I wish I was in Carrickfergus
I would swim over the deepest ocean
But the sea is wide and I cannot swim over
If I could find me a handsome boatman
To ferry me over over to my love and I
My childhood days bring back sad reflections
Of happy time there spent so long ago
02:09My boyhood friends and my own relations
Have all passed on now like the melting snow
So I'll spend my days in this endless roving
Soft is the grass and shore my bed is free
But to be home now in carrickfergus
On the long road down to the salty sea
And in Kilkenny there it is reported
On marble stone 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
For I'm drunk today and I'm seldom sober
The handsome rover from town to town
Ah but I am sick now my days are numbered
so come here young men and lay me down

Only for nights in Ballygrand
the deepest ocean for my love to find
And neither have I the wings to fly