Irish rover

On the fourth of july,
Eighteen hundred and six
We set sail from the sweet cove of cork,
We went sailing away with a cargo of bricks,
For the grand city hall in new york.

'Twas a wonderful craft
She was rigged fore and aft,
And oh, how the wild wind drove her.
She stood seven blasts
She had twenty seven masts,
And they called her the irish rover.

We had one million bags of the best sligo rags,
We had two million barrels of stone,
We had three million sides of old blind horses hides,
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 bales of old nanny goats tails,
In the hold of the irish rover.

There was awld mickey coote,
Who played hard on his flute,
When the ladies lined up for a set,
He was tootlin' with skill,
For each sparklin' quadrille
Through the dancers were fluther'd and bet.

With his smart, witty talk,
He was cock of the walk
And he rolled the dames under and over.
They all new at a glance
When he took up his stance
That he sailed in the irish rover

There was barry macgee
For the banks of the lee,
There was hogan for county tyrone.
There was johnny mcgurk,
Who was scared stiff of work.
And a man for west meath called malone.

There was slugger o'toole,
Who was drunk as a rule.
And fighting bill treacy from dover.
And your man mick maccann,
From the banks of the bann
Was the skipper on the irish rover.

We had sailed seven years,
When the measles broke out.
And the ship lost its' way in the fog.
And that whale of a crew,
Was reduced to two,
Just myself and the captain's old dog.

Then the ship struck a rock,
Oh lord, what a shock!!!!
The bulkhead was turned right over.
Turned nine times around,
And the poor old dog was drowned.
And the last of the irish rover

Traditional
Salvaged from a bin at the gathering 1096, within the irish songbook