Dominic Behan liked the phrase, he's also used it in his "Crooked Jack"

"I've cursed the day that I went away
To work on the hydro dams
For sweat and tears or hopes and fears
Bound up in shuttering jams"

Mick Maloney explained to me ages ago what the "shuttering jams" was & it didn't sound like it was/has anything to do with construction or concrete but, 'dam' I can't remeber what it was. Sorry

Barry