The plentiful store of Irish songs of emigration seem to span a wide emotional range, from whimsical to horrible, with lots of nostalgic description of home places (Galway Bay, Cliffs of Doneen) along the way.

Tommy Sands: "When the Boys Come Rolling Home" - the wistfulness hope of return - merriest sounding emigration song I know.

Percy French: " Mountains of Mourne" - music hall whimsy

Luca Bloom: "City of Chicago" - harsh, stark realities, with folks dreaming of home

Robert Emmet Dunlap: "Mick Ryan's Lament" (tune of Garyowen) - being appalled by what coming to America meant in terms of conscription in the Army to the extreme of "better off dead" - right up there with "Paddy's Lamentation" in theme, period, and emotional impact.

The whole concept of forced emigration by legal transportation spawned a whole genre of it's own, nearly. "Black Velvet Band" is the tip of very big iceberg.

If you think about emigration in a more intimate sense, there are a number of American & Canadian songs that are about going from the settled east to the "wild" west. "Across the Blue Mountains," "Going to the West" (from Alabama westward), along with Stan Rogers' "The Idiot" - he also covered Glendenning' s "Scarborough Settler's Lament" for Scotland.

It strikes me that we know author or source for most of these. and they pass very quickly into aural tradition because of the strong emotional impact they have.

Joanne in Cleveland (with Irish, English and Prussian immigrant ancestors)