Lyrics

To all intended emigrants I pen this simple lay
From one that lies in hospital three thousand miles away
To warn them of the dangers that they might meet and see
And the fate of that poor Irish lad in the great land of the free.

I left my lovely mountain home near to Slieve Gallen braes
Lighthearted as the Moorcock that on the heather plays
Ach no hare on Carndaisy was swifter then nor I
When I left my lovely mountain home and bid a last goodbye.

On board of an ocean liner where the Foyle’s bright waters play
I stood an Irish emigrant bound for Amerikay
And as I took my last long look with a heart both sad and sore
I cursed the laws that drove me from my lovely shamrock shore.

Well the evening that I landed sure I scaled 200 pounds
I feared not the great O’Sullivan who wore the laurel crown
Fresh from my lovely mountain home with muscles strong as steel
No champion on Columbia’s shores before would I yield.

Ah but for six long months in search of work sure I wandered far and near
Till at last I joined the Navy as an Irish volunteer
Ach no wonder on my wasted cheeks I wear the blush of shame
To think that I backed the Stars and Stripes against the sons of Spain.

I stood on board a battleship on that ill-fated day
When the Spanish fleet was captured in San Diego Bay
And a bombshell fired that evening from out Port San Juan
Left many’s a widow a-grieving and left me a wounded man.

Ah disabled now for all of my life sure I never more can stray
Round the hills of Carndaisy or the green fields round Lough Neagh
I will never see my parents dear to grieve my loss full sore
Or kiss my Irish cailín in the town of Moneymore.

Ach but why should I go ramblin’ o’er those happy days gone by
When in a New York cemetery my wasted bones will lie
Like thousands of my countrymen I’ll fill the nameless grave
Far away from sweet Slieve Gallen where the bloomin heather lays.