The Irish Rovers Irish Rover song lyrics

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 in New York

We had elegant craft, she was rigged 'fore and aft

And lord how the trade winds drove her

We had twenty-three masts, and she stood several blasts

And they called her the Irish Rover

Well, There was Barney McGee from the banks of the Lee

There was Hogan from County Tyrone

And 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 on the Irish Rover

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 horse's hides

In the hold of the Irish Rover

We had sailed seven years when the measles broke out

And our ship lost it's way in the fog

And the whole of the crew was reduced down to two

Meself and the captain's old dog

Then the ship struck a rock; oh Lord what a shock

We nearly tumbled over

Turned nine times around - and the poor old dog was drowned

We're the last of the Irish Rover