Chords for Tom Lehrer: The Irish Ballad (studio solo) (1953)

[F] _ _ [Eb] _ [Bb] _ [F] _ _ [Bb] _ [F] _
_ [Eb] _ [F] _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ [Dm] _ [C] _ [Dm] _ _ _ _
[Dm] _ _ [Em] _ [F] _ [A] [Dm] About a maid I'll sing a song, sing [Gm] rickety [Dm] tickety tin.
[Gm] About a maid [Dm] I'll sing a song, who [C] didn't have [Dm] her family long.
Not [C] only did [Dm] she do [Gm] them wrong, [Dm] she did [C] every one [Dm] of them in.
[C] Them in, [Dm] she [C] did every [Dm] one of them [G] in.
[Dm] _ One morning in a fit of peak, sing [Gm] rickety [Dm] tickety tin.
[Gm] One morning [Dm] in a fit of peak, she [C] drowned her [Dm] father in the creek.
The [Gm] water tasted bad for a week, [Dm] and we [C] had to make do [Dm] with gin.
[C] With gin, [Dm] we had [C] to make [Dm] do with [G] gin.
[Dm] _ [C] Her [Dm] mother she could never stand, sing rickety tickety tin.
[Gm] Her mother [Dm] she could never stand, and so [Dm] a cyanide soup [D] she planned.
The [Bb] mother [Dm] died with a spoon in [Gm] her hand, and [Dm] her [C] face in a [Dm] hideous grin.
[C] A grin, [Dm] her [C] face in a [Dm] hideous grin.
_ [A] [Dm] She set her sister's hair on fire, [C] rickety [Dm] tickety tin.
She [Gm] set her sister's [Dm] hair on fire, and as the smoke and flame rose higher,
danced [C] around [Dm] the funeral [Gm] _ pyre, playing [C] a [Dm] violin.
[C] A violin, [Dm] [C] playing a [D] violin. _ _
[Dm] She waited her brother down with [Gm] stones, [Dm] rickety tickety tin.
[C] She waited [Dm] her brother [C] down with [C] stones, and [Dm] sent him off to [C] Davy [Dm] Jones.
[C] All they ever [Dm] found [Gm] were some bones, _ [Dm] and occasional [C] pieces [Dm] of skin.
[C] Of skin, [Dm] [C] occasional [Dm] pieces of skin.
[Em] _ [Dm] _ [Em] [Dm] One day when she had nothing to do, [G] rickety tickety [Dm] tin.
One day when she had nothing to do, she cut her [C] baby [Dm] brother in two,
and [C] served [Dm] him up as an Irish [Gm] stew, _ [Bb] and [C] invited [Dm] the neighbors in.
[C] _ [Dm] Invited [C] the [Dm] neighbors in.
_ [C] _
[F] _ [C] [Dm] And when at last the police came by, [Gm] rickety [Dm] tickety tin.
[Gm] And when at last [Dm] the police came by, her little [C] pranks she [Dm] did not deny.
To do [C] so she [Dm] would have had [Gm] to lie.
_ [C] And lying she knew [Dm] was a sin.
[C] A sin.
[Dm] [C] Lying she [Dm] knew was a [G] sin.
[Dm] _ _ [Dm] _ _
[Dm] _ _ My tragic tale I won't prolong, [Gm]
[Dm] rickety tickety tin.
[Gm] My tragic [Dm] tale I won't prolong, [C] and if you do [Dm] not enjoy my song,
you've [C] yourselves to [Dm] blame if it's too [Gm] long.
_ [Dm] You should [C] never have let [Dm] me begin.
[C] Begin.
[Dm] You should never [C] have let me [Dm] begin. _
_ _ [Cm] _ _ [F] _ _ _ [Gm] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _
_ _ [F] _ _ _ _ [Gm] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _ _