Kris Drever - The Isle of France - Anderlea, Quarff

This is a traditional song I recorded on an album I made with the banjoist Eamonn Coyne called Storymap. It was collected in the 1820s in the North East of England.

Here are the Lyrics

The isle of France

Oh the sky was dark and the night advanced
A convict came to the isle of France
Around his leg there was a ring and a chain
His country was of the shamrock green

I’m of the shamrock the convict cried
I have been tossed upon the ocean wide
For being unruly I do declare
I was doomed to transport for seven long years

When six of them they were up and gone
I was coming home to make up the one
The stormy winds they did blow and roar
They cast me here on this foreign shore

Then the coastguard played a noble part
With some brandy he cheered the convicts heart
Although the night it is so far advanced
You will find a friend in the isle of France

A speedy letter went to the queen
About the wreck of the shamrock green
And his freedom came by a speedy post
To the absent convict that they thought was lost

God bless the coastguard the convict cried
Who saved my life from the ocean wide
I’ll raise his health all in a flowing glass
Here’s success to the isle of France

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