Matty Songtext
von Christy Moore

Maddy went out on a frozen night
Making for the pub, shoulders hunched up tight
His head down on the railroad track
And his old cow Delia sat low in back

He met with a dark and a troubled man
As he passed him by, called back at him
"Hey Maddy, can′t you see what's become of me
In this country of the blind?
The house I′ve left is dead to me
To my rhyming and my poetry
All I've got is the beat of the stagger
Heading down the Curragh Line"

But Maddy passed on as quick as he could
He couldn't stand such a crooked man sober
All he wanted was the lights of the bar
The Nightingale and the Wild Roar


When he came in they were saying, "Oh, he′s back"
"Oh, Delia, drive you out with your spouting and your swearing
We don′t want to hear about bunkerheading
Maybe you'll sing us ′The Girls of Kincane'"

The fire and tea eyed him steadily
Handed him a pint of porter
"You must have seen the Bishop′s ghost tonight
To put the dry look back in your eye"

But Maddy would not be taken in
By their jibing under a gallon
He found himself a fresh-blown crule
Fell in with their sporting and their bailing

As he was going home, in the very same spot
He met with his dark familiar
He seen him coming back down the line
He was bright and strange and fine
As he passed him by, Maddy threw out his arms
Tried to grab hold of his likeness

In the morning they found his frozen corpse
At the Butt of the Curragh Line

At the wake they were lashing out the drops of brandy
The old-fashioned habit
In the church they were lashing down pounds and fivers