Lyrics:

Come Irishmen
both young and stern
with adventure in your soul
There are better ways
to spend your days
than in working down a hole

The ganger2s blue-eyed
pet was I
Big Jack could do no wrong
And the reason simply
was because
I could work hard hours and long

[chorus:]
I was tall and true,
all of 6 foot 2
But they broke me across the back
By a name I2m known
and it2s not my own
for they call me Crooked Jack

I2ve seen men old
before their time,
their faces drawn and gray
I never thought
so soon would mine
be lined the self same way

I2ve 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

[chorus]

They say that honest
toil is good
for the spirit and the soul
But believe me boys -
it2s for sweat and blood
that they want you down a hole

[chorus]