lee murdock – the illinois and michigan canal lyrics
on the hill behind the chapel, in the perish of saint james
lies weathered, worn, and tangled graves of mostly irish names
the faded flagstone monuments bare witness to a dream
that a hundred fifty years ago, no one could have foreseen
in the young town of chicago on the plains of illinois
the i&m commission brought in desperate men and boys
to have them build a great c+n+l, and change the river’s flow
to wed the great lakes water with the gulf of mexico
they came from ports in galway, from cork and baltimore
on the promise of more money than they’d ever known before
to carve a new beginning in the land of liberty
they waved goodbye and sailed across the sea
[chorus]
so bid farewell to famine, it’s off to amerikay
to work as a navigator for ninety cents a day
and hope to dig a fortune by the time they reach la salle
on the illinois and michigan c+n+l
ten thousand irish navvies spread out across the land
and they picked their way through the mud and clay, and they moved it all by hand
well the tyrant c+n+l foreman worked poor patty without pay
as he dreamed about his family in a country far away
but empty handed promises were all he came to know
with food and tools in short supply and money running low
though many tried, thousands died longing to be free
where the wild blue stemmed grasses grew, as far as you could see
and the coming of the railway made their efforts obsolete
for it ran along the banks before the digging was complete
but the locks were finally opened and they tallied up the cost
with no mention of how many lives were lost
[chorus]
so bid farewell to famine, it’s off to amerikay
to work as a navigator for ninety cents a day
and hope to dig a fortune by the time they reach la salle
on the illinois and michigan c+n+l
[instrumental break]
and now the locks and boatyards, the barges and the scows
and the clabbered shacks of cork(?) town where the navvys used to house
from bridgeport to le salle and every town along the way
only remnants of that great c+n+l can still be seen today
neglected through the ages, her water will not flow
where mule teams on the river boats, now wild poplar grow
where c+n+ling was a way of life that i might have tried myself
it’s now buried in the pages of some book upon the shelf
and in the corner of the graveyard, in the parish of saint james
lies a poor old irish navvy who helped buy into these claims
who fled the great oppression just to build himself a home
now it’s the only piece of sod he’ll ever own
[chorus]
so bid farewell to famine, it’s off to amerikay
to work as a navigator for ninety cents a day
and hope to dig a fortune by the time they reach la salle
on the illinois and michigan c+n+l
on the illinois and michigan c+n+l
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