The Irish Rover
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C
1. On the fourth of July eighteen hundred and six
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we set sail from the sweet Cobh 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
D
'Twas
a wonderful craft, she was rigged fore and aft,
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and oh, how the wild wind
drove her,
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C
she could stand a great blast, she had twenty seven masts,
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and they called her the Irish
Rover.
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2. We had one million bags of the best
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we had two million barrels of
stones,
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we had three million sides of
old blind horses hides,
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we had four million barrels of
bones.
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We had five million hogs, six
million dogs,
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seven million barrels of
porter,
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we had eight million bales of
old nanny goat tails
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in the hold
of the Irish Rover.
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3. There was awl Mickey Coote who played hard
on his flute,
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when the ladies lined up for
his set,
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he was tootin'
with skill for each sparkling quadrille,
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though the dancers were fluther'd and bet.
D
With his sparse witty talk he
was cock of the walk,
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as he rolled the dames under
and over,
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they all knew at a glance when
he took up his stance,
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and he sailed in the Irish
Rover.
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4. There was Barney McGee from the banks of the Lee,
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there was Hogan from
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there was Johnny McGuirk who was scared stiff of work,
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and a chap from Westmeath
called Malone.
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There was Slugger O'Toole, who
was drunk as a rule,
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and fighting Bill Tracy from
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and your man Mick McCann from
the banks of the Bann
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was the skipper of the Irish
Rover.
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5. We had sailed seven years when the measels
broke out,
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and our ship lost it's way in the fog,
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then the whole of the crew was reduced down to two,
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just myself
and the captain's old dog.
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Then the ship struck a rock, oh
Lord, what a shock,
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the boat, it was flipped right
over
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turned nine times around and
the poor old dog was drowned,
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I'm the last of the Irish
Rover.
(midi in C - F - C - Am - G ….) (The Pogues)