Digital Tradition Mirror

Portland County Jail

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

Portland County Jail

I'm a stranger to your city,
My name is Paddy Flynn
I got drunk the other night
The coppers pulled me in.
Had no one to pay my fine
No one to go my bail
They locked me up for ninety days
In the Portland County Jail.

Such a bunch of devils
You never seen before;
Robbers, thieves and highwaymen
Even breakers of the law.
They san a song the whole night long,
Curses fell like hail
Bless the day that takes me away
From the Portland County jail.

The only friend that I had there
Was Handsome Sailor Jack,
He told me of the trains he'd robbed
And all the safes he'd cracked.
He'd robbed them in Seattle,
He'd robbed them in Japan,
It was enough to freeze the blood
Of an honest working man.

The only friend that I have now
Is Officer McGurk.
He says I am a low-down bum
A drunkard and a shirk.
Each Saturday night when I get drunk
He throws me in the can
And you can see he's made of me
An honest working man.

(Repeat first verse)
Recorded by Art Thieme
RG

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!