This document contains lyrics to several folk songs from Ireland and beyond, describing themes of emigration from Ireland to America, loves left behind, and lives of sailors and soldiers. The songs tell stories of leaving Ireland for America aboard ships, loves left behind in Ireland and Derry, and lives in the military abroad in places like Germany.

1. Music from Ireland and beyond…
Mieres EOI 27 March 2017

2. Derry

3. Cheltenham

4. PADDY'S GREEN SHAMROCK SHORE

5. PADDY'S GREEN SHAMROCK SHORE
From Derry quay we sailed away
On the twenty-third of May
We boarded with a pleasant crew, bound for Amerikay
Fresh water we did take on board
Five thousand gallons or more
In case we'd run short on the way to New York
Far away from the Shamrock Shore.
So fare thee well, sweet Liza dear
Likewise to Derry town
And twice farewell to my comrade boys
That dwell on that sainted ground
If fortune it ever should favour me,
And I to have money in store
I'll go back and I'll wed the lassie I left
On Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore.

6. We sailed three weeks, we were all seasick
Not a man on board was free
We were all confined unto our bunks
With no-one to pity poor me.
No father, no mother, no sister dear
To lift up my head, when it was sore
Which made me think more of the lass I left
On Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore.
So fare thee well, sweet Liza dear
Likewise unto Derry town
And twice farewell to my comrade boys
That dwell on that sainted ground
If fortune it ever should favour me, and I to
have money in store
I'll go back and I'll wed the lass I left
On Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore.

7. We safely reached the other side
In four and twenty days,
We were taken as passengers by a man
And led off in six foot long drays
We each of us raised a parting glass
in case we should never meet more
And we drank a health to old Ireland
And Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore
So fare thee well, sweet Liza dear
Likewise unto Derry town
And twice farewell to my comrade boys
That dwell on that sainted ground
If fortune it ever should favour me
And I to have money in store
I'll go back and I'll wed the wee lass I left
On Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore.

8. Carlos II
High Germany
Felipe V1

10. High Germany
O Polly lovely Polly, the rout has now begun
And we must go a-marching to the beating of the drum:
Go dress yourself all in your best
And come along with me,
I'll take you to the cruel wars in High Germany.
O Willie, darling Willie, you mark what I do say,
My feet they are so tender I cannot march away,
And besides, my dearest Willie, I am with child by thee.
Not fitted for the cruel wars in High Germany.
I'll buy for you a horse, my love, and on it you shall ride,
And all of my delight shall be riding by your side
We'll call at every ale house, and drink when we are dry,
We’ll be true to one another, and get married by and by.

11. O cursed be the cruel wars that ever they should rise
And out of merry Ireland press many a lad likewise!
They took my darling Willie, likewise my brothers three,
And sent them to the cruel wars in High Germany.
My friends I do not value, my foes I do not fear
For now my true love’s left me and wanders far and near
And when my baby it is born and dandling on my knee
I’ll think of handsome Willy in High Germany
O Polly lovely Polly, the rout has now begun
And we must go a-marching to the beating of the drum:
Go dress yourself all in your best
And come along with me
I'll take you to the cruel wars in High Germany.

12. Jock Stewart

13. Jock Stewart
Oh, my name is Jock Stewart, I'm a canny gaun man,
And a roving young fellow I've been.
So be easy and free, when you're drinking with me
I'm a man you don't meet every day.
I have acres of land, I have men I command,
And I’ve always a shilling to spare.
So be easy and free, when you're drinking with me
I'm a man you don't meet every day.
Oh, I took up my dog, and with him I did shoot,
All down by the County Kildare.
So be easy and free, when you're drinking with me
I'm a man you don't meet every day.

14. I'm a roving young blade, I'm a piper by trade
And there's many a tune I can play.
So be easy and free, when you're drinking with me
I'm a man you don't meet every day.
So come fill up your glasses with brandy and wine.
What ever it costs, I will pay.
And be easy and free, when you're drinking with me
I'm a man you don't meet every day
Oh, my name is Jock Stewart, I'm a canny gaun man,
And a roving young fellow I've been.
So be easy and free, when you're drinking with me
I'm a man you don't meet every day.

15. Farewell to the Gold

16. Farewell to the Gold (Paul Metzers)
Shotover River, in gold it’s waning
It's years since the colour I've seen.
It’s no use just sitting, Lady Luck blaming
I'll pack up and make the break clean.
Farewell to the gold that never I found,
Goodbye to the nuggets that somewhere abound;
For it's only when dreaming that I see you gleaming
Down in the dark deep underground.
It's nearly two years since I left my old mother
For adventure and gold by the pound.
With Jimmy the prospector, he was another,
For the hills of Otago we were bound.

17. We worked the Cardrona's dry valley all over
Old Jimmy Williams and me.
They were making good dollars on the winding Shotover
So we headed down there just to see.
Farewell to the gold that never I found,
Goodbye to the nuggets that somewhere abound;
For it's only when dreaming that I see you gleaming
Down in the dark deep underground.
We sluiced and we cradled for day after day
Making barely enough to get by
Then a terrible flood swept Jimmy away
During six stormy days in July.

