Deep in the Canadian woods we've met,
From one bright island flown
Great is the land we tread,
But yet our hearts are with our own.
And ere we leave this shanty small,
While fades the autumn day,
We'll toast old Ireland, dear old Ireland, Ireland boys hurrah...

We've heard the faults a hundred times,
The new ones and the old.
In songs and sermons, rants and rhymes,
Enlarged some fifty-fold
But take them all, the great and small,
And this we've got to say
We'll toast old Ireland, dear old Ireland, Ireland boys hurrah...

We know that brave and good men tried,
To snap her rusty chain.
The patriots suffered, martyrs died,
And all tis said in vain
But no boy, no, a glance will show
How Far they've won their way
We'll toast old Ireland, dear old Ireland, Ireland boys hurrah...

We've seen the wedding and the wake
The patron and the fair
And lithe young frames at dear old games
In the kindly air
And the loud Hurroo we've heard it too
And a thundering "clear the way"
We'll toast old Ireland, dear old Ireland, Ireland boys hurrah...

And well we know in cool grey eyes,
When the hard days work is over
How soft and sweet are the words that greet
The friends who meet once more
With "Mary Machree" and "My Pat, 'tis he"
And "My own heart night and day."
We'll toast old Ireland, dear old Ireland, Ireland boys hurrah...

And happy and bright are the groups that pass
From peaceful homes for miles
Over fields and roads and hills to mass
When Sunday morning smiles
And deep the zeal their true hearts feel
When low they kneel and pray
We'll toast old Ireland, dear old Ireland, Ireland boys hurrah...

But deep in the Canadian woods we've met
And we never may see again
The dear old isle where our hearts are set
And our first fond hopes remain
But come fill up another cup
And with every sup let's say
We'll toast old Ireland, dear old Ireland, Ireland boys hurrah...


Another thread calls this SONG FROM THE BACKWOODS by T. D. Sullivan. -JoeClone, 17-Jul-01.

I don't know who wrote it, I learned it for an old guy from Winnipeg with whom I used to work who asked me to play it.

Slainte

Rick