Tin Whistle Sheet Music & Practice Guide
Learn Tim Finnegan's Wake on a High D tin whistle with interactive sheet music and real-time fingering. A lively Irish ballad.
Step 1: Learn the verse melody
Step 2: Learn the chorus
Step 3: Play the full song with a bouncy rhythm
Tim Finnegan’s Wake, more commonly known as Finnegan’s Wake, is a traditional Irish comic song that emerged in the mid-19th century and became popular in Irish music halls and pubs. The song tells the humorous story of Tim Finnegan, a bricklayer who falls from a ladder, is presumed dead, and then famously comes back to life when whiskey is spilled during his wake. The lyrics reflect Ireland’s long tradition of storytelling through song, blending humor, satire, and social observation. Although the song is often associated with Dublin, it spread widely through oral tradition and printed broadsides, becoming a staple of Irish folk repertoire. Its lively melody and repetitive structure made it well suited to communal singing and celebration. Today, Tim Finnegan’s Wake remains one of the most recognizable Irish folk songs, frequently performed in pubs and festivals, and it continues to serve as an accessible introduction to Irish traditional music and humor.
It is often sung in pubs, but it is really a humorous ballad/story song.