| lyric | 1. I am a navigational and I come from County Cork,
And I had to leave me native home to find a job of work.
The crops were bad in Ireland and the tax too much to pay
And so here I am in England digging up the waterway.
Chorus
Here comethe navvies,
Out to earn their pay,
We work with barrow
Plough and spade
to clear the cut away.
And when we put the puddle
in with sweat we wet the clay,
And we scar the face of England
for the make the waterway.
2. Once I was a ploughman and I did a decent job,
I worked from dawn ’til darkness just to earn me a couple 0’ bob,
But when the praties died on us I couldn’t pay me way,
And so here I am in England ploughing up the waterway.
3. The lads who build the waterway they are a motley crew,
And when we’ve sweated all day long we like a drink or two,
The local folk don’t take to us, but still I’m proud to say,
In years to come our monument will be the waterway. |