Thady Quill

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Lyrics
Ye maids of Duhallow who're anxious for courting
A word of advice I will give unto ye
Proceed to Banteer to the athletic sporting
And hand in your names to the club committee
And never commence any skits on your programme
Till the carriage you see flying over the hill
Right down through the valleys and glens of Kilcorney
With our own darling sportsman the bold Thady Quill

(Chorus):
For ramblin', for rovin', for football' or courtin'
For drinkin' black porter as fast as you'd fill
In all your days rovin' you'll find none so jovial
As our Muskerry sportsman, the bold Thady Quill


Thady was famous in all sorts of places
At the athletic meeting held out in Cloghroe
He won the long jump without throwing off his braces
Going fifty-four feet every sweep he would throw
At the putting of the weight there was a Dublin man foremost
But Thady outreached and exceeded him still
And around the whole field rang the wild ringing chorus
Here's luck to our hero, the bold Thady Quill

(Chorus)

In the year ninety-one before Parnell was taken
Thade was outrageously breaking the peace
He got a light sentence for causing commotion
And six months' hard labour for batin' police
But in spite of coercion he's still agitating
Every drop of his life's blood he's willing to spill
To gain for old Ireland complete liberation
Till then there's no rest for me, says bold Thady Quill

(Chorus)

At the great hurling match between Cork and Tipperary
('Twas played in the park on the banks of the Lee)
Our own darling boys were afraid of being beaten
So they sent for bold Thady to Ballinagree
He hurled the ball right and left in their faces
And showed the Tipp-rary men bravery and skill
If they touched on his lines then he swore he would brain them
And the papers were full in their praise of Thade Quill

(Chorus)

At the Cork Exhibition there was a fair lady
Whose fortune exceeded a thousand or more
But a bad constitution had ruined her completely
And medical treatment had failed o'er and o'er
Yerra Mother, says she, sure I know what will ease me
And cure this disease that is threatning kill
Give over your doctors and medical treatment
I'd rather one squeeze out of bold Thady Quill

(Chorus)

Thady Quill is a popular traditional Irish song. The song is ironic as it was written about an individual living in County Cork who was actually far from heroic. It is recorded by The Clancy Brothers on their album Come Fill Your Glass with Us.

In reality, the ballad "The Bould Thady Quill" was composed by Johnny Tom Gleeson around 1895 and first put to paper in 1905. Johnny Tom Gleeson (1853-1924) was a farmer who lived near Rylane, County Cork. He fancied himself a poet/balladeer, lampooning many of his neighbors and acquaintances.

Timothy "Thady" Quill (c.1860-1932) was a poor labourer and occasional cattle jobber, who, owning no land nor house, did odd-jobs for the local farmers in the Duhallow vicinity of Kanturk. Thady, although a burly man, was no athlete, and sleeping in barns did not endear him to the ladies - he died a bachelor, as did Johnny Tom. Johnny Tom had Thady do some work for him, and, instead of paying him (Johnny Tom was known as tight), he "immortalized" Thady with this ballad, which pleased Thady to no end. (See one version of the ballad with music in "Soodlum's Irish Ballad Book" published by Oak Publications, London, England, 1982, and another in "Comic Songs of Cork and Kerry" by James N. Healy, published by Mercier Press, 1978.)

Reference: "Johnny Tom Gleeson" written by James A. Chisman and published by The Three Spires Press, Cork, Ireland, 1994.

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