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The Pogues named this song after a chapter in the Ulster cycle where the hero CuChulainn wounds a woman from the otherworld who was in the shape of a bird. She then lays a curse on him and he falls ill until he promises to aid those in battle who he had previously wronged. The song obviously doesn't draw much from the original story other than the title.
Sick Bed of Cuchulainn
by The Pogues
Intro
[C] [Dm] [C] [Dm] [C] [Dm] [F] [C]
Mc[C] Cormack and Richard [Dm] Tauber
Are [C] singing by the [Dm] bed.
There’s a [C] glass of punch be [Dm]low your feet
And an [F] angel at your [C] head.
There’s [C] devils on each [Dm] side of you
With [C] bottles in their [Dm] hands.
You need [C] one more drop of [Dm] poison
And you’ll [Am] dream of foreign [Am] lands.
When you [F] pissed yourself in [Bb] Frankfurt
And got [C] syph down in Co [F]logne
And you [F] heard the rattling [Bb] death trains
As you [C] lay there all a[F]lone,
Frank [F] Ryan brought you [C] whiskey
In a [Bb] brothel in Ma[C]drid
And you [Bb] decked some fucking [Bb] blackshirt
Who was [C] cursing all the [C] Yids.
At the [F] sick bed of Cu[F] chulainn
We’ll [Bb] kneel and say a [F] prayer
And the [Bb] ghosts are rattling [F] at the door
And the [C] devil’s in the [F] chair.
[F] [F] [Bb] [C]
[F] [F] [Bb] [F]
And [F] in the Euston [Bb] Tavern
You [C] screamed it was your [F] shout
But they [F] wouldn’t give you [Bb] service
So you [C] kicked the windows [F] out.
They [F] took you out in[C] to the street
And [Bb] kicked you in the [C] brains,
So you [Bb] walked back in through a [Bb] bolted door
And [C] did it all a[C]gain.
At the [F] sick bed of Cu[F] chulainn
We’ll [Bb] kneel and say a [F] prayer
And the [Bb] ghosts are rattling [F] at the door
And the [C] devil’s in the [F] chair.
[F] [Bb] [C]
[F] [Bb] [C] [F]
[C]
You re [C] member that foul [Dm] evening
When you [C] heard the banshees [Dm] howl,
There was [C] lazy drunken [Dm] bastards
Singing [F] ‘Billy is in the [C] bowl.’
They [C] took you up to [Dm] midnight mass
And [C] left you in the [Dm] lurch
So you [C] dropped a button [Dm] in the plate
And [Am] spewed up in the [Am] church.
Now you’ll [F] sing a song of [Bb] liberty
For [C] blacks and paks and [F] jocks
And they’ll [F] take you from this [Bb] dump you’re in
And [C] stick you in a [F] box.
Then they’ll [F] take you to Clough [C]prior
And [Bb] shove you in the [C] ground
But you’ll [Bb] stick your head back [Bb] out and shout,
“We’ll [C] have another [C] round.”
At the [F] graveside of Cu[F]chulainn
We’ll [Bb] kneel around and [F] pray
And [Bb] God is in His [F] heaven,
And [C] Billy’s down by the [F] bay.
[F] [Bb] [C]
[F] [Bb] [C] [F]
[C] [Dm] [C] [Dm] [C] [Dm] [F] [C]
Mc[C] Cormack and Richard [Dm] Tauber
Are [C] singing by the [Dm] bed.
There’s a [C] glass of punch be [Dm]low your feet
And an [F] angel at your [C] head.
There’s [C] devils on each [Dm] side of you
With [C] bottles in their [Dm] hands.
You need [C] one more drop of [Dm] poison
And you’ll [Am] dream of foreign [Am] lands.
When you [F] pissed yourself in [Bb] Frankfurt
And got [C] syph down in Co [F]logne
And you [F] heard the rattling [Bb] death trains
As you [C] lay there all a[F]lone,
Frank [F] Ryan brought you [C] whiskey
In a [Bb] brothel in Ma[C]drid
And you [Bb] decked some fucking [Bb] blackshirt
Who was [C] cursing all the [C] Yids.
At the [F] sick bed of Cu[F] chulainn
We’ll [Bb] kneel and say a [F] prayer
And the [Bb] ghosts are rattling [F] at the door
And the [C] devil’s in the [F] chair.
[F] [F] [Bb] [C]
[F] [F] [Bb] [F]
And [F] in the Euston [Bb] Tavern
You [C] screamed it was your [F] shout
But they [F] wouldn’t give you [Bb] service
So you [C] kicked the windows [F] out.
They [F] took you out in[C] to the street
And [Bb] kicked you in the [C] brains,
So you [Bb] walked back in through a [Bb] bolted door
And [C] did it all a[C]gain.
At the [F] sick bed of Cu[F] chulainn
We’ll [Bb] kneel and say a [F] prayer
And the [Bb] ghosts are rattling [F] at the door
And the [C] devil’s in the [F] chair.
[F] [Bb] [C]
[F] [Bb] [C] [F]
[C]
You re [C] member that foul [Dm] evening
When you [C] heard the banshees [Dm] howl,
There was [C] lazy drunken [Dm] bastards
Singing [F] ‘Billy is in the [C] bowl.’
They [C] took you up to [Dm] midnight mass
And [C] left you in the [Dm] lurch
So you [C] dropped a button [Dm] in the plate
And [Am] spewed up in the [Am] church.
Now you’ll [F] sing a song of [Bb] liberty
For [C] blacks and paks and [F] jocks
And they’ll [F] take you from this [Bb] dump you’re in
And [C] stick you in a [F] box.
Then they’ll [F] take you to Clough [C]prior
And [Bb] shove you in the [C] ground
But you’ll [Bb] stick your head back [Bb] out and shout,
“We’ll [C] have another [C] round.”
At the [F] graveside of Cu[F]chulainn
We’ll [Bb] kneel around and [F] pray
And [Bb] God is in His [F] heaven,
And [C] Billy’s down by the [F] bay.
[F] [Bb] [C]
[F] [Bb] [C] [F]