The Walls of Jerusalem

Oh the poor man lived outside the walls of Jerusalem
Glory Hallelujah hi-oh jerrum

The rich man lived inside the walls of Jerusalem
Glory Hallelujah hi-oh jerrum

The poor man went to the rich man’s door-ium
Glory Hallelujah hi-oh jerrum

The poor man asked for a breadie and a cheese-ium
Glory Hallelujah hi-oh jerrum

The rich man said ‘I’ll call the police-ium’
Glory Hallelujah hi-oh jerrum

Hi-oh jerrum, hi-oh jerrum
Skiddle a mink a doodle um, skiddle a mink a doodle um
Glory Hallelujah hi-oh jerrum.

Now the poor man died and he went straight to heaven-ium
Glory Hallelujah hi-oh jerrum

He was fooling with the angels at a quarter past eleven-ium
Glory Hallelujah hi-oh jerrum

Hi-oh jerrum, hi-oh jerrum
Skiddle a mink a doodle um, skiddle a mink a doodle um
Glory Hallelujah hi-oh jerrum

Now the rich man died and he didn’t fare so well-ium
Glory Hallelujah hi-oh jerrum

He couldn’t go to heaven, so he had to go to hell-ium
Glory Hallelujah hi-oh jerrum

Now the rich man asked for a whiskey and a sod-ium
Glory Hallelujah hi-oh jerrum

The devil only shouted, ‘Shovel on the coal-ium.'
Glory Hallelujah hi-oh jerrum

Hi-oh jerrum, hi-oh jerrum
Skiddle a mink a doodle um, skiddle a mink a doodle um
Glory, Hallelujah, hi-oh jerrum

Now the moral of my story is, the richie and the poor-ium
Glory Hallelujah hi-oh jerrum

We’re all stony broke, so we’ll all go to heaven-ium
Glory Hallelujah hi-oh jerrum

Hi-oh jerrum, hi-oh jerrum 
Skiddle a mink a doodle um, skiddle a mink a doodle um
Glory Hallelujah hi-oh jerrum.

Notes from Hugh Shields

Learnt from his father, who came from Cork. Whether this derives from the serious “Dives and Lazarus” (Child no 56) or direct from the Bible (Luke XVI), it is obviously modern and facetious. A snatch corresponding to lines 6–7 is on So early in the morning,  ed. Diane Hamilton (1962:Tradition LP TLP 1024) [?]; a larger fragment was learnt by Gerald Durrell in childhood from a Greek doctor (see Durrell, My family and other animals [1963:140, Shields Index 420]).