Lyrics Lament For The Molly McGuires - The Irish Rovers

Suckin' up the coal dust into your lungs
Underneath the hills where there is no sun
Tryin' to make a livin' on a dollar a day
Diggin' coal in Pennsylvay-nye-aye

We left old Ireland, we left our homes
Across the ocean we had to roam
With five gossoons and a scrawny wife
Tryin' to make some kind of a life

Suckin' up the coal dust into your lungs
Underneath the hills where there is no sun
Tryin' to make a livin' on a dollar a day
Diggin' coal in Pennsylvay-nye-aye

But the Welsh and the English, the Germans, the Dutch
Controlled the mines; they didn't leave much
A tar-paper shanty, no Irish apply
The Mollies started blowin' all the mines sky high

Suckin' up the coal dust into your lungs
Underneath the hills where there is no sun
Tryin' to make a livin' on a dollar a day
Diggin' coal in Pennsylvay-nye-aye

A straw-boss shot, and an owner disappears
Many's a Welshman lost 'is ears
Company's store burned to the ground
The Molly Macguires are spreadin' all around

Suckin' up the coal dust into your lungs
Underneath the hills where there is no sun
Tryin' to make a livin' on a dollar a day
Diggin' coal in Pennsylvay-nye-aye

Blackjack Kehoe looked after his pack
Even the honest Irish though wouldn't fight back
Jack and his boys put fear in their shoals
The Molly Macguires are controllin' the coal

Suckin' up the coal dust into your lungs
Underneath the hills where there is no sun
Tryin' to make a livin' on a dollar a day
Diggin' coal in Pennsylvay-nye-aye

But terror ends as it had begun
Jack Mcfarland, he ended the run
He left as a Molly, and he brought their fate
After many years, he ended the hate

Suckin' up the coal dust into your lungs
Underneath the hills where there is no sun
Tryin' to make a livin' on a dollar a day
Diggin' coal in Pennsylvay-nye-aye