Our recording — Without intro
[Dublin O'Shea]
[a capella both times, unison the first time (chords are for harmony practice)]
C F C
Have another drink, boys. Well, have one with me.
F C Dm G7
We're home from the sea. Yes, we're back on the shore;
C F C
And if you get too drunk, boys, in this company,
Eb Bb F C
You'll roar 'round Cape Horn on the Rory O'Mor.
[repeat once, this time with harmony, and sing the last line 3 times]
[Big Strong Man begins]
C G
Have you heard about the big strong man he lives in a caravan.
(G) G7 C
Have you heard about the Tommy Gibbons fight? Oh Lord what a hell of a fight.
(C)
Well, you can take all the heavyweights you got (WHATCHA GOT?)
G
we got a lad who will beat the whole lot.
C
He used to ring the bells in the belfry now he's going to fight Jack Dempsey.
[Chorus]
C
He was me brother Sylvest (WHAT'S HE GOT?)
G
He's got a row of forty medals on his chest (BIG CHEST)
G C
He killed fifty vermin in the west he knows no rest.
Bigger the man, (Hell's fire)
don't push (JUST SHOVE)
plenty of room for you and me.
C
He's got an arm like a leg (A LADY'S LEG)
G
and a punch that would sink a battleship (BIG SHIP)
C
it takes all the army and the navy to put the wind up Sylvest.
Well, He thought he'd take a trip to Italy and he thought that he'd go by sea.
He jumped off the harbour in New York and he swam like a man made of Cork.
He saw the Lusitania in distress; (WHAT'D HE DO?)
He put the Lusitania on his chest (BIG CHEST)
Then he drank all the water in the sea and he walked all the way to Italy.
[Chorus]
He thought he'd take a trip to old Japan and they called out the whole brass band.
You can take all the instruments you got; We got a lad who can play the whole lot,
Now the old church bells will ring (HELLS BELLS)
and the old church choir will sing (HELL'S FIRE)
They all turned out to say farewell, To my big brother Sylvest.
[Chorus]