Sullivan’s John, to the road you’ve gone
Far away from your native home
You’ve gone with the tinker’s daughter
All along the road to roam
Sullivan’s John, you won’t stick it long
Till your belly will soon get slack
You’ll be goin’ the road with a mighty load
And a tootle box on your back

I met Cathie Coffee with her neat baby
T’was behind on her back strapped long
She’d an aul ash plant in her hand
For to drive her donkey on
Inquirin’ at every farmer’s house
As along the road she passed
Ahha, where would she get an aul pot to mend
Or where would she swap her ass

There’s a hairy ass fair in the County Clare
In a place they call Spancillhill
Where my brother James got a rap of the hames
And poor Paddy they tried to kill
They loaded him up on an ass and cart
While Kate and Big Mary looked on
Ah, bad luck to the day that I went away
To join with the tinker band

from The Pecker Dunne