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 handy 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 [bad word] today and I'm seldom sober
The handsome rover from town to town
Ah but I am sick now my days are [bad word] all me young men and lay me [bad word] all me young men and lay me down