Dubliners, The - Weila Waile Lyrics






And there was an old woman and she lived in the woods
A weila weila waila
There was an old woman and she lived in the woods
Down by the River Saile

She had a baby three months old
A weila weila waila
She had a baby three months old
Down by the River Saile

She had a penknife long and sharp
A weila weila waila
She had a penknife long and sharp
Down by the River Saile

She stuck the penknife in the baby's heart
A weila weila waila
She stuck the penknife in the baby's heart
Down by the River Saile

Three loud knocks came knocking on the door
A weila weila waila
Three loud knocks came knocking on the door
Down by the River Saile

There was two policeman and a man
A weila weila waila
There was two policeman and a man
Down by the River Saile

They took her away and they put her into jail
A weila weila waila
They took her away and they put her into jail
Down by the River Saile

They put a rope around her neck
A weila weila waila
They put a rope around her neck
Down by the River Saile

They pulled the rope she got hung
A weila weila waila
They pulled the rope she got hung
Down by the River Saile

Now that was the end of the woman in the woods
A weila weila waila
And that was the end of the baby too
Down by the River Saile





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Dubliners, The Weila Waile Comments
  1. l.... ....

    also fucking stole, suing this stupid band

  2. s.... ....

    HOW IS BABBY KILLED. HOW IS BABBY KILLED. HOW GIRL GET STAB BABBY?

  3. �.... �....

    Канша жыл болды мыналарга

  4. �.... �....

    Ойй тозган екенау

  5. N.... S....

    Only my fella Irish songwriters and musicians could make such a terrible subject matter sound so perky!

    T'underrin' Jayzus lads, this is awful heavy

  6. C.... D....

    When u can’t afford an abortion

  7. E.... -....

    My granny used to sing this to us when we were younger. We didn’t know what it was about. 😂

  8. a.... a....

    Learnt this at school in Norn Iron 😂

  9. D.... C....

    I am just learning of this song in 2019 because of the Movie "The Hole In The Ground". It was played at the end with the Credits

    D.... C....

    Same, man, this song is so good.

  10. C.... D....

    #theholeinthewoods

  11. D.... �....

    Get over it fucken pc Americans

  12. c.... 4....

    shoutout to himac the foreigner🦆🦆🦆🦆

  13. T.... T....

    Gives me memories of trying to feed my brethren while living under the staircase.

  14. j.... ....

    The Ballad of Buster Scruggs! Liam Neeson!

    j.... ....

    I knew I'd see one of these lol

  15. D.... �....

    My little cousin taught it was she stuck the pen knife up it’s arse

  16. l.... ....

    I also was introduced to this at a tender age. Oral tradition of the horrors that brought my people to America

  17. C.... O....

    i love this song except the words are a bit dark its about a murder in dublin in the 1800s

  18. J.... P....

    My dad had my sister and I sing this for people when we were little. They were freaked out 😂😂😂

  19. J.... P....

    I prefer the "18 Brits" version, because at least the weren't babies at the Narrow Water!

  20. S.... S....

    Wtf Ireland

    Dark days for Ireland, dark days.

    S.... S....

    JrhGamer 012704..... It's just a folk song, it isn't based on reality haha

    S.... S....

    darrin42 oh. It's still dark though.

    S.... S....

    JrhGamer 012704 Sure is. It's an old Dublin folk song, sang about people who live in the country side. You know, they're all savages who murder baby's etc. That's it's history

    S.... S....

    Irish history was fucking depressing, so they had a lot of songs like this

    S.... S....

    800 years of "dark days".

  21. B.... ....

    Easily the best version

  22. M.... ....

    I remember once when I was a kid my folks let me come with them to a pub and there was a singer there who sang this.

    It was great.

    M.... ....

    my mum sang me this as a lullaby, Anglo-Irish families are mental!

    M.... ....

    One of the first songs i learnt on the tin whistle and lne of only lifes lessons i still hold close, ghe opression that was and how people suffer from brainwashing

  23. W.... ....

    My dad used to play this all the time when I was younger, well the Dubliners in general! Why did they think this song was appropriate for me at a young age? I would be singing "she stuck the penknife in the baby's head" lol 😂😂

  24. R.... K....

    Why did my parents think it was appropriate to play to me and my brothers as children?😂 I didn't really understand it as a child and I constantly sang it without knowing what it was really about.

    R.... K....

    Ever read the story Hansel and Gretel? Very disturbing...and it was meant for children!!!! lol

  25. A.... F....

    Poor lady died for lack of understanding/treatment of Postpartum depression, or more so the action that resulted from the lack of treatment.

    A.... F....

    a rope and a swift kick

    A.... F....

    She was killed bc she aborted her child. Note the lyric "She had a baby 3 months old". So, when she stuck the penknife in the baby's heart, it was still inside her. So, couldn't have been postpartum depression. Just abortion.

  26. R.... C....

    Happy St.Patrick day from a Yankie!

  27. j.... ....

    On long car journeys ... this was my children's favourite song - Perhaps
    they hoped that their mother wouldn't dream of such a thing.. well they
    survived and are in their 40s now! Mind you they used to watch the early years of Dr Who and that terrified me, and perhaps this was mild in comparison.

  28. L.... A....

    my name is Ueila "U"

  29. p.... ....

    is there a video of the Dubliners singing this song live, love to see it

  30. D.... ....

    So this song is about a woman who was hung for killing a baby?

    D.... ....

    this song is my childhood nursery rhyme , Irish childhood ha

    D.... ....

    +DJNX4995 , its an old Dublin childrens song/ lullaby / skipping song etc , its about how Dubliners viewed people who lived outside the walls of the pale , they thought they were savages who basically "ate their young " as Brendan behans father claimed when his family were moved from the IC tennaments to crumlin , a classic song but probly not very PC for the pussified kids of today ,

    D.... ....

    no worse than ring around the rosie or tom dooley or many other songs

    D.... ....

    @dubinboston Great explanation. I never knew.

    D.... ....

    Sean McCully Interesting though, I was always told it was related to the famine years 1845-50 and used to be classified as a “murder ballad,” not a children’s rhyme. From what my granny said it was about a mother who couldn’t feed the baby due to starvation and instead killed it.

  31. c.... ....

    Ahb! the memories of The Dubliners when they performed at The "Edinburgh folk festival" in 1964 a great show with Ray & Arrchie Fisher Nadia Cattouse great concert & a great a wonderful singing audience & a great  concert drinks afterwards Those where the days

    c.... ....

    envious you got to hear ronnie, barney and the rest in their prime

  32. p.... ....

    sounds like a tribute to mrs thather

    p.... ....

    Omg i love u

  33. M.... J....

    please put on your channel Molly Malone and Wild Rover

  34. b.... w....

    ''There were two policemen .... and a man''. Great stuff. I read a long time ago that this was a reference to Special Branch but am unsure if it's the case..

    b.... w....

    the one I remember sang 'two policeman and a special branch man'

    b.... w....

    +brendan w - another version by the Dubliners they actually sing... Two Policemen and a special-branch man !

  35. J.... ....

    im scottish but no doubt, i love the dubliners!! 

    J.... ....

    Hi Scottish I'm English

  36. s.... m....

    I remember learning this at school,aged 7 & its as horrific now as it was then.


    There was a similar incident in Dublin sometime in the 70's & sadly there's likely
    to be many more obscene cases like it around the world,



    Does anyone know who wrote it?
    And is there a river with that name? Id appreciate any help or info. *

  37. 2.... ....

    its based on a true story that became an urban legend folk song for kids in the 80s

  38. M.... ....

    Really bad cases of postpartum depression make for creepy songs.

  39. M.... ....

    Cheerfully horrific songs are an Irish specialty.

  40. J.... W....

    yea and the wierd thing is , is that this is a childrens song :/

  41. 2.... ....

    its an old irish song,get over it pc people,its when we used to play with dirt and collect for bonna night without antibiotics,

  42. 0.... ....

    and baby murdering

  43. R.... G....

    In the heart, actually. The reason this song is screwed up is because, at the time when this was written, people living in the cities were suspicious of people living in rural areas. Even thinking they were the kind to murder their own children.

  44. R.... G....

    Its a murder ballad, just like one of those screwed up childrens stories put to song.

  45. X.... ....

    This song reminds me of going camping and getting up early to go fishing, great memories.

  46. S.... R....

    I remember this song my dad used to play on the radio when we were on long car journeys we all used to sing along to it

  47. P.... ....

    Is this song about a woman murdering a baby with a knife?

  48. W.... ....

    I love how dark kids songs used to be! What happened to those good ol days?

  49. S.... F....

    makes me feel homesick, we sang this in car trips going to swim meets across the country. love it!

  50. t.... t....

    how can those six people dislike this song???????

  51. H.... ....

    Wonderful song, I don't understand what the poster could havve possibly found un-enjoyable about it.

  52. s.... m....

    love this wee song used to get it sung to me as a child, it brings back some great memories!

  53. 1.... ....

    @darrin42 great song man fair play to ya

  54. 1.... ....

    Ireland forever !!!

