Irish Rover

Well on the Fourth of July 1806

We set sail from the sweet cove of Cork

we were sailing away with a cargo of bricks

For the grand City Hall in New York

'twas a wonderful craft, she was rigged for and aft

And oh, how the wild wind drove her

She stood several blasts, she had twenty-seven masts

And they called her the Irish Rover

Well we had one million bags of the best Sligo rags,

We had two million barrels of stone

We had three million bails of old nanny-goats' tails,

We had four million barrels of bones

We had five million hogs, and six million dogs,

Seven million barrels of porter

We had eight million bails of old nanny-goats' tails

In the hold of the Irish Rover

Well we had Barney McGee from the banks of the Lee,

We had Hogan from County Tyrone

And we had Jimmy McGurk who was scared stiff of work

And a lad from Westmeath called Malone

O we had Slugger O'Toole who was drunk as a rule

And Fighting Bill Treacy from Dover

And your man, Mike McCann

from the banks of the Bann

Was the skipper on the Irish Rover

Well a sailor he longs for a better life

It's so lonesome by night and by day

And he longs for the shore and a charming young whore

Who'll make all his troubles away

All the noise and the rout

All the whiskey and stout

The fighting it's never over

Of the love of a maid he is never afraid

It's all for the Irish Rover

We had sailed seven years when the measles broke out

And the ship lost it's way in the fog

And that whale of a crew was reduced down to two,

Just meself and the Captain's old dog

Then the ship struck a rock,

Oh Lord! What a shock,

The bulkhead was turned right over

Well it turned nine times around

And the poor old dog was drowned

Well I'm the last of the Irish Rover!