18. PEGGY GORDON

19. PEGGY GORDON
O Peggy Gordon, You are my darling
Come sit you down upon my knee
And tell to me the very reason
Why I am slighted so by thee
If I had pen from Pennsylvania
And Holland paper so snowy white
And I had ink as black as secrets
A true love letter to you I’d write
I put my head to a cask of brandy
It was my fancy, I do declare
For when I'm drinking, I'm always thinking
Of how to gain my Peggy dear

20. Mayday
Distress call 1923
Frederick Stanley Mockford
Croydon Airport

21. Press gangs 1664-1815
The King’s Shilling

22. O wind from the south
That makes every pasture so green
Bring the fish to the waterfall,
Abundance of fruit to the trees
It is far to the north I think you are minded to blow
To that country I know
He was a father a lover, an uncle a brother a son
But he’s pressed to the navy
And now he’s nothing to no-one
The rats and mosquitos
Are all the companions he sees
And he longs to be free
MayDay Mayday me
Mayday Mayday me
They’re dancing the ribbons
Entwining the family tree

23. But the years are nearly done
And this deck will be bleached by the sun
And this Southern wind will blow
And the Gulf Stream will carry me home
Oh wind from the south
(Oh wind from the south)
it is far to the north
(it is far to the north)
You are minded to blow
x4

24. Molly Malone
Dave Bartram ‘Last cockle-man in Britain’

25. MOLLY MALONE
In Dublin's fair city where the girls are so pretty
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone
As she wheeled her wheelbarrow
Through street broad and narrow
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh"
Alive, alive oh, alive, alive oh,
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh"
She was a fishmonger and sure ‘twas no wonder
For so were her mother and father before
And they each wheeled their barrows
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh"
She died of a fever and no one could save her
And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone
Now her ghost wheels her barrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh"

27. Dirty old town
I met my love by the gas works wall,
Dreamed a dream by the old canal
I Kissed my girl by the factory wall
Dirty old town, dirty old town
Clouds are drifting across the moon
Cats are prowling on their beat
Springs a girl from the streets at night
Dirty old town, dirty old town
I heard a siren from across the docks
Saw a train set the night on fire
Smelled the spring on the smoky wind
Dirty old town, dirty old town
I’m going to make me a good sharp axe
Shining steel tempered in the fire
I’ll chop you down like an old dead tree
Dirty old town, dirty old town

28. The Wild Rover
“You can't be a real country unless you have a beer - it helps if you
have some kind of football team, or some nuclear weapons, but in
the very least you need a beer.”
― Frank Zappa

30. The Wild Rover
I've been a wild rover for many a year
And I spent all my money on whiskey and beer,
And now I'm returning with gold in great store
And I never will play the wild rover no more.
And it's no, nay, never, 
No nay never no more 
Will I play the wild rover 
No never no more 
I went to an ale-house I used to frequent
And I told the landlady my money was spent.
I asked her for credit, she answered me "nay
Such a custom as yours I could have any day."
And it's no, nay, never,  etc.

31. Then out of my pocket I pulled sovereigns bright
And the landlady's eyes opened wide with delight.
She gave me good whiskey and wines of the best
Sure the words that I spoke they were only in jest."
And it's no, nay, never, 
No nay never no more 
Will I play the wild rover 
No never no more .
I'll go home to my parents, confess what I've done
And I'll ask them to pardon their prodigal son.
And if they forgive me as often before
Then I never will play the wild rover no more.
And it's no, nay, never,  etc.

32. The Lakes of Ponchartrain

33. The Lakes of Ponchartrain.
T’was on one bright morning I bid New Orleans adieu
And took the road to Jackson’s Town
My fortune to renew
I cursed our foreign money, no credit could I gain
Which filled my heart with longing
For the lakes of Ponchartrain.
I jumped on board a railroad car
Beneath the morning sun
And rode the roads till evening
Then I laid me down again
All strangers there, no friends to me
Till a dark girl towards me came
And I fell I love with that Creole girl
By the lakes of Ponchartrain

34. I said “My petty Creole girl, my money is no good.
And if it weren't for the alligators
I'd sleep out in the wood."
"You're welcome, here kind, stranger.
Our house is very plain
But we never turned a stranger out
By the lakes of Ponchartrain."
She took me to her mammy’s house
And she treated me right well;
Her hair upon her shoulders in jet black ringlets fell.
To try and paint her picture I’m sure t’would be vain
So handsome was that Creole girl
By the lakes of Ponchartrain.

35. I asked her if she'd marry me
She said that ne'er could be
For she had got a lover, and he was far at sea,
She said she would wait for him
And true she would remain,
Until he returned for the Creole girl
By the lakes of Ponchartrain.
So fare thee well my pretty young girl,
I never will see thee more
But I’ll ne’er forget your kindness
in that cottage by the shore
And at each social gathering a flowing glass I’ll drain
And I'll drink a health to the Creole girl
By the lakes of Ponchartrain.

36. n-éirí an t-ádh leat’
/gɘleɘreotɑ:lɘ/
to EOI Aranda
And
Sláinte!
Good Luck