The Roving Kind was a popular song adapted in 1950 from a British folksong "The Pirate Ship" by Jessie Cavanaugh and Arnold Stanton. The best known version was recorded by Guy Mitchell

Guy Mitchell

Guy Mitchell, born Albert George Cernik, was an American pop singer, successful in his homeland, the U.K. and Australia...

 in 1950, in which it reached #4 on Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

in December 1950. The song also reached #6 on the Cashbox charts in December 1950.

The song had first been recorded by the American folk group, The Weavers

The Weavers

The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. They sang traditional folk songs from around the world, as well as blues, gospel music, children's songs, labor songs, and American ballads, and selling millions of records at the height of their...

. Mitchell's jocular version followed the original sea-shanty style. Mitch Miller

Mitch Miller

Mitchell William "Mitch" Miller was an American musician, singer, conductor, record producer, A&R man and record company executive...

followed this "folk-origin" formula for most of Mitchell's subsequent hits.