"The Song of the Cheerful (but slightly Sarcastic) Jesus" is a poem by Oliver St. John Gogarty

Oliver St. John Gogarty

Oliver Joseph St John Gogarty was an Irish poet, author, otolaryngologist, athlete, politician, and well-known conversationalist, who served as the inspiration for Buck Mulligan in James Joyce's novel Ulysses....

. It was written around Christmas of 1904 and was later published in modified form as "The Ballad of Joking Jesus" in James Joyce

James Joyce

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...

's Ulysses

Ulysses (novel)

Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...

.

Original text

The poem, like many of Oliver Gogarty's humorous verses, was written for the private amusement of his friends. In the summer of 1905, he sent a copy to James Joyce

James Joyce

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...

, then living in Trieste

Trieste

Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...

, via their mutual acquaintance Vincent Cosgrave. Joyce

James Joyce

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...

 and Gogarty had quarreled the previous autumn, and Cosgrave presented the poem as a peace offering, writing Joyce that "the appended song of J is of course Gogarty's. He bids me send it. He desires you back in Dublin. ...It seems G desires reconciliation so that if you write to me be unequivocal."

I'm the queerest young fellow that ever was heard.

My mother's a Jew; my father's a Bird

With Joseph the Joiner I cannot agree

So 'Here's to Disciples and Calvary.'

If anyone thinks that I amn't divine,

He gets no free drinks when I'm making the wine

But have to drink water and wish it were plain

That I make when the wine becomes water again.

My methods are new and are causing surprise:

To make the blind see I throw dust in their eyes

To signify merely there must be a cod

If the Commons will enter the Kingdom of God

Now you know I don't swim and you know I don't skate

I came down to the ferry one day and was late.

So I walked on the water and all cried, in faith!

For a Jewman it's better than having to bathe.

Whenever I enter in triumph and pass

You will find that my triumph is due to an ass

Then give up your cabin and ask them for bread

And they'll give you a stone habitation instead

With fine grounds to walk in and raincoat to wear

And the Sheep will be naked before you'll go bare.

The more men are wretched the more you will rule

But thunder out 'Sinner' to each bloody fool;

For the Kingdom of God (that's within you) begins

When you once make a fellow acknowledge he sins.

Rebellion anticipates timely by 'Hope,'

And stories of Judas and Peter the Pope

And you'll find that you'll never be left in the lurch

By children of Sorrows and Mother the Church

Goodbye, now, goodbye, you are sure to be fed

You will come on My Grave when I rise from the Dead

What's bred in the bone cannot fail me to fly

And Olivet's breezy—Goodbye now Goodbye.

Usage in Ulysses

Always on the lookout for engaging quotations, Joyce

James Joyce

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...

 decided to incorporate Gogarty's poem into his work. An early manuscript fragment loosely connected with Stephen Hero

Stephen Hero

Stephen Hero is a posthumously-published autobiographical novel by Irish author James Joyce. Its published form reflects only a portion of an original manuscript, part of which was lost. Many of its ideas were used in composing A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.-External links:*...

places the first two stanzas in the mouth of Doherty, an early prototype of Buck Mulligan

Buck Mulligan

Malachi "Buck" Mulligan is a fictional character in James Joyce's novel Ulysses. He appears most prominently in episode 1 , and is the subject of the novel's famous first sentence:...

. Joyce

James Joyce

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...

 later abridged and modified the poem for inclusion in the opening chapter of Ulysses

Ulysses (novel)

Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...

, where it is sung by Buck Mulligan

Buck Mulligan

Malachi "Buck" Mulligan is a fictional character in James Joyce's novel Ulysses. He appears most prominently in episode 1 , and is the subject of the novel's famous first sentence:...

, a character largely modeled on Oliver Gogarty.

I'm the queerest young fellow that ever you heard

My mother's a Jew, my father's a bird.

With Joseph the Joiner I cannot agree

So here's to disciples and Calvary.

If anyone things thinks that I amn't divine

He'll get no free drinks when I'm making the wine

But have to drink water and wish it were plain

That I make when the wine becomes water again.

Goodbye, now, goodbye! Write down all that I said

And tell Tom, Dick, and Harry I rose from the dead.

What's bred in the bone cannot fail me to fly

And Olivet's breezy... Goodbye, now, goodbye!

An apparition of Edward the Seventh also recites a line from one of the unused stanzas ("My methods are new and are causing surprise. To make the blind see I throw dust in their eyes") during the chapter "Circe."

Asked about his authorship of the poem later in life, Gogarty remarked, "Yes I am guilty; but it shows Joyce's mastery that nobody attributed the verses to me even though he quotes them almost accurately."