Editing Finnegan's Wake

{{Short description|Irish-American comic ballad}}
{{About|the ballad|the book by James Joyce|Finnegans Wake{{!}}''Finnegans Wake''|the TV episode|Finnegan's Wake (Homicide: Life on the Street){{!}}"Finnegan's Wake" (''Homicide: Life on the Street'')}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
"'''Finnegan's Wake'''" ([[Roud Folk Song Index|Roud]] 1009) is an Irish-American comic folk [[ballad]], first published in New York in 1864.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://repository.duke.edu/dc/hasm/b1044|title = Finigan's wake; Popular Irish song / Historic American Sheet Music / Duke Digital Repository}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/collection/052/003|title = 052.003 - Finigans Wake. Popular Comic Song. &#124; Levy Music Collection}}</ref><ref name="McNally">[https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/manhattan-transfer-frank-mcnally-on-the-surprise-origins-of-a-classic-irish-drinking-ballad-finnegan-s-wake-1.4073488?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fopinion%2Fmanhattan-transfer-frank-mcnally-on-the-surprise-origins-of-a-classic-irish-drinking-ballad-finnegan-s-wake-1.4073488 Frank McNally, 'Manhattan Transfer', An Irishman's Diary, The Irish Times, 5 November 2019]</ref> Various 19th-century variety theatre performers, including Dan Bryant of [[Bryant's Minstrels]], claimed authorship but a definitive account of the song's origin has not been established. An earlier popular song, John Brougham's "A Fine Ould Irish Gintleman," also included a verse in which an apparently dead alcoholic was revived by the power of whiskey.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://steemit.com/finneganswake/@harlotscurse/finnegan-s-wake-origins#:~:text=Tim%20Finigan's%20Wake,only%20the%20lyrics%20are%20printed.|title=Finnegan's Wake Origins|date=11 May 2018 }}</ref>

In more recent times, "Finnegan's Wake" was a staple of the Irish folk-music group [[the Dubliners]], who played it on many occasions and included it on several albums, and is especially well known to fans of [[the Clancy Brothers]], who performed and recorded it with [[Tommy Makem]]. The song has been recorded by Irish-American [[Celtic punk]] band [[Dropkick Murphys]].

==Summary==
In the ballad, the [[Brick hod|hod-carrier]] Tim Finnegan, born "with a love for the [[liquor]]", falls from a ladder, [[skull fracture|breaks his skull]], and is thought to be dead. The mourners at his [[Wake (ceremony)|wake]] become rowdy, and spill [[Poteen|whiskey]] over Finnegan's corpse, causing him to come back to life and join in the celebrations. Whiskey causes both Finnegan's fall and his resurrection—''whiskey'' is derived from the [[Irish language|Irish]] phrase ''[[uisce beatha]]'' ({{IPA|ga|ˈɪʃcə ˈbʲahə|pron}}), meaning "water of life".<ref name="McHugh1981">{{cite book|last=McHugh|first=Roland|title=The Finnegans Wake Experience|url=https://archive.org/details/finneganswakeexp00rola|url-access=registration|year=1981|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-04298-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/finneganswakeexp00rola/page/7 7]}}</ref>

==Hiberno-English phrases and terms==
*''[[brogue (accent)|brogue]]'' (an Irish or Scottish [[Accent (dialect)|accent]])<ref>''brogue, noun'' Cambridge Dictionaries Online</ref>
*''[[Brick hod|hod]]'' (a tool to carry bricks in) (Slang term for a tankard or drinking vessel)<ref>''hod, noun'' Cambridge Dictionaries Online</ref>
*''[[wikt:tippler|tippler]]'s way'' (a tippler is a drunkard)<ref>''tippler, noun'' Cambridge Dictionaries Online</ref>
*''[[wikt:craythur|craythur]]'' (craythur is colloquially used in Ireland, especially in the North, as referring to someone, or something, for whom one should have sympathy, or to which one should extend some affection. It can also refer to ''poteen'' ([[Poitín]]); "a drop of the craythur" is an expression to have some poteen)<ref>''craythur, noun'' Merriam-Webster Dictionary</ref>
*''Whack fol the dah'' (non-lexical vocalsinging called "[[lilting]]"; see [[Scat singing]] and [[Puirt a beul|mouth music]]. It is also punned upon repeatedly by [[James Joyce]] as Whack 'fol the [[Danaan]]'.)
*''trotters'' (feet)<ref>''trotter, noun'' Merriam-Webster Dictionary</ref>
*''full'' ([[Alcohol intoxication|drunk]])
*''[[wikt:mavourneen|mavourneen]]'' (my darling)<ref>''mavourneen, noun'' Merriam-Webster Dictionary</ref>
*''hould your [[wikt:gob|gob]]'' ([[shut up]])<ref>''hold your gob shut, phrase'' Cambridge Online Dictionaries</ref>
*''belt in the gob'' ([[punch (combat)|punch]] in the mouth)
*''[[Shillelagh (club)|Shillelagh]] law'' (a brawl)
*''[[wikt:ruction|ruction]]'' (a fight)<ref>''ructions, noun'' Cambridge Online Dictionaries</ref>
*''[[wikt:bedad|bedad]]'' (an expression of shock)<ref>''bedad, interjection'' Merriam-Webster Dictionary</ref>

Non-English phrases:
*''Thanam 'on dhoul'' ([[Irish language|Irish]]: D'anam 'on diabhal, "your soul to the devil") However, in other versions of the song, Tim says "Thunderin' Jaysus."

