The Roving Kind is a 1950 popular song by Jessie Cavanaugh and Arnold Stanton, both pseudonyms used by music publisher The Richmond Organisation.
It was adapted from a British folk song, "The Pirate Ship".
[1] The song had first been recorded by the American folk group, The Weavers.
Mitchell's jocular version followed the original sea-shanty style.
Columbia's A&R director Mitch Miller followed this "folk-origin" formula for most of Mitchell's subsequent hits.