guardian angel
Get a large one for your man
There's no use bleedin` Russia
Sure now it's the holy hour
A plenary indulgence
And another baby power
Commentators have been known to observe that the Irish make more use of the English language than the English. This gives some challenges in vocabulary sometimes but it makes the texture very rich. The words are credited to Pete St. John, but some of the words may be lifted from earlier songs.
The Mero is a district in Dublin. The song describes a series of well-known characters around the city. Bang-Bang, whose real name was Thomas Dudley wandered about Dublin waving a gold-coloured key and he would pretend to shoot people with it. Now we might reasonably fear he would be tasered if not shot. In the 1950's and '60's, people merely returned "fire" with their fingers, sometimes while riding the buses. Similarly, Johnny forty-coats was another well-known character.The song is not just about identifying with a city full of characters it is that these unusual folks were part of life in the city. People loved them. Sometimes in our drive for inclusion we seem to want to whitewash everything that smacks of emotion or eccentricity. A lot of that stuff gets clinicalized. We are too easily offended or are unwilling to find out more about the person who may at first appear prickly or not "like us". And yet some of these characters become icons of vitality. They can show us how to live. Because they find life so challenging their willingness to find life even at the cost of being different should be a breath of fresh air for us. Inclusion is not achieved through a policy, it happens by choosing to be in relationship with each other.
The song includes some lament that life has become meaner and that there is no longer the same place for the eccentrics of the city. While we hurry about we may have to work harder to find that texture. As each of us is made in the image of God, it is more than worth it. You can easily find the song being sung by the Dubliners of YouTube.