== Use in literature ==

The song is famous for providing the basis of [[James Joyce]]'s final work, ''[[Finnegans Wake]]'' (1939), in which the comic resurrection of Tim Finnegan is employed as a symbol of the universal cycle of life. As whiskey, the "water of life", causes both Finnegan's death and resurrection in the ballad, so the word "wake" also represents both a passing (into death) and a rising (from sleep), not to mention the wake of the lifeship traveling in between. Joyce removed the [[apostrophe]] in the title of his novel to suggest an active process in which a multiplicity of "Finnegans", that is, all members of humanity, fall and then wake and arise.<ref name="MacKillop1986">{{cite book|last=MacKillop|first=James|title=Fionn Mac Cumhaill: Celtic Myth in English Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MoKvGA2McVYC&pg=PA171|year=1986|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-2353-3|page=171}}</ref><ref name="FargnoliGillespie1996">{{cite book|last1=Fargnoli|first1=A. Nicholas|last2=Gillespie|first2=Michael Patrick|title=James Joyce A to Z: The Essential Reference to the Life and Work|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LoKjFMAhNI0C&pg=PA87|year=1996|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-511029-6|page=76}}</ref>

"Finnegan's Wake" is featured at the climax of the primary storyline in [[Philip José Farmer]]'s award-winning novella, ''[[Riders of the Purple Wage]]''.<ref name="Seed2008">{{cite book|last=Seed|first=David|title=A Companion to Science Fiction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PiphRocVYRwC&pg=PA235|date=9 June 2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-470-79701-3|page=235}}</ref>

== Recordings ==
Many bands have performed Finnegan's Wake including notably:

*[[The Clancy Brothers]] on several of their albums, including ''[[Come Fill Your Glass with Us]]'' (1959), ''[[A Spontaneous Performance Recording]]'' (1961), ''[[Recorded Live in Ireland]]'' (1965), and the 1984 ''Reunion'' concert at Lincoln Center.<ref name="Miller2010">{{cite book|last=Miller|first=Scott|title=Music: What Happened?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Aduy1H1mUx0C&pg=PA19|year=2010|publisher=125 Records|isbn=978-0-615-38196-1|page=19}}</ref>
*[[The Dubliners]] on several live albums.<ref name="Drew2009">{{cite book|last=Drew|first=Ronnie|author-link=Ronnie Drew|title=Ronnie|date=3 September 2009|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|location=New York|isbn=978-0-14-193003-9|page=79}}</ref>
*[[Dropkick Murphys]] on their albums ''[[Do or Die (Dropkick Murphys album)|Do or Die]]'' and ''[[Live on St. Patrick's Day From Boston, MA]]''.<ref name="Warren2009">{{cite book|last=Warren|first=John|title=Historic Tales from the Adirondack Almanack|year=2009|publisher=History Press|isbn=978-1-59629-727-2|page=84}}</ref>
*[[The High Kings]] on their albums ''Memory Lane'' and ''Live in Ireland''<ref name="Hooligans">Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/PNFNBg6iGbM Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20200316072132/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNFNBg6iGbM&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web |last1=Hooligans |first1=The |title=Finnegan's Wake |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNFNBg6iGbM |website=Youtube |date=22 October 2014 |ref=8}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{wikisource-inline|single=true}}
*[http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/collection/052/003 ''Finigans Wake''] Arranged by John Durnal and published in New York by John J. Daly. The date on the front is 1854, but the date inside is 1864, which may be the correct date.
*[https://steemit.com/finneganswake/@harlotscurse/finnegan-s-wake-origins 'Finnegan’s Wake - Origins' (Brendan Ward on the origins of the song)]
*[https://steemit.com/finneganswake/@harlotscurse/finnegan-s-wake-the-origin-of-the-species 'Finnegan’s Wake - The Origin of the Species' (Brendan Ward on its authorship)]
*[https://steemit.com/finneganswake/@harlotscurse/finnegan-s-wake-the-lyrics 'Finnegan’s Wake - The Lyrics' (Brendan Ward compares differences in the earliest published lyrics)]

{{Finnegans Wake}}
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[[Category:1850s songs]]
[[Category:Finnegans Wake]]
[[Category:Songs about alcohol]]
[[Category:Songs about Ireland]]
[[Category:Irish-American culture]]
[[Category:Irish folk songs]]
[[Category:The Dubliners songs]]
[[Category:Vaudeville songs]]
[[Category:1950s in Irish music]]
[[Category:1960s in Irish music]]