Tommy Makem – We Want No Irish Here lyrics

Our ship it docked in New York town
And we took our bags ashore
This was the land of the free they said
We'd see hard times no more
But when we looked for work next day
Wherever we'd appear
The boss so proud, would shout out loud
"We want no Irish here"

Chorus:
We have loyal hearts and willing hands
Of work we have no fear
But when we'd ask for a job they'd say
"We want no Irish here"

We traveled 'round from town to town
We traveled south and north
We tried our best to get a job
So we could prove our worth
But everywhere, it was the same
We searched both far and near
We'd get in line, then see the sign
"We want no Irish here"

Chorus

But prejudice soon fades away
When you find a heart that's true
And all we needed was the chance
To prove what we could do
We fought in wars and drove street cars
Built railroads far and near
Were cops, wrote news, paid our unioun dues
Now the Irish are welcome here

We have loyal hearts and willing hands
Of work we have no fear
If you're out for fun or a job well done
You'll find the Irish here