Ion - Goodbye Johnny Dear lyrics

Just twenty years ago today
I grasped my mother's hand
She kissed and blessed her only son
Going to a foreign land
The neighbours took me from her breast
And told her I must go
But, I could hear my mother's voice
Though her words were sweet and low
Goodbye, Johnny dear, when you're far away
Don't forget your dear old mother
Far across the sea
Write a letter now and then and
Send her all you can
And don't forget where e'er you
Roam that you're an Irishman
I sailed away from Queenstown
That is the cove of Cork
A very pleasant voyage we had and
Soon we're in New York
I'd plenty of friends to meet me there
And work I got next day
But with all the hospitality I
Could hear my mother say
Goodbye, Johnny dear, when you're far away
Don't forget your dear old mother
Far across the sea
Write a letter now and then and
Send her all you can
And don't forget where e'er you
Roam that you're an Irishman
One day a letter came to me
It came from Ireland
The postmark showed it came from home
It was not my mother's hand
'Twas father who had wrote to say
That she had passed away
And just as if from Heaven above
I could hear my mother say
Goodbye, Johnny dear, when you're far away
Don't forget your dear old mother
Far across the sea
Write a letter now and then and
Send her all you can
And don't forget where e'er you
Roam that you're an Irishman