"Old Reader" in the New York Sun (June 9, 1909):

"The accompanying lyric was one of the 'Songs of Labor' with which the hardy sons of Erin were wont to enliven their hours of toil while engaged in the construction of the Erie railway's Delaware division, way back in the 40's. The words are reproduced from memory, and it may be that the verses are not arranged not arranged in their proper order but are substantially the same as sung by the men of brawn and muscle who built the Erie road.

"The Tom King referred to was the principal contractor for the construction of the road, and he will doubtless be remembered by many of the older residents of the Delaware valley....

When we left Ireland to come here
And spend our latter days in cheer,
Our bosses they did drink strong beer
    And Pat worked on the railroad.

Our contractor's name it was Tom King,
He kept a store to rob the men.
A Yankee clerk and a writing pen
    To cheat Pat on the railroad.

It's 'Pat do this' and 'Pat do that'
Without a stocking or cravat,
And nothing but an old straw hat,
    While Pat worked on the railroad.

And when Pat lays him down to sleep,
The wiry bugs around him creep,
And divvle a bit can poor Pat sleep,
    While he works on the railroad.

He give me a drill to drill a hole,
He cursed and damned my Irish sowl;
He cursed the ship that brought me o'er
    To work upon the railroad.

Our blacksmith hails from Germantown,
He sharpens the picks to grub the ground,
He takes the 'jiggers,' when they come round
   While Pat works on the railroad.

One Monday morning to our surprise,
Just half an hour before sunrise,
The dirty divil went to the skies,
And Pat worked on the railroad."

Next day, Frederick R. Burton wrote to report that he'd heard the song "some thirty years ago...sung by a man who averred he had learned it from his father," who was one of the Irish laborers employed in building the railroad. His version differed from 'Old Readers' in unessential particulars....As I recall the tragedy hinted at in the final stanza of the version you publish, an obnoxious foreman was blown to pieces by the premature discharge of a blast. A good deal of the song ran in chronological order." Burton included one stanza and the tune:

"In eighteen hundred and forty-five,
Daniel O'Connel was still alive,
And Pat Maguinness, to my surprise,
Was working on the railway.
Fil-li-me-oo-re-i-re-ay,
Fil-li-me-oo-re-i-re-ay,
Fil-li-me-oo-re-i-re-ay,
Working on the railway.


On June 19, The Sun printed a text from a reader identified only as "W.":

In eighteen hundred and forty-wan,
I put me cord'roy breeches on,
I put me cord'roy breeches on,
To work upon the railway.

For-o-me-or-o-me-o-ro-me-ay (thrice)
To work upon the railway.

In eighteen hundred and forty two,
I left the Ould World for the new,
Bad cess to the luck that brought me through,
To work upon the railway.

In eighteen hundred and forty three,
'Twas then I met sweet Biddy McGee,
And an illygant wife she's been to me,
While workin' on the railway.

In eighteen hundred and forty-five,
When Danny O'Connell was then alive,
And Mickey O'Brien, to my surprise,
Was workin' on the railway.

In eighteen hundred and forty-six,
I found meself in the divil's own fix,
For callin' some chaps a parcel o' Micks,
As works upon the railway.

In eighteen hundred and forty seven,
Sweet Biddy McGee, she went to heaven
If she left wan child, she left eleven
To work upon the railway.

In eighteen hundred and forty-eight,
I learned to take me whiskey straight,
'Tis an illygant dhrink that can't be bate
For workin' on the railway.

"The forty-four and forty-nine stanzas slip my memory."