Irish Rover

On the fourth of July eighteen hundred and six 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 'Twas a wonderful craft, she was rigged fore-and-aft And oh, how the wild winds drove her She'd stood several blasts, she had twenty-seven masts And we called her the Irish Rover We had one million bags of the best Sligo rags We had two million barrels of stones We had three million sides of old blind horses' hides We had four million barrels of bones We had five million hogs, had 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 old Mickey Coote who played hard on his flute When the ladies lined up for his set He was tootin' with skill for each sparkling quadrille Though the dancers were fluther'd and bet With his sparse witty talk he was cock of the walk And he rolled the dames under and over They all knew at a glance when he took up his stance And he sailed in the Irish Rover There was Barney McGee from the banks of the Lee There was Hogan from County Tyrone There was Jimmy McGurk who was scarred stiff of work And a man from Westmeath called Malone There was Slugger O'Toole who was drunk as a rule And fighting Bill Tracey from Dover And your man Mick McCann from the banks of the Bann Was the skipper of the Irish Rover For a sailor it's always a bother in life It's so lonesome by night and by day 'Til he launch for the shore and this charming young whore Who will melt all his troubles away All the noise and the rout, swillin' poitín and stout For him soon the torment's over Of the love of a maid, he's never afraid An old sot from the Irish Rover We had sailed seven years when the measles broke out And the ship lost its way in a fog And that whale of the crew was reduced down to two Just meself 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 I'm the last of the Irish Rover --- Irish Rover - The Pogues and The Dubliners