The Night Pat Murphy Died

Song Information

Composer: Traditional

Lyric Author: Traditional

Published: 20th Century

Country of origin: Canada (Newfoundland)

General Interest

Sometimes attributed to the songwriter Johnny Burke, there's no real evidence he actually wrote it, so we've left the composer/author as "Traditional".

The song describes the antics at an Irish wake. The tradition of holding a wake comes from Ireland, where after someone's death, their relatives and close friends would drink, sing and generally be noisy - in the hope that if the person wasn't actually dead, they would wake up. It was a common fear to be thought dead, and be buried alive.

The most famous version of this song was recorded by Great Big Sea on their 1997 album Play. Russell Crowe sung their version in the 2009 film, State of Play.

Here's a link to the Lyric:

The Night Pat Murphy Died Lyric

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