According to Professor T. M. Devine in his book The Scottish Nation 1700 - 2000 (Penguin, 2001), it was written as a temperance song.
[2] It is found in the book, The American Songster, printed in the US by W. A. Leary in 1845, and spread from Scotland to America from the temperance movement.
An alternative history is suggested by a collection of ballads, dated between 1813 and 1838, is held in the Bodleian Library.
Raymond Daly and Derek Warfield of The Wolfe Tones describe how the fans of Celtic Football Club in Scotland[5] sing The Wild Rover at away matches.
The chorus is well known throughout most Irish, Irish-American and British cultures, even among people who have no knowledge of the rest of the song.
The Irish punk band Stiff Little Fingers released an EP which included the song.