The Writing of Tipperary lyrics

King Edward the Seventh, who some called The Peace Maker

Died back in nineteen-and-ten

He was buried at Windsor and in the procession

Rode the finest and highest of men

There were nine crowned kings and thirty proud princes

Leaders of many's the land

And old 'Kaiser Bill' rode next to King George

With his Field Marshall's baton in hand

Crippen was caught that very same year

And Haley's Comet flashed by

And the first of the labour exchanges was opened

The year the old king died

The Sidney Street siege brought in nineteen-eleven

When anarchy died in the flames

In London, in June, King George and his queen

Played the coronation game

"A place in the sun", said The Kaiser in Hamburg

Launching his new battleships

King George made India, Ireland and Wales

Places for right royal trips

Titanic was launched on the day of The Derby

London's last horse bus was shelved

The suffragettes marched, demanding their rights

Then in came nineteen-twelve

Jack Judge went down into West Bromwich town

To welcome a brand new year

And he stopped in a pub, just to have a little sup

'Cause he liked his drop of beer

And when he'd had a drink, he started up to sing

And his voice it lifted high

"My name's Jack Judge and I can write you a song

From Oldbury town come I"

"My name's Jack Judge and I can write you a song

From Oldbury town come I"

Now a Birmingham man who was sitting close by

Heard what Jack did say

"And a pound to a penny", he said to Jack

"That you can't write a song in a day"

Jack had another laugh and he had another drink

And he said: "I'll take you on

This afternoon I'll write you a song

I'll sing it 'fore the day is done"

"This afternoon I'll write you a song

I'll sing it 'fore the day is done"

Jack had another laugh and he sang another song

And he drank another pint of beer

Then he took the train up to Stalybridge

That night he was due to appear

And the very first day of nineteen-twelve

Old Jack Judge won his bet

And the song that he made and he sang that day

We never shall forget

And the song that he made and he sang that day

We never shall forget

In March nineteen-twelve, brave Scott and his comrades

Died while the snow storm roared

And later that year the good General Booth

Finally laid down his sword

There were riots in Ireland concerning home rule

Mrs. Pankhurst was in prison again

And Wilbur Wright died, that first among fliers

As the Royal Flying Corps was named

Titanic went down in the spring of that year

Taking fifteen hundred lives

And the Balkan states blazed from border to border

As death began sharpening his knives

Of the nineteen-ten monarchs who mourned for King Edward

In nineteen-thirteen few survived

Though some of them lived to a peaceful old age

Assassins took many's the life

Death came calmly to China and Sweden

But elsewhere the murderer's hand

Struck The Pasha of Turkey, The King of the Greeks

While Spain survived death's plan

The armies of Europe paraded and postured

The stock-pile of weapons increased

At The Hague, as if in grim desperation

They opened The Palace of Peace

In nineteen-fourteen, with more suffragettes marching

The archduke of Austria was slain

In less than two months all Europe was marching

And death was in business again

Many's the young man, from many's the family

Willingly gave his all

They died in their millions for dubious victory

Answering Kitchener's call

But as they marched off to their trains and their troop ships

They sang as they hurried along

And the words echoed back from the graveyards of Flanders

Singing old Jack Judge's song

Yes, the words echoed back from the graveyards of Flanders

Singing old Jack Judge's song

It's a long way to Tipperary

It's a long way to go

It's a long way to Tipperary

To the sweetest girl I know

Goodbye, Piccadilly

Farewell, Leicester Square

It's a long, long way to Tipperary

But my heart's right there

It's a long way to Tipperary

It's a long way to go

It's a long way to Tipperary

To the sweetest girl I know

Goodbye, Piccadilly

Farewell, Leicester Square

It's a long, long way to Tipperary

But my heart's right there

It's a long way to Tipperary

It's a long way to go

It's a long way to Tipperary

To the sweetest girl I know

Goodbye, Piccadilly

Farewell, Leicester Square

It's a long, long way to Tipperary

But my heart's right there

It's a long, long way to Tipperary

But my heart's right there

• Artist:GreenMatthews
• Album:The Men Who Marched Away: Songs of the Great War