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THE LEAVING OF LIVERPOOL

(trad./The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem)

PLAY "THE LEAVING OF LIVERPOOL" MIDI FILE (12 KB) IN BACKGROUND


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Tune/lyrics source of Bob Dylan's "Farewell,"
a more complete version can be found in Digital Tradition
(Digitrad file name: LEAVLIV1)

The Clancys claim that Dylan lifted the song directly from their arrangement of the tune, but this appears to be incorrect. All evidence indicates that Dylan learned the song from Scottish folksinger Nigel Denver, another important influence on Dylan at this time. Indeed he would often ask Denver to play the song.
MARTIN CARTHY:
He would always ask me to sing "Scarborough Fair" or "Lord Franklin." If Nigel was on, he would ask him for "Kieshmul's Galley" or "The Leaving of Liverpool."

Clinton Heylin, Dylan: Behind the Shades, London, 1991, p. 62 (Penguin paperback edition).


CLANCY BROTHERS &TOMMY MAKEM LYRICS
© 1964, 1969 Tiparm Music Publishers, Inc.
as reprinted in Joy Graeme (ed.), The Irish Songbook, New York, 1979, pp. 65-66.


Farewell to you, my own true love;
I am going far away.
I am bound for California,
But I know that I'll return some day.
CHORUS:
So fare thee well, my own true love,
And when I return, united we will be.
It's not the leaving of Liverpool that grieves me,
But, my darling, when I think of thee.

I have shipped on a Yankee sailing ship;
"Davy Crockett" is her name.
And Burgess is the captain of her,
And they say she is a floating hell.

Oh, the sun is on the harbour, love,
And I wish I could remain,
For I know it will be some long time
Before I see you again.


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