I wish I was in Carrickfergus

Only for nights in Ballygrand

I would swim over the deepest ocean

The deepest ocean, my love to find

But the sea is wide and I cannot swim over

And neither have I the wings to fly

If I could find me a handsome boatman

To ferry me over my love and I

My childhood days bring back sweet reflections

The happy times I spent so long ago

My boyhood friends and kind relations

Have all past on now like melting snow

I'll spend my days an endless rover

Soft is the grass and sure, my bed is free

Oh but to be back, in carrickfergus

To strike that lonely road, down by the sea

And in kilkenny 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 til I get a drink

For I'm drunk today and I'm seldom sober

A handsome rover from town to town

Ah but I'm sick now my days are numbered

Come all ye young men and lay me down