Tuesday, March 14, 2017

The Rebel Black Dot Irish Song o' the Day


Flogging Molly, "Far Away Boys" from Swagger (The Last Angry Irishman)

Commentary: Pray pardon the pollution of these proceedings with politics, but many of the Irish who came to these shores came with nothing more than the clothes on their backs & a willingness to work—& work incredibly hard, in perilous conditions—to give their families a better life than was possible back on the Emerald Isle. 'Tis for the same reason that most Latin Americans, both legal & illegal immigrants, come here to-day. There were Nativists who were vehemently, sometimes viciously opposed to Irish immigration; the Nativist impulse remains with us to-day, as wrongheaded as ever.
"Well, I worked on the railroad
For two pents a day:
I drank down one penny,
The other I saved.
I hammered and hammered,
For God knows how long,
Well into madness,
With each setting sun…

"We buried four workmen,
They dug themselves well,
From four empty coffins
To four early graves.
They're only Paddies, just Paddies,
Don't dig them too deep,
You'll need all your strength, boys,
They're replaced easily…"

No comments: