Well oft-times we grumble and oft-times we groan
And oft-times we sit and we whinge and we moan
Of how our sons and daughters are forced to leave home
And bid farewell to ould Éireann
In their hundreds and thousands, in gangs and in droves
Well their packing their bags and they take to the road
In some far distant land there's a life they are owed
For you know they won't get it in Éireann

Well its not a long journey, in the space of one day
You can find yourself somewhere that's far far away
Where the sun often shines and it seldom is grey
In direct opposition to Éireann
You can then find a place not much rent for to give
Large, big and comfy, not a bad place to live
Not a dank one-roomed hovel for one thousand quid
Like the ones that they'll rent you in Éireann

You may talk like a peasant, you may talk like a snob
But when they hear your brogue sure they'll throw you a job
You are Gaelic, exotic, and you'll make their hearts throb
For you come from the land of ould Éireann
Your people were warriors, your people were Gaels
You withstood the Empire with your old ancient ways
You survived the famine, you've seen some dark days
Let's drink to the health of ould Éireann
Now life can be easy, life can be a sport
Set up in the New World with a golden passport
Free drink and kudos your eternal reward
But your heart sinks when you think upon Éireann
For you miss all the slagging, and for Jaysis' sake
All the hot bowls of coddle that your ma used to make
And the misdirected respect you find hard to take
For your only ashamed of ould Éireann

Where the people are weak, and the people are spent
From running in circles 'til their legs they are bent
Lamenting the price of the petrol and the rent
Ah we're slow to learn in ould Éireann
And the green rag that's tied round our ears and our eyes
Well it stops us from telling the truth from the lies
For competitional patience we'd win the first prize
For we're too easy going in Éireann

Where fools and madmen they do as they please
The pennies in our hands they laugh as they seize
Give away all that's ours to flash companies
As we beg for the scraps in ould Éireann
We uphold the cult of the canny cute hoor
Who steals from the mouths of the weak and the poor
These charlatans, knaves, three-card trick men and boors
Well they're running the show in ould Éireann
With their cheap talk they fooled us
we were sold, we were had
They took us by the hand and they led us to bed
Bent us right over, punched us in the head
And they took us right up the ould Éireann
We awake in the mornings with heads that are sore
In the Dáil sit the pimps, we are the whores
We cannot lie back and take this anymore
Things must come to a head in ould Éireann

So if you're in Australia or Amerikay
And they drink to ould Éireann, well what can you say?
That your people aren't warriors, nor are they saints
But we should uphold our high reputation
For it's not too late to fight back and these tyrants eject
Take back what's ours from these primates erect
Our purpose, our lives, and our own self-respect
Then we'd have something to be proud of in Éireann