In the town of Athy one Jeremy Lanigan  Battered away till he hadn´t a pound  And his father he died and made him a man again,  Left him a farm and ten acres of ground  He gave a grand party to friends and relations  Who did not forget him when come to the wall  If you´d only listen, I´ll make your eyes glisten  At the rows and ructions of Lanigan´s ball    Myself to be sure got free invitations  For all the nice girls and boys I might ask  In less than a minute both friends and relations  Were dancing as merry as bees round a cask  Lashing of punch and wine for the ladies  Potatoes, cakes, there was bacon and tea  There were the Nolans, Dolans, O´Grady´s  Courting the girls and dancing away    Six long months I spent in Dublin  Six long months doing nothing at all  Six long months I spent in Dublin  Learning to dance for Lanigan´s ball    They were doing all kinds of nonsensical polkas  Round the room in a whirly gig  But Julia and I soon banished their nonsense  And tipped them a twist of a real Irish jig  Oh how the girl she really got mad and me  Danced that you´d think that the ceiling would fall  For I spent three weeks at Brooks Academy  Learning to dance for Lanigan´s ball    Six long months I spent in Dublin  Six long months doing nothing at all  Six long months I spent in Dublin  Learning to dance for Lanigan´s ball    And I stepped out - and I stepped in again  Learning to dance for Lanigan´s ball    The boys were as merry, the girls all hearty  Dancing around in couples and groups  Till an accident happened, young Terence McCarthy  He put his right leg through Miss Finerty´s hoops  The creature she fainted and cried "Meelia Murther"  And called for her brothers and gathered them all  Carmody swore that he´d go no further,  Till he had satisfaction at Lanigan´s ball    Six long months I spent in Dublin  Six long months doing nothing at all  Six long months I spent in Dublin  Learning to dance for Lanigan´s ball    Boys, oh boys, ´tis there was ructions  Myself got a kick from big Phelim McHugh  And I soon replied to his kind introduction  And kicked him a terrible hullabaloo  Casey the piper was nearly being strangled  They squeezed up his pipes, bellows, chanters and all  And the girls in their ribbons they all got entangled  And that put an end to Lanigan´s ball    Six long months I spent in Dublin  Six long months doing nothing at all  Six long months I spent in Dublin  Learning to dance for Lanigan´s ball    And I stepped out - and I stepped in again  Learning to dance for Lanigan´s ball