Well on the Fourth of July 1806
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We set sail from the sweet cove of Cork
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we were sailing away with a cargo of bricks
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For the grand City Hall in New York
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'twas a wonderful craft, she was rigged for and aft
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And oh, how the wild wind drove her
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She stood several blasts, she had twenty-seven masts
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And they called her the Irish Rover
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Well we had one million bags of the best Sligo rags,
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We had two million barrels of stone
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We had three million bails of old nanny-goats' tails,
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We had four million barrels of bones
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We had five million hogs, and six million dogs,
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Seven million barrels of porter
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We had nine million sides of old blind horses' hides,
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In the hold of the Irish Rover
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Well we had Barney McGee from the banks of the Lee,
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We had Hogan from County Tyrone
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And we had Jimmy McGurk who was scared stiff of work
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And a lad from Westmeath called Malone
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O we had Slugger O'Toole who was drunk as a rule
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And Fighting Bill Treacy from Dover
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And your man, Mike McCann
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from the banks of the Bann
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Was the skipper on the Irish Rover
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Well a sailor he longs for a better life
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It's so lonesome by night and by day
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And he longs for the shore and a charming young whore
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Who'll make all his troubles away
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All the noise and the rout
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All the whiskey and stout
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The fighting it's never over
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Of the love of a maid he is never afraid
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It's all for the Irish Rover
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We had sailed seven years when the measles broke out
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And the ship lost it's way in the fog
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And that whale of a crew was reduced down to two,
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Just meself and the Captain's old dog
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Then the ship struck a rock,
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Oh Lord! What a shock,
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The bulkhead was turned right over
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Well it turned nine times around
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And the poor old dog was drowned
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Well I'm the last of the Irish Rover!
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Irish Rover
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The Tossers |