I was 18yrs old when

I went down to Dublin with a fistful

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 that would cut ye for

The coat on yer back

Or the watch that you got from your mother

So take care me young bucko

And mind yourself well and will ya 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'

And the oul fella said 'Sure wouldn't do any harm' for

I've spent my life working this dirty old ground

For a few pints of porter and the smell of a pound

Sure maybe there's something you'll learn or you'll see

And you can bring it back home make it easy 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 even heard what the driver was sayin

We came in the Shore Parkway to the faltlands of Brooklyn

To my Uncle's apartment on the East 53rd

I was feeling so happy I was humming 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 was shot down in an uptown foray and

While I was flying 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 told me

'Go ahead with the plans

And not to forget be a proud Irish man'

So I went to Nellies beside Fordham road and i started

To learn about lifting the load

But the heaviest thing that I carried that year

Was the bittersweet thoughts of my hometown so dear

I went home that December 'cause the oul fella died

Had to borrow the money from 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 oul farmyard for what

It was worth and into my bag stuck

A handful of earth then I boarded a train and

I caught me a plane

And I found meself back in the US again

It's been 22yrs since

I've set foot in Dublin

Me kids know to use the correct knife and fork

But I'll never forget the green grass and the rivers

As I keep law and order in the streets of New York