Finnegan's Hell - The Promised Land Lyrics

When I was still a young man
I left my native home
With just my passport in my jeans
To seek my fortune far away
I got on board a ship
And after working like a dog
I'd made about ten dollars
When I reached Amerika

I thought I'd reached the Promised Land
I thought I had it made
But I ain't seen no Promised Land
No matter how I've prayed
I thought I'd reached the Promised Land
But there is no such place
Soon enough your hopes and dreams
Are gone without a trace

Soon I was on the railroad
Pick and shovel in my hand
The foreman was a sadist

And he worked me like a slave
No matter how I shoveled dirt
He'd yell about the pace
But I could not work harder
Without digging my own grave

Twenty years on the railroad
Sure made a wreck of me
It killed my back, my arms and legs
It killed my sanity
My time is running out
And I curse the day I sailed
Cos the land of the free
Will be the death of me