Digital Tradition Mirror

The Shores of Amerikay

The Shores of Amerikay

I'm bidding farewell to the land of my youth
and the home I love so well.
And the mountains so grand round my own native land,
I'm bidding them all farewell.
With an aching heart I'll bid them adieu
for tomorrow I'll sail far away,
O'er the raging foam for to seek a home
on the shores of Amerikay.

It's not for the want of employment I'm going,
It's not for the love of fame,
That fortune bright may shine over me
and give me a glorious name.
It's not for the want of employment I'm going
o'er the weary and stormy sea,
But to seek a home for my own true love,
on the shores of Amerikay.

And when I am bidding my last farewell
the tears like rain will blind,
To think of my friends in my own native land,
and the home I'm leaving behind.
But if I'm to die in a foreign land
and be buried so far far away
No fond mother's tears will be shed o'er my grave
on the shores of Amerikay.

from the notes in "Folksongs and Ballads popular in Ireland, Vol II": "nothing i
s known about its composer", but they think its a turn of the century effort.

There is possibly a last verse going something like this:

And if ever I do return again, my own native land to see
It's there my friends will greet me, with a smile dum, dum, dum, dum, dum (sorry
 I forget)
And my own true love is as dear to me as the flowers that blossom in May
With a "cead mile failte" they'll welcome me back from the shores of America.

alternate spelling: SHORES OF AMERIKAY

WH MW JB

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!