When New York Was Irish

I’ll sing you a song of days long ago
when people from Galway and the county Mayo
and all over Ireland came over to stay
and take up a new life in Americay
They were ever so happy, they were ever so sad
to grow old in a new world through good times and bad
all the parties and weddings, the ceilis and wakes
when New York was Irish, full of joys and heartbreaks
We worked on the subways, we ran the saloons
We built all the bridges, we played all the tunes
We put out the fires & controlled City Hall
We started with nothing & wound up with it all
You could travel from Kingsbridge to Queens or mid town
from Highbridge to Bay Ridge, from up town to down
from the East Side to the seaside’s sweet summer scenes---
we made New York City our island of dreams
I look at the photos now brittle with time
of the people I cherished when the city was mine
O, how I loved all those radiant smiles
how I long for the days when we danced in the aisles