The Wild Rover

The Wild Rover (Roud 1173) is a popular folk song whose origins are contested.

According to Professor T. M. Devine in his book The Scottish Nation 1700 - 2000 (Penguin, 2001) the song was written as a temperance song. The song is found printed in a book, The American Songster, printed in the USA by W.A. Leary in 1845, and spread from Scotland to America from the Temperance movement. There is another USA printed version in the "Forget-Me-Not Songster" (c 1850), published by Locke. An alternative history of the song is suggested by the fact that a collection of ballads, dated between 1813 and 1838, is held in the Bodleian Library. The printer, Catnach, was based in the "7 Dials" area of Covent Garden, London. The Bodleian bundle contains "The Wild Rover". The Greig-Duncan collection contains no less than six versions of the song. It was compiled by Gavin Greig 1848–1917.

It is often considered to be a drinking song rather than a Temperance song. The song is a staple for artists performing live music in Irish pubs.

Raymond Daly and Derek Warfield describe how the fans of Celtic Football Club in Scotland sing The Wild Rover at away matches. The chorus is well known throughout most Irish, Irish-American and British cultures, even among people who have no knowledge of the rest of the song.

As with Celtic Football Club, the chorus is sung by football fans throughout England, usually with the words adapted to suit the team in question.

Many companies have also taken advantage of the tune's popularity and used it to advertise their products. Dairy Crest adapted the chorus to advertise their Clover margarine in the UK.

Lyrics
I've been a wild rover for many's the year,
and I spent all me 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.

(Chorus):
And it's no, nay, never! No, nay, never, no more,
will I play the wild rover. No (nay) never no more!

I went to an alehouse I used to frequent,
and I told the landlady me money was spent.
I asked her for credit, she answered me "nay,
such a custom as yours I could have any day".

(Chorus)

I pulled from me pocket a handful of gold,
and on the round table it glittered and rolled.
She said "I have whiskeys and wines of the best,
and the words that I told you were only in jest".

(Chorus)

I'll have none of your whiskeys nor fine Spanish wines,
For your words show you clearly as no friend of mine.
There's others most willing to open a door,
To a man coming home from a far distant shore.

(Chorus)

I'll go home to me parents, confess what I've done,
and I'll ask them to pardon their prodigal son.
And if they forgive me as oft times before,
I never will play the wild rover no more.

(Chorus)

Recordings

Countless popular singers and bands have covered the song, amongst others

• André Rieu
• Andy Stewart
• Bizardunak, in a version sung in Basque called Nafarroa, gure aberria
• Burl Ives
• Bootless & Unhorsed
• Booze Brothers
• Brobdingnagian Bards
• Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem
• The Corries
• Cruachan
• Culann's Hounds, on One for the Road in 2008
• Cutthroat Shamrock
• Doble Fuerza
• Dropkick Murphys
• The Dubliners on The Dubliners in 1964
• Foster and Allen
• Hair of the Dog
• Happy Ol' McWeasel
• Harry Hibbs
• The High Kings
• The Idlers on Ten Thousand Miles Away and others
• The Irish McGees
• The Irish Rovers
• The Mahones
• Johnny Logan on Johnny Logan and Friends
• Marc Gunn
• Morning Call
• Mudmen on their album "Another Day" released in 2010. The Mudmen feature bagpipers Rob and Sandy Campbell who perform on the Hockey Night In Canada theme song on CBC television.
• Off Kilter
• Orthodox Celts on their debut album in 1994
• The Pogues, on the 2004 remaster of their debut album, Red Roses For Me
• Rapalje
• Rolf Harris
• The Seekers
• Soldat Louis
• Stiff Little Fingers on their live album which was later repackaged as the third disc of their Anthology
• The Town Pants
• Týr on their 2003 album Eric the Red
• Prydein
• Wolfe Tones
• Woods Tea Company

External links

• Performance by The High Kings on NPR, 2008-09-14
• http://www.irishmusicforever.com/wild-rover
• Wild Rover Sheet Music