I wished I was in Carrickfergus Only for nights in Ballygrand I would swim over the deepest ocean The deepest ocean, the deepest ocean for my love to find But the sea is wide and I can't swim over And neither have I the wings to fly I wish I could find a handsome boatman To ferry me over to my love and die My childhood days bring back sad reflections Of happy times spent long ago My boyhood friends and my own relations Have all passed on like the melting snow But I'll spend my days in endless roving Soft is the grass and my bed is free Oh to be home now in Carrickfergus On that long road down to the sea And in Kilkenny it is reported There are marble stone there as black as ink With gold and silver I would support her But I'll sing no more now 'til I get a drink Sure I'm drunk today and I'm seldom sober A handsome rover from town to town Ah but I am sick now and my days are numbered So come all ye young men and lay me down So come all ye young men and lay me down