Oh my parents reared me tenderly they had no child but me
My mind being bent for rambling with them I couldn’t agree
My mind being bent for rambling which grieved my heart full sore
To leave my tender parents I might never see them more.

There was a wealthy farmer lived in yon town nearby
He had one lovely daughter on her I cast an eye
She was neat genteel and handsome she was comely tall and fair
And there wasn’t a girl all in this world with her I could compare.

At last I took a notion to cross the briney main
I asked her if she would be true and kind till I return again
She said that she would be constant till death would prove unkind
We both shook hands and parted and I left my girl behind.

I paid my way to Glasgow for Edinburgh I was bound
I stepped down from the steamer and I had a look around
There work and money was plentiful the girls to me were kind
But the deepest reflection on my heart was the girl I left behind.

One evening after quitting work I walked down George’s Square
The mail-car it arrived the post-man met me there
He handed me a letter giving me to understand
That the girl I left in old Ireland got wed to another young man.

When reading o’er the letter and finding it was true
I turned right round all on my heel not knowing what to do
It’s working I’ll give over and rambling I’ll resign
And I’ll booze about from town to town for the girl I left behind.