When I was a lad on the Emerald Isle
I heard many stories both lovely and wild
About the great dragons and monsters that be
That swallowed the ships when they sailed on the sea

Oh, I was an artist with canvas and paints
I sailed with Saint Brendan and his jolly saints
We told the good people goodbye for a while
We sailed for Saint Brendan's fair isle, fair isle
We sailed for Saint Brendan's fair isle

We'd been on the ocean just ninety-four days
When we came to this placе where the sea was ablaze
The devils from Hades were yellin' with glee
And burning the sailors alive on the sea

Then Saint Brendan walked on the blistering waves
And drove all the demons right back to their caves
And all of the saints had a heavenly smile
We sailed for Saint Brendan's fair isle, fair isle
We sailed for Saint Brendan's fair isle

One night, as the brethren were lyin' asleep
A great dragon came up from out of the deep
He thundered and lightnin'd and his mighty din
Awakened Saint Brendan and all of his men

The dragon came on with his mouth opened wide
He threw in the cross and the great dragon died
We skinned him and cooked him and feasted awhile
We sailed for Saint Brendan's fair isle, fair isle
We sailed for Saint Brendan's fair isle

And at last we came on to that heavenly land
We all went ashore and we walked on the sand
We took our longbows and we killed a zebu
We roasted his hams in that hot barbecue
When after the meal, we were singing a song
We noticed our island was moving along
We ate and we drank and we rode in high style
We sailed on Saint Brendan's fair isle, fair isle
We sailed on Saint Brendan's fair isle

Saint Brendan said, boys, this is much to my wish
We ride on the back of the world's biggest fish
Hold tight to the rope that is dragging our ship
We'll need it someday if the fish takes a dip

We've sailed every ocean, we've sailed every sea
We've seen every sight that a sailor could see
In forty-four days we rode two million miles
We've sailed on Saint Brendan's fair isle, fair isle
We've sailed on Saint Brendan's fair isle