Lyrics

It’s twenty years ago today I grasped my mother’s hand
She kissed and blessed her only son going to a foreign land
She held me to her loving breast she knew I had to go
And I could hear her gentle voice the words were soft and low.

Goodbye Johnny dear when you’re far away
Don’t forget your dear old mother far across the sea
Write a letter now and then and send her all you can
And don’t forget where e’er you roam that you’re an Irishman.

We sailed away from Queenstown that is the Cobh of Cork
We had a very pleasant voyage and soon we were in New York
My good friends came to meet me there I got a job next day
But still in memory I could hear my mother’s sweet voice say.

Goodbye Johnny dear when you’re far away
Don’t forget your dear old mother far across the sea
Write a letter now and then and send her all you can
And don’t forget where e’er you roam that you’re an Irishman.

One day a letter came to me it came from Ireland
The postmark showed it came from home but it was not my mother’s hand
It was Fr John who wrote to me to say she had passed away
And then as if from Heaven above I could hear that sweet voice say.

Goodbye Johnny dear when you’re far away
Don’t forget your dear old mother far across the sea
Write a letter now and then and send her all you can
And don’t forget where e’er you roam that you’re an Irishman.