From the 1882 play “The Maid of Arran.”
Words and music by Louis F. Baum.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment track:
Lyrics
1. I’m a lad that’s always glad
To fling me foot and I’m never sad
The mountains ring whene’er I sing
For I am blithe and gay
The girls all think whene’er I blink
That at their ways I had meant to wink
Which makes their hearts all jump wid joy
I’m a rollicking Irish boy
There’s just one little lass who smiles whene’er I pass
And makes my heart go bumpety bump
A rollicking Irish lass
The girls know I love her
It’s my belief they’re mad wid grief
They snub me now, and never bow
To this rollicking Irish boy
2. Not long ago I’d have ye know
I was ask’d to McGinnesses ball to go
I polished up me Sunday suit and started for to see
What I could find to suit me mind
In the fashion of sensible womankind
To go wid me and dance wid me
A rollicking Irish girl
It’s aisy for to look for fishes in a brook
But if they havn’t a mind to bite
It’s devil a man will he hook
First Katy she refused me
And Biddy McCree said she’d go wid me
But Oona went wid much content
Wid this rollicking Irish boy
Sung here by Vancha March: