MANY YOUNG MEN OF TWENTY
As sung by the Irish Rovers on "The First of the Irish Rovers" (1980?)

SPOKEN: This is a song about emigration, the curse of Ireland today, and many young men of twenty say goodbye.

CHORUS: Many young men of twenty said goodbye.
They left the mountains and the glens,
The lassies and the fine young men.
I saw a tear on every girl and boy.
Many young men of twenty said goodbye.

1. I sold my house and land, me boys.
I wandered far away, me boys.
I left me wee girl Annie far behind.
I know I'll not forget that day,
When the big ship sailed away.
Many young men of twenty said goodbye. CHORUS

2. I left her standing on the strand,
With my dear old parents by the hand.
With me bundle tied around my back,
I left Ireland ever more
And sailed off to a foreign shore.
Many young man of twenty said goodbye. CHORUS

3. I promised to return some day,
But the years so quickly slip away.
My dear old parents, they've already gone.
And Annie too, I'm sad to say,
Was married a year ago, last may.
Why must young men of twenty say goodbye? CHORUS

I don't have this one, myself, but when I was younger my mother had that first album of The Irish Rovers, simply called "The Irish Rovers". I've tried to write it down as I recall it, a few decades later. The album, I believe, has been reissued on CD, now as "The First of the Irish Rovers".

As a child, the irony of this band of Irish, living in America, calling emigration a curse, was lost on me. It's all the more poignant now, as in all these years I've never heard an Erin band perform this song. As far as I know the sentiment could indeed be written down by an emigrant. The more so because it appears to be a variation of an Old World song, but doesn't seem to fit that song's meter, as if recollections of back home were getting hazy.

Mysha