It was 1962 and I wasntwo years out of schoolnWhen I got on board a boatnThat was bound for LiverpoolnThe day we sailed awaynI remember it so wellnTook a look at the North WallnAnd bid a fond farewellnnIt's a hard thing to leave the landnof your childhoodnTouched by the riversnAnd kissed by the seanThe places you playednwith your childhood companionsnTo leave dear old Ireland andnMother Mo ChroinnThough I am going far awaynAnd I may never return herenThere is one thingnthat I'll keep within menDeep in my heart a furious devotionnThe love of old Ireland and Mother Mo ChroinnOn the top of the Pentonville RoadnI saw the sun settingnThe town laid out before menLooked beautiful to menAway from all the sighingnThe suffering and the dyingnI dreamed of the futurenThe young and the freennBut the years they go by quicklynNow I know I can't remain herenWhere each day brings me closernTo that final miserynMy kids will never scrape shit round herenAnd I won't die crying in a pint of beernI'm going back to Ireland and my Mother Mo Chroi