Lyr Req: McTavish Is Dead

Subject: McTavish is dead
From: jacque
Date: 21 Jan 99 - 04:21 PM

My sister heard this song in a New Bedford pub about 15 years ago. Anyone know the rest of the lyrics?

(sung to the tune of Irish Washerwoman).

"Oh..... McTavish is dead and his brother don't know it.
His brother is dead and McTavish don't know it.
They're both lyin' dead in the very same bed,
And neither one knows that the other is dead."

Subject: RE: MacTavish is dead
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Jan 99 - 04:35 PM

I think you've got the entire song there, jacque. You just sing it over and over and over again, until everybody around you goes crazy. The Fireside Book of Fun & Game Songs calls him MacTavish and says "They're both of them dead and they're in the same bed," which is the way I learned it. It wouldn't be a folk song if there weren't variations, would it? Anybody know of more significant variations or other verses?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: McTavish is dead
From: Barbara
Date: 21 Jan 99 - 04:57 PM

Only variation I know Joe, is I learned it O'Reilly and O'Malley, instead of brothers.

Subject: RE: McTavish is dead
From: Nathan
Date: 22 Jan 99 - 09:04 AM

Not "significant", but the 3rd line as I learned it is
The both or 'em's dead and they're lyin' in bed

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: McTavish Is Dead
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Oct 10 - 09:04 AM

The second verse goes:

One of them died of appendicitis,
The other one dies of peritonitis,
They're both lyin' dead in the very same bed,
And neither one knows that the other is dead.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: McTavish Is Dead
From: Midchuck
Date: 08 Oct 10 - 09:18 AM

I heard it, maybe 45 years ago, with the third line as:

"They're both of 'em dead in the very same bed..."

I was never aware there was anything more than the one verse until today.

Peter

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: McTavish Is Dead
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 08 Oct 10 - 11:15 AM

For a fuller discussion, check out the thread : The Ìrish Washwoman `
thread.cfm?threadid=19477    (can`t do a link, I´m on a Spanish keyboard!!)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: McTavish Is Dead
From: EBarnacle
Date: 08 Oct 10 - 01:14 PM

I always knew it as:

Oh, McCardy [McCarthy?] is dead and McGinny [McGuinness?] don't know it
McGinny is dead and McCardy don't know it;
The both of 'em dead in the very same bed,
And neither one knows that the other is dead.

I have occasionally wondered about the relationship between the two. Were they friends or enemies?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: McTavish Is Dead
From: buddhuu
Date: 08 Oct 10 - 04:20 PM

Since childhood I've know it as:

Oh, McTavish is dead and his brother don't know it.
His brother is dead and McTavish don't know it.
They're both of them dead and they're in the same bed,
But neither one knows that the other is dead.

"Bed" in line 3 is rendered as a long, drawn out "beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed" for as long as breath allows. This, in addition to adding comic effect, mercifully ensures that the song doesn't go on for ever - as the singers begin to pass out from asphyxia

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: McTavish Is Dead
From: MtheGM
Date: 09 Oct 10 - 09:39 AM

As matter of interest: in old Ballads & Blues days at the Princess Louise, about 1957, Ewan MacColl would often round off the evening by asking all the guests to sing the shortest song they knew. When he was among them, Seamus Ennis would always give this one; with, IIRC, the names being O'Dwyer and Maguire [nice jingle], and the third line would be "O'Dwyer & Maguire are lying in one bed".

~Michael~

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: McTavish Is Dead
From: EBarnacle
Date: 09 Oct 10 - 07:04 PM

I also wonder about the nature of their relationship which would allow or cause them to be in the same bed. Cause of death? Do we need some CSIs here?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: McTavish Is Dead
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 09 Oct 10 - 11:19 PM

We used to sing this when I was at Girl Scout camp in the 70s; half of us would sing the words (mostly as above, with the slight variation of the 3rd line being "They're both of them dead and lying in bed"), while the other half droned, "Nyaaaaaaa, nyaaaaaaa, Nyaa nyaa nyaaaaaaa," while pinching our nostrils closed so it would (supposedly) sound like bagpipes... anyone else learn it that way?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: McTavish Is Dead
From: GUEST,GinzoGuy
Date: 21 Oct 10 - 12:13 PM

McCarthy is dead and McGuinness dont know it. McGuinness is dead and McCarthy dont know it. They both lay dead in the very same bed, but neither one know that the other is dead.

