Carrickfergus

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, a day when everyone likes to think they are Irish, I thought it appropriate to share the lyrics to a gentle Irish song, "Carrickfergus."  When my husband I traveled there many, many years ago we were having dinner in the town of Listowel and he was mistaken for a native Irishman a number of times.  Men would walk up to him and start speaking Gaelic.  They were surprised and sometimes frustrated that he could only speak English.  It still makes me laugh when I think of the expression on both of their faces as they tried to communicate with each other.

Carrickfergus was played at President John F. Kennedy's funeral and HBO has made it popular again for its use in the recent series, "Boardwalk Empire."

Carrickfergus (Traditional)

I wish I was in Carrickfergus

Only for nights in Ballygrand

I would swim over the deepest ocean

Only for nights in Ballygrand

But the sea is wide and I cannot swim over

And neither have I the wings to fly

If I could find me a handly boatman

To ferry me over my love and I

My childhood days bring back sad reflections

Of happy time there spent so long ago

My 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 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

Come all me young men and lay me down

Come all me young men and lay me down