Crooked Jack Lyrics

Dubliners Crooked Jack

Am C G
Come Irishmen both young and stern
Am G
With adventure in your soul
Am C G
There are better ways to spend your days
Am G Am
Than in working down a hole

Ch
C G
I was tall and true, all of 6 foot 2
Am G
But they broke me across the back
Am C G
By a name I'm known and it's not my own
Am G Am
For they call me Crooked Jack


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

Ch

I've seen men old before their time
Their faces drawn and gray
I never thought so soon would mine
Be lined the self same way

Ch

I've 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

Ch

They say that honest toil is good
For the spirit and the soul
But believe me boys it's for sweat and blood
That they want you down a hole

Chorus: