The Irish Rover

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"The Irish Rover"
Single by The Pogues and The Dubliners
B-side The Rare Old Mountain Dew
Released March 1987
Format 7" and 12" Vinyl
Genre Celtic rock
Length 3:39
Writer(s) Traditional
The Pogues chronology
"Haunted"
(1986)		 "The Irish Rover"
(1987)		 "Fairytale of New York"
(1987)

"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

Recordings

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

References

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