The Streets of New York

The Streets of New York - Irish Celtic Music

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 old bucko

And mind yourself well 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'

You fella said 'sure wouldn't do

Any harm' 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

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

My 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 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

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

I phoned up the old fella told him the news

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

All the brught 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