Right, so every few weeks I get an email or a forum post that goes something like "Seamus, what's the ACTUAL order of the verses, I had a row with my brother-in-law about it at a wedding." And honestly? Fair. It comes up. It's the single most-asked thing I get, after "is the cat alright" (he is, more on him later).
So here it is. The order. Cleanly, so you can screenshot it and wave it at your brother-in-law.
You start at the bottom and you build up. Bog, then tree, then limb, then branch, then twig, then nest, then egg, then bird, then feather, then flea. That's the spine of it. Ten links in the chain. Then on the very last verse you sing the whole thing back down again in reverse, all in one breath if you're brave, and you collapse at the bottom with the bog down in the valley-o.
Here's the lot of it written out so there's no confusion:
- And in that bog there was a TREE
- And on that tree there was a LIMB
- And on that limb there was a BRANCH
- And on that branch there was a TWIG
- And on that twig there was a NEST
- And in that nest there was an EGG
- And in that egg there was a BIRD
- And on that bird there was a FEATHER
- And on that feather there was a FLEA
- And on that flea there was a... well. That's where it stops, or where the speck or the hair sneaks in depending on where you learned it. We'll get to that.
The logic, and there IS a logic, is that you're zooming in. You start with the biggest possible thing, a whole bog in a whole valley, and each verse the camera gets closer and smaller until you're staring at a flea sitting on a feather. It's a telescope. Or one of those Russian dolls, but musical, and with a flea at the centre instead of a tiny doll. I've written about that zoom at length over on the bog itself and right at the other end on the flea, which is the CLIMAX, I will not be taking questions on that.
Now. Where people go wrong.
The big one, the one that starts actual arguments, is limb and branch. People swap them. They sing branch before limb. And look — I understand why, in normal speech a limb and a branch are nearly the same yoke. But the song zooms IN. A limb is a big thick fella coming off the trunk. A branch is smaller, coming off the limb. So limb first, then branch. If you do it the other way the telescope goes backwards for one verse and it bothers me physically. (I'm grand. It's grand.)
The second mistake is skipping the twig. I've heard whole sessions go nest straight off the branch, no twig at all, and I always think, well, what's the nest holding onto then? The twig is load-bearing. Structurally and emotionally. Keep your twig.
Third one — and this is more of a forgiveable wobble than a crime — is the nest, egg, bird stretch. Some people put the egg before the nest, or sing "and in that nest there was a bird" and forget the egg entirely, which means a fully grown bird has hatched, flown, and moved back into the nest, all off-screen. No. Nest, then egg, then bird. You watch it being born. That's nicer anyway.
And the last thing, which isn't a mistake at all, is the ending. Some versions stop at the flea. Some add a hair on the flea. Some add a speck on the hair, which is wildly ambitious to sing at full pelt and I respect anyone who tries. I've even heard a "hair on the flea, and a flea on the hair" that loops back on itself like a snake eating its tail. There's no single right answer there and I'd never tell a session their own ending is wrong. That's not the order being wrong, that's just the bog being bigger in some valleys than others.
If you want the full clean lyrics with the reverse-cascade written out properly, I keep that on the lyrics page and try to keep it tidy. Bookmark it. Screenshot it. Win the wedding argument.
I called this post "settled, for now," and I meant the "for now." Because the second I publish this, someone in Donegal or Tipperary or, God help me, the Faroe Islands is going to email me a verse I've never heard with a perfectly straight face, and it'll be older than mine, and I'll have to think about it for a week. That's the song. It refuses to fully settle. That's half of why I love it.
But for everyday purposes, for getting through it at a wedding without a row: bog, tree, limb, branch, twig, nest, egg, bird, feather, flea. Up the way, then all the way back down.
You're welcome. Tell your brother-in-law I said hello.
Slán go fóill, BogLord2002
P.S. — Rattlin sat on the keyboard for the better part of writing this and I'm fairly sure at one point he added "limb" three times in a row. I took it out. He's not as fussed about verse order as I am. He's more of a structuralist.