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The ship it sails in half an hour to cross the broad Atlantic,
My friends are standing on the quay with grief and sorrow frantic;
I'm just about to sail away in the good ship Dan O'Leary,
The anchor's weighed and the gangway's up, I'm leaving Tipperary.
And it's goodbye Mick and goodbye Pat and goodbye Kate and Mary,
The anchor's weighed and the gangway's up, I'm leaving Tipperary;
And now the steam is blowing off, I have no more to say,
I'm bound for New York City, boys, three thousand miles away.
In my portmanteau here I have some cabbage, beans and bacon,
And if you think I can't eat that, well, there's where yer mistaken;
For this ship will play with pitch and toss for half a dozen farthings,
I'll roll me bundle on me back and walk to Castle Gardens.
And it's goodbye Mick and goodbye Pat and goodbye Kate and Mary,
The anchor's weighed and the gangway's up, I'm leaving Tipperary;
And now the steam is blowing off, I have no more to say,
I'm bound for New York City, boys, three thousand miles away.
Now, I won't come that Yankee chat, I guess I'm calculatin',
Come liquor up, old sonny boy, when an old friend I am treatin';
I'm deep in love with Molly Burke like an ass is fond of clover,
I'll send for her when I get there - that's if she will come over.
And it's goodbye Mick and goodbye Pat and goodbye Kate and Mary,
The anchor's weighed and the gangway's up, I'm leaving Tipperary;
And now the steam is blowing off, I have no more to say,
I'm bound for New York City, boys, three thousand miles away.
Then fare ye well, old Erin dear, to part me heart does ache well,
From Carrickfergus to Cape Clear - I'll never see your equal;
Although to foreign parts we're bound where cannibals may eat us,
We'll ne'er forget the Holy Ground of poteen and potatoes.
And it's goodbye Mick and goodbye Pat and goodbye Kate and Mary,
The anchor's weighed and the gangway's up, I'm leaving Tipperary;
And now the steam is blowing off, I have no more to say,
I'm bound for New York City, boys, three thousand miles away.
When good Saint Paddy banished snakes he shook them from his garment,
He never thought we'd go abroad to look upon such varmint;
Nor quit this land where whiskey brews to wear the Yankee button,
Take vinegar for mountain dew and toads for mountain mutton.
And it's goodbye Mick and goodbye Pat and goodbye Kate and Mary,
The anchor's weighed and the gangway's up, I'm leaving Tipperary;
And now the steam is blowing off, I have no more to say,
I'm bound for New York City, boys, three thousand miles away.
This variant arranged and recorded by Ryan's Fancy (An Irish Night At The Black Knight Lounge ©1971, Marathon Records).
See more songs by Ryan's Fancy.
"This Is a song of the period when the exiles went in their thousands every year to work on the railways and in the tunnels of the United States. They sailed in tears from the Cove of Cork and landed in hope at Castle Garden."
~ From the Donagh MacDonagh song collection.
