Handsome Boatman by Jim Hagan

I played in the Irish pubs for about 4 years, doing mostly American music, but also some of the old Irish ballads that were several hundred years old. The lyrics were wonderful. One song, Carrickfergus, had a line, "handsome boatman, ferry me across". Everytime I sang it, I thought of the Master. The word handsome, from the 16th century: "convenient, handy, suitable, and courteous", then moving to "courteous, gracious" and "generous, noble, magnanimous". This reflects the meaning of my lyrics. Irish actor Peter O'Toole is also credited with inspiring the song's revival.