MacNamara's Band

Melody -

(O'Connor, Stanford) Bing was in an Irish way on Dec. 6, 1945, and one of the tunes he recorded was this rousing Irish dittie.

1. Oh, me name is MacNamara,
I'm the leader of the band
Although we're few in numbers,
We're the finest in the land
We play at wakes and weddings
And at every fancy ball
And when we play the funerals,
We play the March from Saul

2. Oh, the drums go bang and the cymbals clang
And the horns they blaze away
McCarthy pumps the old bassoon
while I the pipes do play
And Henessee Tennessee tootles the flute
And the music is somethin' grand
A credit to old Ireland
Is MacNamara's band

3. Right now we are rehearsin'
For a very swell affair
The annual celebration,
All the gentry will be there
When General Grant to Ireland came
He took me by the hand
Says he, "I never saw the likes
Of MacNamara's Band"
  4. Oh, the drums go bang and the cymbals clang
And the horns they blaze away
McCarthy pumps the old bassoon
While I the pipes do play
And Henessee Tennessee tootles the flute
And the music is somethin' grand
A credit to old Ireland
Is MacNamara's band

5. Oh, my name is Uncle Julius
And from Sweden I did come
To play with MacNamara's Band
And beat the big bass drum
And when I march along the street
The ladies think I'm grand
They shout, "There's Uncle Julius
Playin' with an Irish band!"

6. Oh, I wear a bunch of shamrocks
And a uniform of green
And I'm the funniest lookin' Swede
That you have ever seen
There is O'Brians, O'Ryans, O'Sheehans and Meehans,
They come from Ireland
But, by yimminy, I'm the only Swede
In MacNamara's Band

7. Oh, the drums go bang and the cymbals clang
And the horns they blaze away
McCarthy pumps the old bassoon
While I the pipes do play
And Henessee Tennessee tootles the flute
And the music is somethin' grand
A credit to old Ireland
Is MacNamara's band


Backed by the Jesters and the Bob Haggart Orchestra, the recording sold more than a million copies and spent 10 weeks in the pop charts, reaching as high as No. 10.


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