Foreword by Vince Hearns: “Cork city and county is the source of many great songs and I found it very difficult to pick one song from the great store. It was from the late Johnny Cronin of Inchegeela, that I got this song. He was quite ill when I recorded him in the months before he died. The song is very popular in the Muskerry; area of West Cork and Gougane of course refers to the great beauty spot Gougane Barra where St. Finbar had his monastery.”

I am one of those jolly young lads from the cross
I’m fond of amusement and fond of a glass
With a thirst I can’t quench and a heart that is free,
Sure everything else plays the divil with me
Rally ra fol de da, rally rack fol the di.
On that holiday morning just after first mass,
We started our away on our trip from the cross,
In two hansom cars that were hired for the day,
All waiting there ready to take us away,
Rally ra fol de da, rally rack fol the di.

We had Buckleys, and Healys, and Sullivans too,
The Learys, a Connell, a Roche and a Drew,
Such a crowd of McCarthys I ne’er saw before
And the Cronins were there by the dozen and score.
Rally ra fol de da, rally rack fol the di.

We had girls also all dressed up so neat,
And to make our enjoyment entirely complete
We paid for them all without making a case,
With the worth of our money knocked our of their waist,
Rally ra fol de da, rally rack fol the di.

‘Twas to sweet Ballingeary we first did draw near
Where we moistened our lips with some drops of good beer,
Then we started again just as fleet as the fawn
And about on o’clock we rolled into Gougane.
Rally ra fol de da, rally rack fol the di.

We were both tired and thirsty when the horses did stop,
And each man was smacking his lips for a drop,
We jumped down from the cars and our band we struck up
And we marched in a body straight into the pub.
Rally ra fol de da, rally rack fol the di.

There were some that went boating on a lake near at hand,
While others went drinking till they couldn’t stand,
Sure we thought we’d see sights that would dazzle our eyes
Yerra divil the sights, only mountains and skies,
Rally ra fol de da, rally rack fol the di.

So we started for home then before ‘t would get late,
And the horses were going at the divil’s own rate
I thought that they surely would fall down on the road
Before they could carry such a drunken old load,
Rally ra fol de da, rally rack fol the di.

When we reached Ballingeary we looked for some bread,
But ‘t was boxes of biscuits they gave us instead
And their bellies being empty by each mother’s son,
We finished twelve boxes before we were done.
Rally ra fol de da, rally rack fol the di.

No good porter the owner had in his Hotel,
But a bad brand of stout that had failed him to sell,
And in order to fool us this clever old coon
Good porter was hid in a private back room
Rally ra fol de da, rally rack fol the di.

The people came running to see what was the score
Some ran to the windows and more to the door
Saying who are these people all dressed up so swell
Others saying they’re swanks from the Abbey Hotel
Rally ra fol de da, rally rack fol the di.

We returned to the cross when our trip it was o’er
Where we filled ourselves up with the porter once more
We recovered our senses next morning at dawn
And that put an end to our trip to Gougane.
Rally ra fol de da, rally rack fol the di.