On the first Irish folk record I ever bought, "For the Poor and the Gentry", Johnny McEvoy was singing this emigration song.

THE SHORES OF AMERIKAY

I'm bidding farewell to the land of my youth
and the home I love so well.
And the mountains so grand round my own native land,
I'm bidding them all farewell.
With an aching heart I'll bid them adieu
for tomorrow I'll sail far away,
O'er the raging foam for to seek a home
on the shores of Amerikay.

It's not for the want of employment I'm going,
It's not for the love of fame,
That fortune bright may shine over me
and give me a glorious name.
It's not for the want of employment I'm going
o'er the weary and stormy sea,
But to seek a home for my own true love,
on the shores of Amerikay.

And when I am bidding my last farewell
the tears like rain will blind,
To think of my friends in my own native land,
and the home I'm leaving behind.
But if I'm to die in a foreign land
and be buried so far far away
No fond mother's tears will be shed o'er my grave
on the shores of Amerikay.

from the notes in "Folksongs and Ballads popular in Ireland, Vol II": "nothing is known about its composer", but they think its a turn of the century effort.

Wolfgang^^