On the 4th of July 1806, we set sail form the sweet cove of Cork We were sailing away with a cargo of bricks for the Grand City Hall in New York ‘Twas wonderful craft she was rigged for and aft and, oh, how the wild wind drove her She stood several blasts and twenty seven masts and they called her the Irish rover We had one million bags of the best Sligo rags, we had two million barrels of stone We had three million sides of old blind horses hides, we had four million barrels of bones We had five million hogs and six million dogs, seven million barrels of porter We had eight million bails of old nanny goat’s tales in the hold of the Irish rover There was Barney McGee from the banks of the Lee, there was Hogan from county Tyrone There was Johnny McGurk who was scared stiff of work and a man from Westmeath called Malone There was Slugger O’Toole always 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 We had sailed seven years when the measles broke out and the ship lost it’s way in the fog And that whale of a crew was reduced down to two, just myself 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