The Wolfe Tones - Streets Of New York

I was eighteen years old
When I went down to Dublin
With a fistfull of money
And a cartload of dreams
Take your time
Said me father
Stop rushing like hell
And remember all is not
What it seems to be
For there's fellas would cut ye
For the coat on yer back
Or the watch that ye got
From yer mother
So take care me young buck o
And mind yourself well
And will ye give this wee note
To me brother

At the time Uncle Benjy
Was a policeman in Brooklyn
And me father the youngest
Looked after the farm
When a phonecall from America
Said 'Send the lad over'
Well the old fella said
'It wouldn't do any harm'
For I spent me life working
This dirty old ground
For a few pints of porter
And the smell of a pound
And sure maybe there's something
You learn loyalty
And you can bring it back home
Make a duty on me

So I landed at Kennedy
And a big yellow taxi
Carried me and me bags
Through the streets and the rain
Well me poor heart was thumpin'
Around with excitement
And I hardly ever heard
What the driver was saying
We came in the Shore Parkway
To the Flatlands of Brooklyn
To my Uncles apartment
On East 53rd
I was fellin' so happy
I was hummin' a song
And I sang
You're as free as a bird'

Well to shorten the story
What I found out that day
Was that Benjy got shot down
In an uptown foray
And while I was flyin'
My way to New York
Poor Benjy was lying
In a cold city morgue
Well I phoned up the old fella
Told him the news
I could tell he could hardly
Stand up in his shoes
And he wept as he said
'Go ahead with the plan'
And not to forget
Be a proud Irishman

So I went up to Nellies
Beside Fordham Road
And I started to learn
About lifting the load
But the heaviest thing
I carried that year
Was the bittersweet thoughts
Of my hometown so dear
I went home that December
'Cause the old fella died
Had to borrow some money
From a Phil on the side
And all the bright flowers
And brass couldn't hide
The poor wasted face
Of me father

I sold up the old farmyard
For what it was worth
And into me bag
Stuck a handful of earth
Then I boarded a train
And I caught me a plane
And I found myself back
In the US again
Its been twenty two years
Since I set foot in Dublin
Me kids know to use
The correct knife and fork
But I never will forget
The green grass and the rivers
As I keep law and order
On the streets of New York