Adieu to Old Ireland

Adieu to Old Ireland

Here's adieu to old Ireland
the place where I was born
Near the county of Lim'rick all vanished and gone.
On some distant island bound down as a slave.
It was in my own country I first misbehaved.

It is of my dear mother, how she cautioned me
To leave off night walking, shun bad company.
“For you are so young, love; they will lead you astray; You will think of my advice when I’m cold in the clay.”
But all her advices I did lay nowhere, But still I kept on in my wicked career,
A-robbing by night and a-planning by day
To maintain those fine ladies and to dress them up gay.
But all her advices I did lay nowhere
Till a band of policemen did to me draw near.
I was tried and convicted for my bold robbery; Seven years I was transported to the penitentiary.
Seven years I was transported, seven years to the day; Seven years I was transported to cross the wide sea;
Had I been on shipboard and Mollie by me,
Bound down in strong irons, I’d have fought myself free.
Oh, sometimes I wonder why women love men
And many more times I’ve wondered how men can love them.
They’ve been my ruination, my curse and downfall; They have caused me to lie behind many a stone wall.

Note: This is another song that was sung by Lewis Watson [see My Own Darling Boy]. I never heard it sung elsewhere.