The Irish Rover

Hey! Hey! Verse N.C. In the Year of our Lord, eighteen-hundred-and-six We set sail from the cold quay of Cork We were sailing away with a cargo of bricks For the Grand City Hall of New York Verse We had an elegant craft, she was rigged fore and aft And oh, how the wild winds drove her She had twenty-seven masts, and withstood several blasts And they called her The Irish Rover Hey! Hey! Verse N.C. There was Barney McGee, from the banks of the Lee There was Hogan from County Tyrone There was Charlie McGurk, who was scared stiff of work And a chap from Westmeath, called Malone Verse 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 Hey! Hey! Verse N.C. Well, we had five million bags of the best Sligo rags We had six million barrels of stones And we had seven million bales of old nanny goats tails We had eight million barrels of bones Verse We had nine million hogs, ten million dogs Eleven million barrels of porter And we had twelve million sides of old blind horses' hides N.C. In the hold of the Irish Rover Instrumental Verse N.C. We had sailed seven years, when the measles broke out And the ship lost its way in a fog And the whole of the crew, was reduced down to two Just meself and the Captain's old dog Verse Well, the ship struck a rock, oh lord, what a shock The boat she turned right over She turned nine times around and the poor dog was drowned I'm the last of The Irish Rover Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Outro