"I was eighteen years old, when I went down to Dublin
With a fistful of money and a cart load of dreams
Take your time, said me father, stop rushing like hell
Remember all’s not what it seems to be
For there's fellows would cut you for the coat on your back
Or the watch that you got from your mother
So take care my young bucko and mind yourself well
And will you give this wee note to me brother

At the time Uncle Benjy was a policeman in Brooklyn
And my father the youngest looked after the farm
When a phone call from America said send the lad over
And the auld fella said sure it wouldn't do any harm
For I spent my life working this dirty old ground
For a few pints of porter and the smell of a pound
And maybe there's something you'll learn or you'll see
And you can bring it back home, make it easy on me

So I landed at Kennedy and a big yellow taxi
Carried me and me bags through the streets and the rain
My poor heart was thumping around with the excitement
And I hardly even heard what the driver was saying
We came in the short parkway through the flatlands in Brooklyn
To my uncle's apartment on East 53rd
I was feeling so happy I was humming a song
And I sang you're as ""Free as a bird""

Well to shorten the story what I found out that day
Was that Benjy got shot down in an uptown foray
And while I was flying my way to New York
Poor Benjy was lying in a cold city morgue
Well I phoned up the old fella, told him the news
I could tell he could hardly stand up in his shoes
And he wept as he told me, go ahead with the plan
And not to forget, always act like a man

So I went up to Nelly's beside Fordham Road
And I started to learn about lifting the load
But the heaviest thing that I carried that year
Was the bitter sweet thoughts of my home town so dear
I went home that December cause the ould fella died
Had to borrow the money from Phil on the side
And all the bright flowers and brass couldn't hide
The poor wasted face of my father
I sold up the old farmyard for what it was worth
And into my bag stuck a handful of earth
Then I got me a train and I boarded a plane
And I found myself back in the U.S. again
It's been twenty two years since I set foot in Dublin
The kids know to use the correct knife and fork
But I'll never forget the green grass and the rivers
As I keep law and order in the streets of New York
"