# Pogues lyric question - The Body of an American

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogues-lyric-question-the-body-of-an-american/89070>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 23, 2001, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogues-lyric-question-the-body-of-an-american/89070 "2001-10-23T13:25:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogues-lyric-question-the-body-of-an-american/89070/1 "2001-10-23T13:25:06Z")

</div>

There’s a line in The Pogues’ _The Body of an American_ that sounds like “With a slainte Joe and Erin go”. I’ve only found a few sites with google that has the lyrics that I searched on (“we had our first taste” and “ancient irish history”) and they all list the line as “With a slainte Joe and Erin go”. But I seem to remember that the line was something in Gaelic, with “go” being “gobh” or something like that.

Can anyone verify the line, and also translate it? “With a slainte Joe and Erin go” doesn’t seem to make sense.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogues-lyric-question-the-body-of-an-american/89070/2 "2001-10-23T13:33:02Z")

</div>

Is it maybe just a form of “Erin go bragh” shortened to make the rhyme work?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogues-lyric-question-the-body-of-an-american/89070/3 "2001-10-23T17:07:51Z")

</div>

It makes perfect sense as is. “With a ‘sláinte’ Joe and Erin go”, i.e., Joe and Erin say “sláinte” (cheers) as they go (away).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogues-lyric-question-the-body-of-an-american/89070/4 "2001-10-23T17:08:55Z")

</div>

_Slainte_ is a toast, roughly meaning “health”.  
I would agree that “Erin go” is short for _Erin go bragh_.

It sounds like a “shorthand” way of saying “With many toasts…”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogues-lyric-question-the-body-of-an-american/89070/5 "2001-10-23T17:15:11Z")

</div>

… and having just looked at the lyric in context, it makes a lot more sense than “Erin Go Bragh” would, quite apart from the fact that “Erin Go Bragh” isn’t a phrase used much outside North America.