"The Rovin' Dies Hard" Lyrics

My names John McKenzie
I'm a master at arms
And I carry my sword
and my shield on my shoulder
I've fought every fight
Fra the Don to Denain there's none braver none better
none bolder
I've stood with Montrose and against him
I've battled with Swedes and with Danes
and I've carried the standard of many's the army through
many's the bloody campaign
but now as I sit in the firelight it seems
there's a distant horizon to the sword buckle's gleam
till a pull at the wine brings an old soldiers dream from afar
For the Rovin' dies hard

I'm Callum McLean
I'm a trapper by trade
and its forty long years since I saw Tobemory
through Canada's forests I've carried my blade
and her pine trees can tell you my story
but my wondering days they are over
and I'm thankful to still be alive
for many's the Kinsman who died in the hulks
at the end of the Bold forty five
I've an Indian lass now I'll never deceive her but there's nights when
I'd up with my gun and I'd 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 I'm a ships engineer
and I know every berth between Lisbon and Largo
I've sweated mare diesel in thirty five year
than a big tanker takes for a cargo
oh the good times I've always had plenty
where the whisky and the woman were wild
and there's many the wean wi' the red locks and the Campbell's
That's na're 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

I've tuned up my fiddle
I've rosined my bow
I've sung of the clans
and the clear crystal fountains
I can tell you the road and the miles frae Dundee
to the back of Alaska's wild mountains
when my travelling days they are over
and the next of the rovers has come
he'll take all the songs and he'll sing them again
to the beat of a different drum
and if ever I'm asked why the Scots are beguiled
I'll lift up my glass in her health and I'll smile
and I'll tell them that fortune dealt Scotland the wildest of cards
For the rovin' dies hard