Carrickfergus

One of a selection of Ireland's best known songs. Whether it brings to mind the coastal fortress in Co. Antrim, or the Limerick town, Carrickfergus is a both heartfelt love song and emigrant’s lament.

My boyhood days bring back sad reflections
Of happy hours I spent so long ago,
Of boyhood friends and my own relations
Are all passed on now, like drifting snow;
But I'll spend my days an endless rover,
Soft is the grass I walk, my bed is free;
Ali, to be back in Carrickfergus
On that long road, down to the sea.

But in Kilkenny it is reported
There are marble stones there, as black as ink,
With gold and silver I would support her
But I'll sing no more now till I get a drink.
I'm drunk today and I'm seldom sober,
A handsome rover from town to town,
Ah, but I'm sick now and my days are numbered
So come all you young men and lay me down.

From the Appletree Press title A Little Irish Songbook. Click here to order from Amazon.com or here for more info.

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