{"id":1768,"date":"2008-03-17T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-17T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beerbellyband.com\/oreilly-and-the-big-mcneill"},"modified":"2008-03-17T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-03-17T11:00:00","slug":"oreilly-and-the-big-mcneill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beerbellyband.com\/en\/oreilly-and-the-big-mcneill\/","title":{"rendered":"O’Reilly and the Big McNeill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Irish traditional song lyrics \u2014 collected by Beer Belly Band.<\/em><\/p>\n

The day I met O’Reilly it was 32 below;
\nThe sparks were flying off me pick, I was up to me neck in snow.
\nHis footsteps shook the basement slab, I saw the sky go black
\nAs he roared out, “I’m your ganger now, so dig until you crack.”<\/p>\n

He was bigger than a dumper truck with legs like concrete piles,
\nHis face was like a load of bricks, his teeth were six inch files.
\nHis eyes, they shone like danger lamps, his hands were tough as steel,
\nBut a man as small as that was never a match for Big McNeill.<\/p>\n

When tea came round at dinner-time, he grabbed a gallon tin,
\nBut I said, “Better put that down, if you would save your skin.
\nYou may be called O’Reilly but I will to you reveal
\nThat the cup you’ve got your hands on, it belongs to Big McNeill.”<\/p>\n

Well, he laughed at me and carried on as if I hadn’t spoke.
\nHe said, “A man from Dublin Town can always take a joke.”
\nBut when he picked a shovel up, wee Jimmy gave a squeal (em
\n“You’d better leave that teaspoon, it belongs to Big McNeill.”<\/p>\n

Well, everything the ganger touched we said to leave alone,
\nOr else McNeill would grind him up and make plaster of his bones.
\nAt last O’Reilly lost his head and said he’d make a meal
\nOut of any labourer in the squad, especially Big McNeill.<\/p>\n

We said McNeill was sick in bed and told him where to go.
\nThe boys all downed their tools and went along to watch the show,
\nAnd when we got to Renfrew Street, wee Jimmy danced a reel,
\nTo see him thundering at the door to fight the Big McNeill.<\/p>\n

When the ganger got inside he saw a monster on the bed,
\nA mound as big as a stanchion base with a barrel size of head.
\nHe punched it and he thumped it and he hit about with zeal,
\n‘Til the missus cried: “Don’t hurt the child, or else I’ll tell McNeill.”<\/p>\n

He was bigger than a dumper truck
\nWith legs like concrete piles,
\nHis face was like a load of bricks,
\nHis teeth were six inch files,
\nHis eyes, they shone like danger lamps,
\nHis hands were tough as steel,
\nBut a man as small as that was never
\nA match for Big McNeill.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The day I met O’Reilly it was 32 below; The sparks were flying off me pick, I was up to me neck in snow. His footsteps shook the basement slab, I saw the s<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[28,27],"class_list":["post-1768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lyrics","tag-beer-belly-band","tag-irish-lyrics"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"trp-custom-language-flag":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"beerbellycollection","author_link":"https:\/\/beerbellyband.com\/en\/author\/beerbellycollection\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The day I met O'Reilly it was 32 below; The sparks were flying off me pick, I was up to me neck in snow. His footsteps shook the basement slab, I saw the s","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beerbellyband.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beerbellyband.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beerbellyband.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beerbellyband.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beerbellyband.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/beerbellyband.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1768\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beerbellyband.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beerbellyband.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beerbellyband.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}