The Wild Rover - Arr. and performed by THE SingingWheelchairDude
Channel: SingngWheelchairDude
Date: 2011-06-30

This song was originally meant to be about the evils of drink and the benefits of temperance.   Unfortunately for the cause of temperance, it's a song with a catchy tune and a melody so easy to sing that pretty much any drunk can sing it -- and what drunk doesn't want to see himself as a handsome rogue and a "Wild Rover"? For reasons I can only guess at, the song is now known as a traditional Irish drinking song!

I am accompanied by a notional oompah band associated with the mysterious Osaka Karaoke Orchestra, which no one has ever seen.  The arrangement is my own. In it you will find musical references to the Broadway musical "Oliver!", to St. Patrick's hymn, "Be Thou My Vision", and to the "Mexican Hat Dance", and the borrowing of musical themes is a my small homage to Prof. Peter Schickele.