The Travelling People - The Dubliners

I am a freeborn man of the travelling people

Got no fixed abode, with nomads I am numbered

Country lanes and byways were always my ways

I never fancied being lumbered

Oh I knew the woods and the resting places

And the small birds sang when winterdays were over

Then we’d pack our load and be on the road

Those were good old times for a rover

Now I’ve known life hard and I’ve know it easy

And I’ve cursed the life when winter days were dawning

But we’ve laughed and sang through the whole night long

Seen the summer sunrise in the morning.

There was open ground where a man could linger

For a week or two for time was not our master

Then away you’d jog with your horse and dog

Nice and easy, no need to go faster

All you freeborn men of the travelling people

Every tinker, rolling stone, and gypsy rover

Winds of change are blowing, old ways are going

Your travelling days will soon be over