Saturday night, packed in tight all together at the big Marquee
When the man from the Cork examiner comes up and says to me
"Why do you keep coming back to the Marquee every year?"
"Ah the answers plain and simple, Mick, the reason's very clear
It's the reels in Ringaskiddy, the jigs in Haulbowline
Ricky Lynch singin' in The Corner House, he's like a vintage wine
It's the craic on Sherkin Island, the hake in Union Hall
The turbot caught upon Cape Clear, you can eat the bones and all
On the banks, the banks, the beautiful banks
On the banks of the river Lee
Saturday night, we're packed in tight
All together in the big Marquee
Puccini's in the Opera House, Karl Marx in the Connolly Hall
Joe Mac is in The Arcadia, the Two Norries are on the ball
Maggie Barry's on the Coal Quay, Jimmy Crowley on the ran-tan-tan
Sound as a bell, Hank Wedell and the maestro John Spillane
Here's Caitríona Twomey, comin' up The Mall
To cook the Penny Dinner, to feed the great and small
And there goes Don O'Leary, on the road to Sunday's Well
Up to the Cork Life Centre, to ring the mornin' bell
On the banks, the banks, the beautiful banks
On the banks of the river Lee
Saturday night, we're packed in tight
All together at the big Marquee
I loves the English Market, we all recall that scene
When a well-known Cork fishmonger met Her Majesty the Queen
He brought the cockles and the mussels, caviar and lobster tail
The periwinkle drove the poor old Queen compltely off the rail
I took a wrong turn at Dunkettle, upon my soul
I went down the Jack Lynch Tunnel, woke up in the Metropole
All along MacCurtain Street till I came to Patrick's Hill
Big Noel said, "Keep Coming Back" and begod I surely will
To the banks, the banks, the beautiful banks
To the banks of the river Lee
Saturday night, we're packed in tight
All together at the big Marquee
Oh The Lonely Woods of Upton, The Boys of Fairhill
The Piper of Crossbarry, I hear him still
I see The Blood and Bandage when I hear The Rebels sing
I'm goin' to kiss the Blarney Stone when the Bells of Shandon ring
On the banks, the banks, the beautiful banks
On the banks of the river Lee
Saturday night, we're packed in tight
All together at the big Marquee
