My names John McKenzie Im a master at arms And I carry my sword And my shield on my shoulder Ive fought every fight Fra the Don to the Danube None braver none better none bolder Ive stood with Montrose and against him Ive battled with Swedes and with Danes And Ive carried the standard of manys the army through manys the bloody campaign But now as I sit in the firelight it seems Theres a distant horizon to the sword buckles gleam Till a pull at the wine brings an old soldiers dream from afar For the Rovin dies hard Im Callum McLean Im a trapper by trade And its forty long years since I saw Tobemory Through Canadas forests Ive carried my blade And her pine trees can tell you my story But my wondering days they are over And Im thankful to still be alive For manys the Kinsman who died in the hulks At the end of the Bold forty five Ive an Indian lass now Ill never deceive her but theres nights when Id up with my gun and Id leave her for the land where the bear and the fox and the beaver or lord For the rovin dies hard My names Willie Campbell Im a ships engineer And I know every berth between Lisbon and Largo Ive sweated mare diesel in thirty five year Than a big tanker takes for a cargo Oh the good times Ive always had plenty Where the whisky and the woman were wild And theres many the wean wi the red locks and the Campbells Thats nare seen the coast or Argyll But now as the freighters unload on the quay The sound of the engines is calling to me And it sings me a song of the sun and the sea and the stars For the rovin dies hard Ive tuned up my fiddle Ive rosined my bow Ive sung of the clans And the clear crystal fountains I can tell you the road and the miles frae Dundee To the back of Alaskas wild mountains When my travelling days they are over And the next of the rovers has come Hell take all the songs and hell sing them again To the beat of a different drum And if ever Im asked why the Scots are beguiled Ill lift up my glass in her health and Ill smile And Ill tell them that fortune dealt Scotland the wildest of cards For the rovin dies hard
rovin, manys, dy, campbell, none