The Christy Moore version has “Lying there on the drip nearly dead in the bed.”
Please enlighten me as to what is meant by “on a drip” and/or “on the drip”, as specifically pertains to this song and context therein.
“You’re a bum, you’re a punk, you’re an old slut on junk.” I know that hospital patients sometimes receive medicine via an IV ‘drip’, and the reference to junk I think means heroin (?) - so these lyrics would make sense if ‘dripping’ meant ‘injecting’ (heroin).
Is that what this line means? Please clue me in one way or t’other.
Although that particular line isn’t addressed, The Parting Glass has annotations for many of the Pogues’ songs. For extra kicks, The Wake of the Medusa has most of their lyrics, too, including a .wav of the song in question.
kaylasdad: When heroin was first synthesized, it was thought to be a less addictive form of morphine, and was used to treat morphine withdrawal. Between 1989 and 1923, it was a legal painkiller used in hospitals. (Cite)
Wether that is the case in this song is unlikely, as a later lyric references listening to Frank Sinatra, which means the song is set sometime in the early forties or later. More likely, “drip” is just a catchy way of refering to the wife’s heroin habit, although she could be such a consumate junkie she’s actually got herself hooked up to an IV. I suspect the former rather than the later.
The song is about a tragic love affair that descended into bitterness and drug addiction. He’s locked up in the drunk tank and she’s in bed waiting to die, along with all their dreams for a better future. The “drip” is a hospital IV intended to stabilize her from the ravages of addiction. “Happy Christmas”, indeed.
Now, if somebody could just tell me what Waxie’s Dargle is all about? I have a sneaking suspicion that it has something to do with having a pint or two.
Says my ol’ one to your ol’ one,
Let’s go to Waxie’s Dargle
Says your ol’ one to my ol’ one,
I haven’t got a farthing.
I went up to Monto town,
To see Uncle MacGargle,
But he wouldna give me half a pound,
For to go to Waxie’s Dargle.
Chorus:
What’ll ye have?
I’ll have a pint!
I’ll have a pint with you, sir!
And if one of you doesn’t order soon,
You’ll be chucked out of the boozer.
Says my ol’ one to your ol’ one,
Let’s go to the Galway Races
Says your ol’ one to my ol’ one,
I’ll hock me old man’s braces.
I went down to Chapel street
To the Jewish moneylenders,
But they wouldna give me a couple bob
For my old man’s red suspenders.
Chorus
Says my ol’ one to your ol’ one,
We’ve got no beef or mutton.
If we go down to Monto town,
We’ll get a drink for nothin’
Here’s a nice piece of advice
I got from an old fishmonger,
‘When the food is scarce,
And you hear the hearse,
You know you’ve died of hunger.’
Chorus
Chorus
That’s a traditional, in case anyone is concerned about copyright.
That’s also from memory. Pogues rule!
I think the Waxie’s Dargle was supposed to be a candlemaker’s convention. I guess the song is just about being poor and trying to have some fun and get a drink without any money. What else is there to sing about?
A waxy was a dock worker in Dublin. The Waxies’ Dargle was an annual day out for the dockers and their families.
However, the song is indeed about being poor in Dublin, and trying to buy a drink.
Monto was Montgomery Street, which was a “red light” district in old Dublin. (Don’t bother trying there now, if you call on us.) There is an old Dublin song called “Monto” - very disrespectful one. For example, one verse is about Queen Victoria’s visit to Dublin -
"The Queen she came to call on us,
She wanted to see all of us,
I’m glad she did’nt fall on us,
She’s eighteen stone.
They asked the p’liceman’s band to play
‘The Wearing of the Green’
but the buggers in the depot didn’t know the tune.
So they took her up to Monto, Monto, Monto
Took her up to Monto
Langaroo, to you."
I’ve always thought Fairytale was uplifting. The guy’s locked up on Christmas Eve for being drunk, the couple started out okay but now argue all the time, the woman is a junkie… and yet they really love each other. At the end the guy tells her that he’s “built my dreams around you.” Rather touching, I think.
FWIW, I always thought that the “drip” referred to semen on the mattress. That is, I thought she might have been turning tricks to support her heroin addiction.
I think that the music itself is somewhat uplifting, but not the lyrics, which for me makes it somewhat chilling. It has love, nostalgia and bitterness all wrapped up in one song. Definitely one of my favorite Pogues songs.
According to The Parting Glass (which I linked to above), “Auld wan” (or “old one” as I heard it, which makes it sound like Cthulhu and Nyarlathotep are out on a pub crawl) is slang for “wife”. So it’s basically about two married women going out and getting strange men to buy them drinks.
Pogues rule!