The Wild Rover
The Wild Rover ( Roud 1173) is an Irish folk song , the sources of which are controversial.
According to Tom Devine , the song was written as a teetotaler song. It was written no earlier than 1829. It tells the biblical story of the prodigal son in Irish. The song was found in the book The American Songster, published in the USA by WA Leary in 1845, and came to America from Scotland through the abstinence movement . Another version printed in the United States was found in the Forget-Me-Not Songster, published by Locke around 1850. Another genesis of the song is based on the fact that a collection of ballads dated between 1813 and 1838 in the Bodleian Library stands. The publisher, Catnach, lived in the "7-Dials" area of Covent Garden, London. The volume includes "The Wild Rover". The Greig-Duncan Collection contains no less than six different versions of the song. It was compiled by Gavin Greig.
The song is often viewed as a drinking song rather than a saint's song. The song is played live by many artists in Irish pubs. It is also the basis of the Burnley Football Club anthem "No Nay Never" , which is played during encounters with local rivals Blackburn.
Text
I've been a wild rover for many's the year,
and I spent all my 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 often times before,
I never will play the wild rover no more.
(Chorus)
When the song is played live, the audience is animated to knock or clap the tables to the rhythm during the pauses in the chorus:
And it's no, nay, never, (klapp - klapp - klapp - klapp) No nay never no more, (klapp - klapp) Will I play the wild rover (klapp) No never no more.
During the break, some of them also shout "lift up your kilts" (or skirts) to the rhythm of the clapping. Several variants exist and correspond to the number of words related to the frequency of clapping. For example, when the rhythm is based on a hexachord, a common habit is to sing "sex on the floor" to the rhythm of the clap.
Performers
Numerous singers and bands have played the song, including:
- Burl Ives
- Brobdingnagian Bards
- The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem
- The Corries
- Cruachan
- Doble Fuerza
- Dropkick Murphys
- The Dubliners
- The Idlers on Ten Thousand Miles Away and others
- The Irish McGees
- The Irish Rovers
- Johnny Logan on Johnny Logan and Friends
- The High Kings
- Marc Gunn
- Orthodox Celts on their 1994 debut album
- The Pogues on the re-recording of their debut album Red Roses for Me
- Rapalje
- Rolf Harris
- The Seekers
- Bruce Guthro
- Stiff Little Fingers on their live album
- The Town Pants
- Týr on her 2003 album Eric the Red
- Woods Tea Company
- Morning call
- Cutthroat shamrock
- Soldier louis
- Foster and Allen
- Wolfe Tones
- Harry Hibbs
- Andy Stewart
- André Rieu
- Culann's Hounds on One for the Road in 2008
- Off Kilter
Variations
The verse "and the words that I / you told you / me were only in jest" is sometimes also replaced by "and I'll take you upstairs and I'll show you the rest" or "and the whores on the floor'll take care of the rest "or" then she opened her blouse, and she showed me her chest "replaced. Sometimes the last stanza is "I'll go out and I'll play the wild rover once more!"
The beginning of the third stanza in some versions is:
"I took out of my pocket ten sovereigns bright, and the landlady's eyes opened wide with delight."
Trivia
In 1982 Klaus and Klaus took over the melody of the song for the title An der Nordseeküste .
During the vote on Norway's membership of the EU in 1994, Norwegian youth demonstrated using the following modification of the text: "We say no to the EU, no, we will never join the EU, never!" (translated).
Trevor Strong of The Arrogant Worms music group released a parody of this song entitled "The Wild Proroguer" referring to the adjournment of Parliament by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper .