| Play/Download Music File Barry Taylor |
|
|
|
|
| This song was first known as The Sick Young Lover. The song as it evolved may be a combination of two songs, one English and one Irish. A broadsheet containing both English and phoenetic Irish verses was printed by Haly in Cork circa 1830.* |
I wish I was in Carrigfergus Only for nights in Ballygrant I would swim over the deepest ocean For my love to find But the sea is wide and I cannot cross over And neither have I the wings to fly I wish I could meet a handsome boatsman To ferry me over, to my love and die My childhood days bring back sad reflections Of happy times I spent so long ago My boyhood friends and my own relations Have all passed on now like melting snow. But I'll spend my days in endless roaming Soft is the grass, my bed is free. Ah, to be back now in Carrigfergus On that long road down to the sea. But in Kilkenny, it is reported On marble stones there as black as ink With gold and silver I would support her But I'll sing no more 'till I get a drink. For I'm drunk today, and I'm seldom sober A handsome rover from town to town Ah, but I'm sick now, my days are numbered Come all you young men and lay me down. |
| *This information is from a great thread at Digital Tradition Folksong Forum. Use the super search engine there to search for "Origins of Carrickfergus." | |