Also known as “North Amerikay,” though both titles could be applied to any number of traditional songs. This ballad is Number 525 in the Sam Henry collection, though I initially learned from Mick Moloney’s combined book and recording “Far From the Shamrock Shore.”
You Lovers All, Both Great and Small, that dwell in Ireland,
I hope you’ll pay attention, Whilst I my pen command,
It was my father’s anger, that drove my love away,
But I’m still in hopes we’ll meet again, in North Amerikay
My love is neat and handsome, and to him I gave my heart,
And little was our notion, that ever we should part,
It was in my father’s garden, that flower did decay,
But I’m still in hopes ’twill bloom again, in North Amerikay
Well I had no want to money, for good fortune on me shines,
And from my fathers castle, I stole five hundred pounds,
It was in the town of Belfast, my passage I did pay,
My mind made up for to follow my love, to North Amerikay
Well the captain’s wife was kind to me, as you will understand,
And she kept me in her cabin, until the ship reached land,
It was in the town of Quebec, she landed on the quay,
And I knew not where to find my love, in North Amerikay
Well I being sick and tired and sore, I went into an inn,
And there I found my William, the lad I loved within,
I took him gently by the hand, and to him I did say,
“I never thought I’d see your face, in North Amerikay.”
Well now this couple they are wed, as you will understand,
And I hear they live quite happily, in the town the call St. John,
And the money that she stole from home, in gold she paid it down,
And she bid farewell to Ireland, and Enniskillen town.
Kristoffer Andrew Ross 