  55. q.... ....

    my mum used to sing this to me when i was a baby. ha!

  56. s.... ....

    What album was the Clancy bros. Version

  57. W.... F....

    @Spirosaur still fucked up

  58. A.... ....

    @TheRebelman95 Actually, it's heart

  59. T.... ....

    @TheRebelman95 heart

  60. V.... ....

    @BlaineProvince

    Always glad to help, comrade.

  61. h.... ....

    @TheRebelman95 that's Ireland for you!

  62. W.... F....

    what the hell? did he say she stabbed the kid in the head

    W.... F....

    No it’s stab the baby in the head

    W.... F....

    And worse the baby was 3 months old

  63. B.... ....

    @TheFacelessActivist You are my hero I always wanted to say something like this but couldn't find the right words to do so

  64. J.... W....

    @angiec789 you can download their discography at wwwdotkatdotph just type in the dubliners in the search bar, and take the dot and replace the dot with (.) lol

  65. V.... ....

    @jessuatwork

    A fetus is an organic being in a parasitic state without feelings, dispositions or any kind of neurobiological properties. To make an abortion is NOT murder since you can't murder a being that doesn't live. By your logic: We shouldn't use tapeworm medicine either, and put people in jail for stepping on flowers...

  66. d.... ....

    Thumbs up if you noticed the green writing said "the dubiners" rather than "The Dubliners" :)

  67. c.... ....

    awesome song, awesome

  68. d.... ....

    @mckendo83
    Yeah - Clancy's version went ''she stuck the knife in the baby's head... the more she stuck the more it bled.''

  69. A.... D....

    If anyone's curious about how a song like this came to be, it's one of many of this kind mostly coming of the great depression in Ireland. Average people lived in tenaments in the city centre, which they loved and had generations of families in despite the buildings falling to bits. The government started relocating people to the suburbs to deal with that, which scared the piss out of them. They wrote songs like this imagining the terrible things which occured on the city limits.

  70. f.... m....

    haha u spelt the dubliners wrong on the screen :)

  71. u.... ....

    so many good memories of this song - singing along in the car when i was little ... very sad lil story to the song

  72. m.... ....

    I remember going on school trips when i was about 9 and the whole bus would sing this song for hours, the good aul days :)

  73. V.... ....

    @mckendo83

    Don't take it so seriously, I'm just taking the piss.

  74. m.... ....

    @TheFacelessActivist the VERSION (not notion) I grew up listening to by the clancy brothers says dont stick knives in the babies heads...

  75. V.... ....

    @mckendo83

    If you think that's a weird notion, then you might wanna consider theraphy.

  76. A.... M....

    only the Irish would sing about stabbing a baby! love the song tho =)

  77. m.... ....

    this is a weird version, i remember it ending with "dont stick knives in the babies heads"

  78. S.... c....

    Dubliners from Baile Átha Cliath? Mb this is obvius if u look at the name but u never know, i dont hear the accent sound more like a Gaillimh accent

  79. c.... ....

    great song i'm only 10 and its my favourite song and i'm also from Dublin

  80. e.... ....

    fUCK TORY SCUM!!!

  81. e.... ....

    coz of the fuckin tory scum luks like wel b turnin to canibalism, well not on my watch. BNLA!!

  82. k.... d....

    haha i remember my dad singing this when i was little and being terrified!

  83. S.... M....

    @anatefcan13 Do, post

  84. D.... J....

    I heard an american singing it with different words is that the one u r talkin about Spooky tho

  85. a.... ....

    we have a similar, though seldomly-told story in new york (upstate), of an old poltergeist that roams the woodlands looking for children of 10 years.

    and if she finds you, she tries to "take" you.

  86. F.... R....

    I love this song! she stuck that baby in the policmans heart! well, I like throwin that verse in there anyways.

  87. a.... ....

    me aunt taught me and me sisters this song when we were little....must be more than 30 years ago now....still love it now

  88. i.... ....

    this was sung round my campfire lol in the middle of the woods. i dont knw how i slept after tht song

  89. R.... ....

    classssss tune..
    makes you proud to be irish :D

  90. B.... ....

    haha my mum and uncle sing this when theyr drunk

  91. S.... ....

    You'd have to be made of stone not to like it! I love it! More!

    The Moral of the story is/Weila Weila Waila/Don't stick knives in babby's heads/Down by the river Saila!

  92. S.... E....

    ha we used to play skipping to this as kids...good song

  93. D.... B....

    the best!!!!

  94. s.... ....

    Another childhood favourite! :)

  95. c.... ....

    Brilliant - this was one of my childhood favourites!