Well, its by the hush, Me Boys And sure that's to hold your noise And listen to poor Paddy's sad narration I was by hunger pressed And by poverty distressed So, I took the thought I'd leave the Irish nation
Chorus:
here's you Boys, now take my advice To Americay I'll have yous not be comin' there's nothin' here but war Where the murderin' cannons roar And I wish I was at home In dear old Dublin
Well I sold me horse and cow, my little pigs and sow My little plot of land I soon did part with And me sweetheart Bid McGee, I'm afraid I'll never see For I left her there that morning broken-hearted
here's you Boys, now take my advice To Americay I'll have yous not be comin' there's nothin' here but war Where the murderin' cannons roar And I wish I was at home In dear old Dublin
Well meself and a hundred more, to America sailed o'er Our fortunes to be made we were thinkin' When we got to Yankee land, shoved a gun into our hands Saying "Paddy, you must go and fight for Lincoln"
General Meagher was he said, if you get shot or lose your leg Every mother's son of youse will get a pension Well meself I lost me leg, they gave me a wooden peg, And by God this is the truth to you I mention
here's you Boys, now take my advice To Americay I'll have yous not be comin' there's nothin' here but war Where the murderin' cannons roar And I wish I was at home In dear old Dublin
Chorus
Now, I'd have thought meself in luck To be fed an Indian buck And in Ireland the land that I delight in But by the Devil I do say Curse Americay For I'm sure I've had enough of your hard fightin'
At the time of the release of this album, the origins of Paddy's Lamentation were a complete mystery. Since then, further research has shed a little light on the subject. The air (melody) is called "Happy Land Of Erin," and the song is one of only two on the album ever previously recorded, therefore having withstood the test of time. This version may have been written post-war, when the government began cutting back on the veteran's pensions, as the lyric might suggest. I have come across another lyric, called "The Son Of Erin's Isle," which judging from the phrasing and the fact that some of passages are identical, is clearly a variant of the same song, yet decidedly more positive toward the Irish involvement in the war. Its chorus reads: "Cheer up, boys, the time will come again, When the sons of old Erin will be steering, And to the land will go o're, They call Columbia's shore, Where there's freedom for the jolly sons of Erin."