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To the tune of The Wild Rover, except that the chorus is cut short.
Ned took fiddle lessons with Ed Keeney for a while when he lived up in Port Jefferson. Mr Keeney said that he used to sing some variation of this version of the Wild Rover when he was performing his travelling vaudeville type shows over in Ireland in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.
Ed Keeney's Wild Rover
by Ed Keeney
They tell me in Ireland there’s nobody poor
Every mans rich as the devil I’m sure
In every man’s pocket there a great big bankroll
and there’s no man alive now would go on the dole
( Chorus
No, Nay, Never
No, Nay, Never no more
Nobody wants nothin’ in Ireland no more )
I spent a few weeks in a first class hotel
Well, I ate like a horse and I drank like all hell
“He’s leaving,” they give me a few hundred pounds
and they told me ‘twas great just to have me around
(Chorus)
I drank in a bar up in old Donegal
When I asked what I owed they said “Nothin’ at all”
We don’t want your money, we’ve plenty of dough
Just drink all you want, when you’re finished just go
(Chorus)
Well, I rented a car it’s a beauty to see
It was fifty feet long with a built in TV
A well stocked up bar and a big water bed
and a stereo set that would waken the dead
(Chorus)
Well I met a young lady she was filled with delight
and she said “and I’m going to take you out tonight;
It won’t cost you a nickel, just you wait and see
If you’re half the man now they say you used to be!”
Well I went up to Belfast and I stood on the square
and I told them to tell old Paisley I was there
He hurried right out he was happy and gay
I gave a great big donation to the old IRA
(Chorus)
Every mans rich as the devil I’m sure
In every man’s pocket there a great big bankroll
and there’s no man alive now would go on the dole
( Chorus
No, Nay, Never
No, Nay, Never no more
Nobody wants nothin’ in Ireland no more )
I spent a few weeks in a first class hotel
Well, I ate like a horse and I drank like all hell
“He’s leaving,” they give me a few hundred pounds
and they told me ‘twas great just to have me around
(Chorus)
I drank in a bar up in old Donegal
When I asked what I owed they said “Nothin’ at all”
We don’t want your money, we’ve plenty of dough
Just drink all you want, when you’re finished just go
(Chorus)
Well, I rented a car it’s a beauty to see
It was fifty feet long with a built in TV
A well stocked up bar and a big water bed
and a stereo set that would waken the dead
(Chorus)
Well I met a young lady she was filled with delight
and she said “and I’m going to take you out tonight;
It won’t cost you a nickel, just you wait and see
If you’re half the man now they say you used to be!”
Well I went up to Belfast and I stood on the square
and I told them to tell old Paisley I was there
He hurried right out he was happy and gay
I gave a great big donation to the old IRA
(Chorus)