It was 1962 and I was two years out of school When I got on board a boat That was bound for Liverpool The day we sailed away I remember it so well Took a look at the North Wall And bid a fond farewell It's a hard thing to leave the land of your childhood Touched by the rivers And kissed by the sea The places you played with your childhood companions To leave dear old Ireland and Mother Mo Chroí Though I am going far away And I may never return here There is one thing that I'll keep within me Deep in my heart a furious devotion The love of old Ireland and Mother Mo Chroi On the top of the Pentonville Road I saw the sun setting The town laid out before me Looked beautiful to me Away from all the sighing The suffering and the dying I dreamed of the future The young and the free But the years they go by quickly Now I know I can't remain here Where each day brings me closer To that final misery My kids will never scrape shit round here And I won't die crying in a pint of beer I'm going back to Ireland and Mother Mo Chroí