Bata Is Bóthar (The Stick And The Road)

Ó chaitheas-sa seal i measc na bPoncán
Ag codailt amuigh faoi chrann mo dhóchais
Ag réabadh fallaí a thóg m'athair romham
Idir é is an doicheall i bhfuinneoga a súl.

Thugadar go fial dúinn
A raibh acu le tabhairt
Bata is bóthar is fonn abhaile
‘Téir abhaile go hIfreann
Is fan sa bhaile in Éirinn'.

Is chuas ina dhiaidh sin go Londain groí
Mo dhá láimh liom is mé liom féin
Dá mbeinnse céad bliain ag doras Sheáin bhuí
Ní bhfaighinn bheith istigh i ngar dá chroí.

Sea thugadar go fial dúinn
A raibh acu le tabhairt
Bata is bóthar is fonn abhaile
‘Téir abhaile go hIfreann
Is fan sa bhaile in Éirinn'.

Is bhíos ag an deireadh i ndeireadh an domhain
Ag luí béal faoi i bpoll an uaignis
Ag scríobadh na cré i dtrinse rómhór
A bhí chomh cúng le huaigh mo linbh.

Sea thugadar go fial dúinn
A raibh acu le tabhairt
Bata is bóthar is fonn abhaile
‘Téir abhaile go hIfreann
Is fan sa bhaile in Éirinn'.

Is bhíos-sa lá i dTír na nDall
Ag iarraidh dídin' ó racht na farraige
Ní bhfuaireas-sa ann ach airgead ag méileach
Is fliuchadh mo bhéil de mo dheora féin.

Thugamar go fial dóibh
A raibh againn le tabhairt
Bata is bóthar is fonn abhaile
‘Téir abhaile go hIfreann
Is fan sa bhaile as Éirinn.

Sea téir abhaile go hIfreann
Is fan sa bhaile as Éirinn'.

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The Stick and the Road

I did my time in America
Sleeping rough under the tree of hope
Tearing down walls my father had built
Between him and the hatred he saw in their eyes.

They gave us all that they had to give
The stick and the road and a longing for home
‘Go back to the hell that you came from
And stay there forever in Ireland'.

Then I went over to London town
All on my own and nothing to show for it
If I stayed for a hundred years at their door
They'd never let me in any closer to their hearts.

They gave us all that they had to give
The stick and the road and a longing for home
‘Go back to the hell that you came from
And stay there forever in Ireland'.

I ended up then at the ends of the world
Lying face down in the pit of loneliness
Scratching the earth in the bottom of a trench
That was narrow as the grave where my child was buried.

They gave us all that they had to give
The stick and the road and a longing for home
‘Go back to the hell that you came from
And stay there forever in Ireland'.

Finally I landed in the land of the blind
Looking for shelter from the angry sea
All that I found was the bleating of money
And my own tears to cure my thirst.

We gave them all that we had to give
The stick and the road and a longing for home
‘Go back to the hell that you came from
And stay there forever away from Ireland
Go back to the hell that you came from
And stay there forever away from Ireland'.