Streets of New York-Bagatelle

[ti:Streets of New York] [ar:Bagatelle] [al:The Irish Connection] [by:] [offset:0] [00:00.00]Streets of New York - Bagatelle [00:11.08]I was eighteen years old when I went down to Dublin [00:14.54] [00:15.08]With a fistfull of money and a cartload of dreams [00:18.52] [00:19.63]Take your time said me father stop rushing like hell [00:23.15] [00:24.04]And remember all's not what it seems to be [00:27.51] [00:28.68]For there's fellas would cut ye [00:30.77]For the coat on yer back [00:32.75]Or the watch that ye got from yer mother [00:35.52] [00:36.83]So take care me young buck-o [00:39.02]And mind yourself well [00:40.23] [00:40.88]And will you give this wee note to me brother [00:43.53] [00:45.04]At the time Uncle Benjy was a policeman in Brooklyn [00:48.29] [00:48.82]And me father the youngest looked after the farm [00:52.15] [00:54.08]When a phone call from [00:55.26]America said send the lad over [00:57.32] [00:58.11]And the oul fella said 'sure it wouldn't do any harm' [01:01.10] [01:02.88]For I've spent my life working this dirty old ground [01:06.32] [01:06.83]For a few pints of porter and the smell of a pound [01:10.82]And sure maybe there's something you learn loyalty [01:13.85]And you can bring it back home [01:16.66]Make a duty on me [01:18.41] [01:21.92]So I landed at Kennedy and a big yellow taxi [01:25.26] [01:25.96]Carried me and me bags through the streets and the rain [01:29.25] [01:31.07]Well me poor heart was thumpin' around with excitement [01:34.33] [01:34.94]And I hardly ever heard what the driver was saying [01:38.18] [01:40.02]We came in the Shore Parkway [01:41.94]To the Flatlands in Brooklyn [01:43.28] [01:43.80]To me Uncle's apartment on East 53rd [01:47.11] [01:47.85]I was feeling so happy 1 was humming a song [01:51.23] [01:51.76]And I sang 'You're as free as a bird ' [01:54.49] [01:55.71]Well to shorten the story what I found out that day [01:59.32] [01:59.95]Was that Benjy got shot down in an uptown foray [02:03.26] [02:04.11]And while I was flying my way to New York [02:07.44] [02:08.00]Poor Benjy was lying in a cold city morgue [02:11.28] [02:12.67]Well I phoned up the ould fella told him the news [02:16.27] [02:16.79]I could tell he could hardly stand up in his shoes [02:20.35] [02:21.00]And he wept as he told me Go ahead with the plans [02:24.10] [02:25.22]And not to forget be a proud Irish man [02:28.24] [02:31.88]So I went up to Nellies beside Fordham Road [02:35.33] [02:35.95]And I started to learn about lifting the load [02:39.31] [02:40.95]But the heaviest thing that I carried that year [02:44.28] [02:44.92]Was the bittersweet thoughts of my hometown so dear [02:48.35] [02:49.65]I went home that December 'cause the oul fella died [02:53.27] [02:53.85]Had to borrow the money from Phil on the side [02:57.31] [02:58.28]And all the bright flowers and brass couldn't hide [03:01.20] [03:02.17]The poor wasted face of me father [03:04.65] [03:05.78]I sold up the oul farmyard for what it was worth [03:09.27] [03:10.01]And into my bag stuck a handful of earth [03:13.18] [03:14.09]Then I boarded a train and I caught me a plane [03:17.16] [03:17.94]And I found meself back in the U S again [03:21.37] [03:22.66]It's been twenty two years since I've set foot in Dublin [03:26.23] [03:26.80]Me kids know to use the correct knife and fork [03:30.27] [03:33.88]But I'll never forget the green grass and rivers [03:37.19] [03:37.99]As I keep law and order in the streets of New York