Goodbye Johnny Dear Lyrics

Just twenty years ago today, I grasped my mother's hand,
She kissed and blessed her only son, on to a far off land;
She called me to her love and breast, she knew I had to go,
But still a mem'ry I could hear, my mother soft and low.
Goodbye, Johnny dear, and 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;
My good friends urge to meet me, I got a job next day,
But still a mem'ry I could hear, my mother's sweet voice say.
Goodbye, Johnny dear, and 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, was not my mother's hand;
'Twas father home who wrote it, he said she passed away,
But still a mem'ry I could hear, my mother's sweet voice say.
Goodbye, Johnny dear, and 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.