The Kelligrews Soiree is a popular Newfoundland folk song. It was written by Johnny Burke

Johnny Burke

Johnny Burke was a Newfoundland songwriter and musician. He was nicknamed the 'Bard of Prescott Street'. He wrote many popular songs that artists in the 1930s and 1940s released.Popular songs by Burke include:* The Night Paddy Murphy Died...

 (1851 – 1930), a popular St. John's balladeer. It was patterned on Irish music-hall songs like "The Irish Jubilee" and "Lanigan's Ball

Lanigan's Ball

"Lanigan's Ball" is a popular traditional or folk Irish song which has been played throughout the world since at least the 1860's and possibly much longer...

", and makes reference to "Clara Nolan's Ball", an American vaudeville song of the nineteenth century.

The narrator of the song tells of dressing up up in borrowed finery and going to the Soiree; he mentions the myriad food, curiosities, and celebrities in attendance, as well as the donnybrook that caps the festivities.

The Soiree is an annual event held in Kelligrews

Conception Bay South, Newfoundland and Labrador

Conception Bay South is a town in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The town is commonly called C.B.S..As of 2006 the population was 21,966 which makes the town the third largest population centre in the province behind the cities of Mount Pearl and St. John's...

, now incorporated into Conception Bay South, since soon after the founding of the community.

Lyrics

You may talk of Clara Nolan's Ball or anything you choose,

But it couldn't hold a snuffbox to the spree at Kelligrews;

If you want your eyeballs straightened just come out next week with me,

You'll have to wear your glasses at the Kelligrews Soiree.

There was birch rind, tar twine, cherry wine and turpentine,

Jowls and cavalances, ginger beer and tea;

Pig's feet, cat's meat, dumplings boiled up in a sheet,

Dandelion and crackie's teeth at the Kelligrews Soiree.

Oh, I borrowed Cluney's beaver as I squared my yards to sail,

And a swallow tail from Hogan that was foxy on the tail;

Billy Cuddahie's old working pants and Patsy Nolan's shoes,

And an old white vest from Fogarty to sport at Kelligrews.

There was Dan Milley, Joe Lilly, Tantan and Mrs. Tilley,

Dancing like a little filly, 'twould raise your heart to see;

Jim Brine, Dan Ryan, Flipper Smith and Caroline,

I tell you, boys, we had a time at the Kelligrews Soiree.

Oh, when I arrived at Betsy Snook's that night at half past eight,

The place was blocked with carriages stood waiting at the gate;

With Cluney's funnel upon my pate, the first words Betsy said,

"Here comes the local preacher with the pulpit on his head".

There was Bill Mews, Dan Hughes, Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

, Taft

William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...

 and Teddy Roose

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

,

While Bryant

William Jennings Bryan

William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...

, he sat in the blues and looking hard at me;

Jim Fling

Fireman Jim Flynn

Andrew Chiariglione, usually known as Fireman Jim Flynn, was an American boxer of the early twentieth century.-Biography:...

, Tom King

Thomas King (boxer)

Tom King also known as "The Fighting Sailor" was an English boxer who fought both bare-knuckle and with gloves. Strong, fast, and durable he was a skilled pugilist. He retired from the ring in 1863, as the Heavyweight Champion of England, following his defeat of the boxer Jem Mace...

, Johnson

Jack Johnson (boxer)

John Arthur Johnson , nicknamed the “Galveston Giant,” was an American boxer. At the height of the Jim Crow era, Johnson became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion...

, champion of the ring,

And all the boxers I could bring to the Kelligrews Soiree.

"The Saratoga Lancers first," Miss Betsy kindly said,

I danced with Nancy Cronin and her Granny on the Head;

And Hogan danced with Betsy, well you should have seen his shoes,

As he lashed the muskets from the rack that night at Kelligrews.

There was boiled guineas, cold guineas, bullock's heads and piccaninnies,

Everything to catch the pennies you'd break your sides to see;

Boiled duff, cold duff, apple jam was in a cuff,

I tell you, boys, we had enough at the Kelligrews Soiree.

Crooked Flavin struck the fiddler and a hand I then took in,

You should see George Cluney's beaver and it flattened to the rim;

And Hogan's coat was like a vest, the tails were gone you see,

Says I, "The Devil haul ye and your Kelligrews Soiree".

There was birch rind, tar twine, cherry wine and turpentine,

Jowls and cavalances, ginger beer and tea;

Pig's feet, cat's meat, dumplings boiled up in a sheet,

Dandelion and crackie's teeth at the Kelligrews Soiree.