Lyrics: Traditional
Music: Traditional
I am a youth that's inclined to ramble
To some foreign country I mean to steer
I am loath to part from my friends and comrades
And my own sweetheart, whom I loved dear
But there's one of those I most admire
And her I'll think when I'm far away
For since fate's decreed I am resolved to part her
For the try my fortune in Americay
So farewell darling since I must leave you
I put great dependence on your constancy
That no other young man may gain your favour
Or change your mind when I am o'er the sea
For although the seas do separate us
And in between us they do rise and fall
If fortune favours me you'll find your Jamie
Returning homeward from Americay
Oh Jamie dear do you remember
When I sat with you for many's the hour
When my young fancy away was carried
And the bees hummed around us on each opening flower
For when you're crossing the western ocean
The maid that loved you, you'll ne'er mind ava
And you'll scarce I think upon the maids of Erin
For you'll find strange sweethearts in Americay
Oh Mary dear, I don't dissemble
To all other fair maids I'll prove untrue
And if you think that these are false promises
These lines I will leave as a pledge to you
That what I have proved unsuccessful
And fortune prove to be a slippery ball
Then a favouring gale it may ne'er blow on me
If I forsake you in Americay
So to conclude and to end these verses
May God protect that young female fair
Save her from every wild embarrassment
And of my darling take the greatest care
For she's slow to anger and of kind disposition
Her cheeks like roses in June do blaw
In my nightly slumbers whene'er I think on her
I could court her vision in Americay