Wolfe Tones - The Streets Of New York lyrics

I was 18 years 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 old 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 phone call from America said 'Send the lad over' And the oul fella said 'Sure wouldn't do any harm' for I've 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'll learn or you'll see And you can bring it back home make it easy on me So I landed in 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 flatlands of Brooklyn To me Uncle's apartment on 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 got 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 thought 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 bra** 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 22 years since I've set foot in Dublin Me kids know to use the correct knife and fork But I'll never forget the green gra** and the rivers As I keep law and order in the streets of New York.