| On the 4th of July 1806, we set sail form the sweet cove of Cork
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| We were sailing away with a cargo of bricks for the Grand City Hall in New York
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| Twas wonderful craft she was rigged for and aft and, oh, how the wild wind
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| drove her
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| She stood several blasts and twenty seven masts and they called her the Irish
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| rover
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| We had one million bags of the best Sligo rags, we had two million barrels of
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| stone
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| We had three million sides of old blind horses hides, we had four million
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| barrels of bones
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| We had five million hogs and six million dogs, seven million barrels of porter
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| We had eight million bails of old nanny goats tales in the hold of the Irish
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| rover
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| There was Barney McGee from the banks of the Lee, there was Hogan from county
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| Tyrone
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| There was Johnny McGurk who was scared stiff of work and a man from Westmeath
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| called Malone
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| There was Slugger OToole always drunk as a rule and fighting Bill Tracy from
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| Dover
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| And your man Mick McCann from the banks of the Benn was the skipper of the
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| Irish rover
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| We had sailed seven years when the measles broke out and the ship lost its way
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| in the fog
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| And that whale of a crew was reduced down to two, just myself and the captains
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| old dog
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| Then the ship struck a rock, oh, Lord, what a shock, the bulkhead was turned
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| right over
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| Turned nine times around and the poor old dog was drowned and the last of the
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| Irish rover |