The Irish Rover

"The Irish Rover" is an Irish folk song about a magnificent, though improbable, sailing ship that reaches an unfortunate end. It has been recorded by numerous artists, some of whom have made changes to the lyrics.

The song describes a gigantic twenty-seven masted ship with a colourful crew and varied types of cargo in enormous amounts. The verses grow successively more extravagant about the wonders of the great ship. The seven-year voyage comes to a disastrous end after losing its way in the fog, striking a rock, and spinning nine times around before sinking with most of the crew and the captain's old dog aboard – everyone except the singer, who in the last line of the song is revealed to be the lone survivor of The Irish Rover's ill-fated final voyage, so there is no one alive to contradict the tale.

History

According to the 1966 publication Walton's New Treasury of Irish Songs and Ballads 2, the song is attributed to songwriter/arranger J. M. Crofts.^[1]

The Pogues & The Dubliners

Chart (1987)	Peak position
Ireland (IRMA)^[2]	1
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)^[3]	8
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)^[4]	25

Cultural impact

"The Irish Rover" is one of the most popular Irish-Gaelic Scottish country dances and is set to the music of the song.
The Irish Rovers, created in 1963, were named after the traditional song "The Irish Rover" by their mother in Ballymena, N. Ireland. They first recorded the song on their 1966 debut album, The First of the Irish Rovers.
Slugger O'Toole – a character referred to in "The Irish Rover" has been adopted as the name of a major political website in Northern Ireland.
In issue 26 of DC/Vertigo series Preacher, when Cassidy describes his drinking buddies in New York City, the names are all taken from the Irish Rover.

Recordings

"The Irish Rover" has been recorded many times. Versions are listed below by notable artists in descending chronological order.

2012 - Santiano on their album Bis ans Ende der Welt
2012 - The Mudmen on their album Donegal Danny
2011 - Fiddler's Green on their album Wall of Folk
2011 - Dropkick Murphys on their album Going Out in Style
2010 - Patrick Clifford on his album American Wake
2010 - The High Kings on their album Memory Lane
2009 - Culann's Hounds on their album One for the Road
2007 - Tommy Makem on the posthumous release The Legendary Tommy Makem Collection
2005 - Liam Clancy on his album Yes... Those Were The Days: The Essential Liam Clancy
2005 - Bounding Main on their album Lost at Sea, with an added chorus
2005 - Blaggards on their album Standards
2003 - Off Kilter on their album Celtic Armadillo
2001 - The Tossers on their album Communication & Conviction: Last Seven Years
2000 - Sons of Maxwell on their album Sailor's Story
1998 - The Corsairs on their album The RED One
1996 - The Irish Descendants on their album Livin' on the Edge
1994 - Orthodox Celts on their self-titled début album
1987 - The Dubliners with The Pogues on The Dubliners' album 25 Years Celebration. When released as a single in the same year this version reached number 8 in the UK Singles Chart, number 1 in the Irish Singles Chart and number 45 in the Euro Chart.
1975 - Ronnie Drew on his self-titled début solo album
1966 - The Irish Rovers on their début album, The First of the Irish Rovers
1962 - The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem on their album Hearty and Hellish
1960 - Dominic Behan on his album The Irish Rover^[5]

References

↑ James Prescott (2014-02-03). "James Prescott - Folk Song Index In - Je". Telusplanet.net. Retrieved 2015-06-04.
↑ "Chart Track: Week 00, 1967". Irish Singles Chart.
↑ "Archive Chart: 1967" UK Singles Chart.
↑ "Charts.org.nz – The Dubliners Man – Maids When You're Young". Top 40 Singles.
↑ "Dominic Behan - The Irish Rover (Vinyl, LP, Album)". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2015-06-04.

External links

Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
Full lyrics (incl. the rarer sixth verse) on the The Pogues' official website
- The Irish Rover on The Pogues' Shane MacGowan's official website

The Pogues

Spider Stacy Jem Finer James Fearnley Shane MacGowan Andrew Ranken Darryl Hunt Terry Woods Cait O'Riordan Philip Chevron Joe Strummer Dave Coulter James McNally Jamie Clarke

Studio albums	Red Roses for Me Rum Sodomy & the Lash If I Should Fall from Grace with God Peace and Love Hell's Ditch Waiting for Herb Pogue Mahone

EPs	Poguetry in Motion Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

Compilations	The Best of The Pogues The Rest of the Best The Very Best of the Pogues Dirty Old Town: The Platinum Collection Just Look Them Straight In The Eye and Say....POGUE MAHONE!!

Singles	"Dark Streets of London" "Boys from the County Hell" "A Pair of Brown Eyes" "Sally MacLennane" "Dirty Old Town" "Haunted" "The Irish Rover" "Fairytale of New York" "If I Should Fall from Grace with God" "Fiesta" "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah" "Misty Morning, Albert Bridge" "Summer in Siam" "Jack's Heroes" "Sunny Side of the Street" "A Rainy Night in Soho" "Honky Tonk Women" "Tuesday Morning" "Once Upon a Time"

Other songs	"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" "The Auld Triangle" "Greenland Whale Fisheries" "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day" "Jesse James" "Maggie May" "Mountain Dew" "The Parting Glass" "Poor Paddy" "South Australia" "Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six" "Thousands Are Sailing" "Waxie's Dargle" "When the Ship Comes In" "Worms"

Related articles	Discography Songs

The Dubliners

Ciarán Bourke Ronnie Drew Luke Kelly Barney McKenna John Sheahan Bobby Lynch Jim McCann Seán Cannon Eamonn Campbell Paddy Reilly Patsy Watchorn

Studio albums	A Drop of the Hard Stuff More of the Hard Stuff Drinkin' and Courtin' At It Again At Home with The Dubliners Revolution Double Dubliners Plain and Simple Now A Parcel of Rogues 15 Years On Together Again Prodigal Sons 25 Years Celebration The Dubliner's Dublin 30 Years A-Greying Further Along 40 Years

Live albums	The Dubliners In Concert Live at the Albert Hall Live Live at Montreux Finnegan Wakes Live in Carré Alive Alive-O A Night Out with The Dubliners Live from the Gaiety Live At Vicar Street A Time to Remember An Evening with The Dublin Legends: Live in Vienna

Compilation albums	The Best of The Dubliners It's The Dubliners A Drop of The Dubliners Home, Boys, Home Greatest Hits Best of The Dubliners Spirit Of The Irish 36 Great Performances The Definitive Dubliners At Their Best The Best of the Original Dubliners Too Late to Stop Now: The Very Best of the Dubliners Live At Vicar Street The Late Late Show Tribute The Very Best Of: The Dubliners Wild Rover Irish Favorites Original Dubliners 50 Years 20 Greatest Hits Drinking and Wenching

Irish chart singles	"Nelson's Farewell" "Black Velvet Band" "All For Me Grog" "Seven Drunken Nights" "Never Wed An Old Man" "Dirty Old Town" "Hand Me Down My Bible" "Free the People" "Raglan Road" "Don't Get Married" "The Irish Rover" "Marino Waltz" "Jack's Heroes" "The Rose" "Red Roses for Me" "The Ballad of Ronnie Drew" "The Rocky Road to Poland" "The Auld Triangle"

Other singles	"The Wild Rover" "Whiskey In The Jar" "Four Green Fields" "Now I'm Easy" "Working Man"

DVDs	Live from the Gaiety Live at Vicar Street 50 Years: Celebration Concert in Dublin

Related articles	The Dubliners discography Ronnie Drew discography Folk music of Ireland Gerry O'Connor

Category Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, March 30, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.