The Green Fields of Canada - Planxty

Farewell to the groves of shellelagh and shamrock

Farewell to the girls of old Ireland all round

May their hearts be as merry as ever I would wish them

When far away on the ocean I’m bound

Oh my father is old and my mother’s quite feeble

To leave their own country it grieves their hearts sore

Oh the tears in great drops down their cheeks they are rolling

To think they must die upon a foreign shore

But what matters to me where my bones may be buried

If in peace and contentment I can spend my life

Oh the green fields of Canada they daily are blooming

It’s there I’ll put an end to my miseries and strife.

Then it’s pack up your sea stores and tarry no longer

Ten dollars a week isn’t very bad pay

With no taxes or tithes to devour up your wages

When you’re on the green fields of Amerikay

The sheep run unsheered and the land’s gone to rushes

The handyman’s gone and the winders of creels

Away 'cross the ocean go journeyman tailors

And fiddlers that flaked out the old mountain reels

Ah, but I mind the time when old Ireland was flourishing

When lots of hard tradesmen could work for good pay

But since our manufacturies have crossed the Atlantic

It’s now we must follow to Amerikay

And it’s now to conclude and to finish my ditty

If ever friendless Irishmen chances my way

With the best in the house I will treat him, and welcome

At home on the green fields of Amerikay