Christy Moore - Paddy on the Road lyrics
[Christy Moore - Paddy on the Road lyrics]
I've won a heroes name
With McAlpine and Costain
With Fitzpatrick, Murphy
Ashe and Wimpey's gang
I've been often on the road on
My way to draw the dole
When there's nothing left to do
For Sir John Laing
I used to think that God made
The mixer pick and hod
So that Paddy might know
Hell above the ground
I've had gangers big and tough tell
Me tear it all out rough
When you're building up and
Tearing England down
In a tunnel underground a young
Limerick man was found
He was built into the new Victoria Line
When the pouring gang had past
Sticking through the concrete cast
Was the face of little Charlie Joe Devine
And the ganger man McGurk big
Paddy ate the work
When the gas main burst and
He flew off the ground
Oh they swear he said "Don't slack
I'll not be here until I'm back"
Keep on building up and tearing England down
I remember Carrier Jack with his
Hod upon his back how he swore he'd one day
Set the world on fire
But his face they've never seen since
His shovel it cut clean
Through the middle of a big high tension wire
I saw auld Bald McGann from
The big flyover fall
Into a concrete mixer spinning round
Although his life was spent he got
A fine head of cement as he was building up
And tearing England down
I was on the hydro dam
The day that Pat McCann
Got the better of his stammer in a week
He fell from the shuttering jam and
That poor auld stuttering man
He was never ever more inclined to speak
No more like Robin Hood will
He roam through Cricklewood
Or dance around the pubs of Camden Town
But let no man complain Paddy
Does not die in vain
When he's building up and
Tearing England down
So come all you navvies bold
Who think that English gold
Is just waiting to be taken from each sod
Or that the likes of you and
Me could ever get an OBE
Or an knighthood for good service to the hod
They've the concrete master race to
Keep you in your place
The ganger man to kick you to the ground
If you ever try to take part
Of what the bosses make
When they're building up and
Tearing England down
With McAlpine and Costain
With Fitzpatrick, Murphy
Ashe and Wimpey's gang
I've been often on the road on
My way to draw the dole
When there's nothing left to do
For Sir John Laing
I used to think that God made
The mixer pick and hod
So that Paddy might know
Hell above the ground
I've had gangers big and tough tell
Me tear it all out rough
When you're building up and
Tearing England down
In a tunnel underground a young
Limerick man was found
He was built into the new Victoria Line
When the pouring gang had past
Sticking through the concrete cast
Was the face of little Charlie Joe Devine
And the ganger man McGurk big
Paddy ate the work
When the gas main burst and
He flew off the ground
Oh they swear he said "Don't slack
I'll not be here until I'm back"
Keep on building up and tearing England down
I remember Carrier Jack with his
Hod upon his back how he swore he'd one day
Set the world on fire
But his face they've never seen since
His shovel it cut clean
Through the middle of a big high tension wire
I saw auld Bald McGann from
The big flyover fall
Into a concrete mixer spinning round
Although his life was spent he got
A fine head of cement as he was building up
And tearing England down
I was on the hydro dam
The day that Pat McCann
Got the better of his stammer in a week
He fell from the shuttering jam and
That poor auld stuttering man
He was never ever more inclined to speak
No more like Robin Hood will
He roam through Cricklewood
Or dance around the pubs of Camden Town
But let no man complain Paddy
Does not die in vain
When he's building up and
Tearing England down
So come all you navvies bold
Who think that English gold
Is just waiting to be taken from each sod
Or that the likes of you and
Me could ever get an OBE
Or an knighthood for good service to the hod
They've the concrete master race to
Keep you in your place
The ganger man to kick you to the ground
If you ever try to take part
Of what the bosses make
When they're building up and
Tearing England down