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THE AULD TRIANGLE

TRIANGLE.MP3 (472K)

A hungry feeling
Came o'er me stealing
And the mice were squealing
In my prison cell
And that auld triangle went jingle-jangle
All along the banks of the Royal Canal

Oh! To start the morning
The warden bawling
"Get up out of bed, you! And clean out your cell!"
And that auld triangle went jingle-jangle
All along the banks of the Royal Canal

Oh! the screw was peeping
And the (lag|loike) was sleeping
As he lay weeping
For his girl Sal
And that auld triangle went jingle-jangle
All along the banks of the Royal Canal

On a fine Spring evening
The (lag|loike) lay dreaming
And the sea-gulls were wheeling
High above the wall
And that auld triangle went jingle-jangle
All along the banks of the Royal Canal

Oh! the wind was sighing
And the day was dying
As the (lag|loike) lay crying
In his prison cell
And that auld triangle went jingle-bloody-jangle
All along the banks of the Royal Canal

In the women's prison
There are seventy women
And I wish it was with them
That I did dwell
Then that auld triangle could go jingle-jangle
All along the banks of the Royal Canal


NOTE: Long ago Tommy told me the word being used is "Loike" (sounds like "like") and is Irish prison slang for a new fish (e.g. a new inmate). But because nothing is ever simple, controversy erupted in April of 2003. frontusa (clearly someone that takes their Brendan Behan lyrics seriously) wrote to say:

The word is not "loike" nor "like" nor does "like" mean a "new fish". The original lyric, as written by Brendan Behan, was "lag". "Tommy" is mistaken.

"Lag" is Dublin (Ireland) slang to mean a prisoner doing (usually) a five-year stretch (or longer).

Links:

Thanks also go to Mike Benchoff for correcting several typo's and missed words. 


copyright B. Behan

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