D
Well the Girls in Old Ireland they come to me
A
Bloody shillelagh clubs for to set me free
Bm
I said my lady’s fair won’t you listen to me
G D
And I’ll bring you to your bonnie lass.
D
In fifty-two the hunger took us by surprise
A
Water fell into my mother’s crying eyes
Bm
We wailed just like the doves in the morning cries
G D
And the crops were sick in harvest time.
D
But my mother she was wise and she raised me well
A
She told me all the things that there was to tell
Bm
Precious you sure listen cause you need me now
G D
In the years to come I won’t be there.
D
Just take a hard shillelagh in your hands so strong
A
Always hold it gently when they do you wrong
Bm
But when you hear John Henry’s solemn hammer song
G D
God give you strength like turpentine.
D
And darling you’re a peach tree in the summer sun
A
With bonnie little branches always on the run
Bm
And when cold winds shake your branches like a crooked gun
G D
I’ll be there my cherub son.
D
Like a mockingbird who laughs because there’s someone there
A
To wonder if they ever would discover where
Bm
He's hiding in the trees without a worried care
G D
Streetcars in the alleyway.
D
Well the Girls in Old Ireland they come to me
A
Let their bloody kings and clubs be their melodies
Bm
A whiskey-fog still burning in my memory
G D
Scattered all along the grass.