Come on Irishmen both young and old With adventure in your soul There are better ways to spend your days Then by working down a hole I was tall and true all of 6 foot 2 Til they broke me across my back By a name I'm known that is not my own For they call me crooked Jack And I curse the day I went away To work on those hydro dams All our sweat and tears our hopes and fears
Bound up with shuttering jams For I've seen men old before their time Their faces worn and gray But I never thought that I myself Would soon be the self same way And they say that honest toil is good For the body and the soul But I'll tell you boys it's for sweat and blood That they want you down the hole