This fellow McCarthy, this fellow McGuinness, decided to settle it once and for all. One used a shovel and one used a rock. Both were in heaven by 7 o'clock.

Cause, McCarthy is dead and McGuinness dont know it. McGuinness is dead and McCarthy dont know it. They both lay dead in the very same bed, but neither one know that the other is dead.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: McTavish Is Dead
From: Beer
Date: 21 Oct 10 - 01:06 PM

Oh..... McTavish is dead and his brother don't know it.
His brother is dead and McTavish don't know it.
With both of them dead,
And in the very same bed,
And neither one knows that the other is dead.

Did you ever go into an Irishman shanty,
Where whiskey was plenty and money was scanty.
A three-legged chair, a table no legs,
And a hole in the floor for the chicken to scratch.

Oh! mother Oh! mother come down on the dock,
And see the old Irishman washing his socks.
They're as long as his arm and the size of your wrist,
And the hole in the end is the size of your fist.

ad.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: McTavish Is Dead
From: iancarterb
Date: 22 Oct 10 - 12:03 AM

Frank Warner sang it as
They're both of them dead and they're both in one bed
and often started a show with it to exemplify complete LACK of communication.
   I can only heat HIM singing it, no matter the words.
Carter B

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: McTavish Is Dead
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 09:00 PM

From Once Upon a Time Using Storytelling, Creative Drama, and Reader's Theater By Judy Freeman (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007), page 61:

Old McTavish is dead and his brother don't know it.
His brother is dead and McTavish don't know it.
They're both of them dead and they're in the same bed
And neither one knows that the other is dead.

Oh, McTavish he died of the peritonitis.
His brother he died of chronic arthritis.
How both of them cried and both of them sighed
When each of them found that the other had died.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: McTavish Is Dead
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Jan 11 - 12:32 AM

The way we sing it in chorus for warm ups has always been just that first verse but After it we sing

Rank.. Rank.. Rank! rank! rank! Oh McTavish is dead and his brother donno it, his bro...

And then keep repeating about twice as fast over and over til no one can keep it up:)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: McTavish Is Dead
From: GUEST,lite2lite
Date: 07 Apr 11 - 06:47 PM

Heard this song fron my camp counselor in the'70 's also, never knew there were any other verses until today!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: McTavish Is Dead
From: GUEST,Jeremy John Butler
Date: 28 Mar 12 - 12:27 PM

Old McTavish is dead and his brother don't know it.
His brother is dead and McTavish don't know it.
They're both of em' dead and they're in the same bed
And neither one knows that the other is dead.

They live for the drink and the bars are a plenty
They drink like the fish til their pockets are empty
And when they pass out it, it's always the same bead
Cause neither on knows that the other one's dead.

Old McTavish is dead and his brother don't know it.
His brother is dead and McTavish don't know it.
They're both of em' dead and they're in the same bed
And neither one knows that the other is dead.

The bottles are empty, the smokes are but ashes
The stench of the liquor is all that has lasted
The sun will soon rise to start a new day
They'll buy a new bottle and do it again.

Old McTavish is dead and his brother don't know it.
His brother is dead and McTavish don't know it.
They're both of em' dead and they're in the same bed
And neither one knows that the other is dead.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: McTavish Is Dead
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 28 Mar 12 - 05:37 PM

I learned the last two lines as:
"O'Leary, O'Reilley, they're in the same bed
And they're both of them dead, and don't neither one know it."

also

Ted Kennedy Song

Oh, my mother is old and my father is dead
And my brother is dead and my brother is dead
And my brother is dead and kid has one leg
And my wife is a drunk and my car doesn't float.

A reasonable candidate for a Songs in the Worst Possible Taste Workshop
from Michael Cooney's singing