Irish Rover

Lyrics

[Verse 1] 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 [Verse 2] We'd an elegant craft She was rigged fore and aft And oh, how the trade winds drove her She had twenty-seven masts She stood several blasts And they called her The Irish Rover [Verse 3] There was Barney Magee from the banks of the Lee There was Hogan from County Tyrone There was Johnny McGurk who was scared stiff of work And a chap from Westmeath named Malone There was Slugger O'Toole who was drunk as a rule And fighting Bill Tracy from Dover And your man Mick McCann, from the banks of the Bann Was the skipper of the Irish Rover [Verse 4] We had one million bags of the best Sligo rags We had two million barrels of bone We had three million bales of old nanny goats' tails We had four million barrels of stone We had five million hogs and six million dogs And seven million barrels of porter We had eight million sides of old blind horses' hides In the hold of the Irish Rover [Verse 5] We had sailed seven years when the measles broke out And our ship lost her way in a fog And the whole of the crew was reduced down to two 'Twas myself and the captain's old dog Well, the ship struck a rock, oh, Lord what a shock And nearly tumbled over Turned nine times around and the poor old dog was drowned I'm the last of the Irish Rover