Am C G
Come Irishmen both young and stern
Am G
With adventure in your soul
Am C G
There are better ways to spend your days
Am G Am
Than in working down a hole
Ch
C G
I was tall and true, all of 6 foot 2
Am G
But they broke me across the back
Am C G
By a name I'm known and it's not my own
Am G Am
For they call me Crooked Jack
The ganger's blue-eyed pet was I
Big Jack could do no wrong
And the reason simply was because
I could work hard hours and long
Ch
I've seen men old before their time
Their faces drawn and gray
I never thought so soon would mine
Be lined the self same way
Ch
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
Ch
They say that honest toil is good
For the spirit and the soul
But believe me boys it's for sweat and blood
That they want you down a hole
Chorus: