Goodbye Johnny Dear - Ion
Just twenty years ago today I grasped my mother's hand
She kissed and blessed her only son going to a foreign land
The neighbours took me from her breast and told her
I must go
But I could hear my mother's voice
Though her words were sweet and low
Goodbye Johnny dear 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
I'd plenty of friends to meet me there and work
I got next day
But with all the hospitality
I could hear my mother say
Goodbye Johnny dear 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
It was not my mother's hand
'Twas father who had wrote to say that she had passed away
And just as if from Heaven above
I could hear my mother say
Goodbye Johnny dear 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
