Isle of hope, isle of tears
(orig. = capo 2nd)
[Intro]
C Em Am D G
[Verse 1]
G D C G
On the first day of January, eighteen ninety-two,
C G Am D
they opened Ellis Island and they let the people through.
G D C G
And the first to cross the threshold of that isle of hope and tears,
C G Am D D7
was Annie Moore from Ireland who was all of fifteen years.
[Chorus]
C D G D Em
Isle of hope, isle of tears, isle of freedom, isle of fears,
C Am D
but it's not the isle you left behind.
C D G D Em
That isle of hunger, isle of pain, isle you'll never see again,
C D G
but the isle of home is always on your mind.
[Verse 2]
G D C G
In a little bag she carried all her past and history,
C G Am D
and her dreams for the future in the land of liberty.
G D C G
And courage is the passport when your old world disappears,
C G Am D
but there's no future in the past, when you're all of fifteen years,
[Chorus]
C D G D Em
Isle of hope, isle of tears, isle of freedom, isle of fears,
C Am D
but it's not the isle you left behind.
C D G D Em
That isle of hunger, isle of pain, isle you'll never see again,
C D G
but the isle of home is always on your mind.
[Instrumental]
C Em Am D G
[Verse 3]
G D C G
When they closed down Ellis Island in nineteen forty-three,
C G Am D
seventeen million people had come there for sanctuary.
G D C G
And in Springtime when I came here and I stepped onto its piers,
C G Am D D7
I thought of how it must have hurt when you're only fifteen years.
[Chorus]
C D G D Em
Isle of hope, isle of tears, isle of freedom, isle of fears,
C Am D
but it's not the isle you left behind.
C D G D Em
That isle of hunger, isle of pain, isle you'll never see again,
C D G
but the isle of home is always on your mind.
(orig. moves up half a note to capo 3rd here)
[Chorus]
C D G D Em
Isle of hope, isle of tears, isle of freedom, isle of fears,
C Am D
but it's not the isle you left behind.
C D G D Em
That isle of hunger, isle of pain, isle you'll never see again,
C D G
but the isle of home is always on your mind.
C D C Em Am D G
Yes, the isle of home is always on your mind.