Print This Page#02097 Print This Page
I've been a wild rover these seven long years,
I've spent all my money on ale, wine, and beer;
At length I became a mailman, I laid down a store,
And I never will be called a wild rover no more.
To a rover, wild rover, and wild roving I'll give o'er,
And I never will be called a wild rover no more.
I went into an ale house where I used to resort,
From a pound to a shilling I ofttimes did sport;
I asked her if she'd credit me and her answer was this,
"Such customers as you we can get every day."
To a rover, wild rover, and wild roving I'll give o'er,
And I never will be called a wild rover no more.
If I had all the money I left in your care,
It would buy me a father my family to rear;
It would buy me a castle and slated all o'er,
It would buy me a coach for to ride by my door.
To a rover, wild rover, and wild roving I'll give o'er,
And I never will be called a wild rover no more.
So, now I intend for to settle in life,
And take to my home a nice little wife;
And then I will try to drive the wolf from the door,
And I never will be called a wild rover no more.
To a rover, wild rover, and wild roving I'll give o'er,
And I never will be called a wild rover no more.
Collected in 1951 from Mrs. K. McCarthy of St. Shott's, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
A variant was collected by Helen Creighton (1899-1989) and published as #65 in Songs And Ballads From Nova Scotia (Dent, 1932; Dover, 1966). Variants were also recorded by The Clancy Brothers and by The Dubliners.
