The Mummer Song
Great Big Sea · Other Songs - Great Big Sea
Dear Granny, there's mummers, there's twenty or more.
Her old weathered face lightens up with a grin.
Any mummers, nice mummers 'lowed in?
Ah, come in lovely mummers, don't bother the snow,
We'll wipe up the water sure after you go.
And sit if you can upon some mummer's knee.
We'll see if we knows who ye be.
Ah, there's big ones and small ones, tall ones and thin,
There's boys dressed as women and girls dressed as men,
With humps on their backs and mitts on their feet,
My blessed we'll die with the heat.
Well, there's only one here that I think that I know,
That tall fellow standing alongside the stove.
He's shaking his fist for to make me not tell.
Must be Willy from out on the hill.
Ah, but that one's a stranger, if ever was one
With his underwear stuffed and his trapdoor undone.
Is he wearing his mother's big forty-two bra?
I knows, but I'm not going to say.
Well, I suppose you fine mummers would turn down a drop
Of home brew or alky, whatever you got.
That one with his rubber boots on the wrong feet
Ate enough for to do him all week.
Now I suppose you can dance? Sure they all nod their heads.
They've been tapping their feet ever since they came in.
And now that the drinks have been all passed around,
Sure the mummers are plankin' 'er down.
(Instrumental break - Bob plays one verse of Deck the Halls on the fiddle)
Ah, be careful the lamp! Now hold on to the stove.
Don't you swing Granny hard, 'cause you know that she's old.
And never you mind how you buckles the floor
'Cause the mummers have danced here before.
Oh my God, how hot is it? We'll never know.
Allows that we'll all get the devil's own cold.
Good night and good Christmas, mummers me dears
Please God, we will see you next year
Ah, good night and good Christmas, mummers me dears
Please God, we will see you next year
Please God, we will see you next year.
The Mummer Song
Great Big Sea's "The Mummer Song" stands as a defining track within their extensive catalogue of traditional folk adaptations. Recorded in the early 1990s, the song exemplifies the band's signature approach to reviving historical ballads with modern acoustic arrangements. The piece captures the rhythmic drive and storytelling nature of English sea shanties and folk traditions, showcasing the group's ability to blend authentic instrumentation with contemporary production values. As a staple of their early discography, the recording highlights the band's commitment to preserving and reinterpreting the musical heritage of the British Isles, resonating with audiences who appreciate the raw energy and narrative depth of traditional maritime songs.

