The Curse of the Immigrant

Words and Music by Brendan Nolan
Ould Segosha Music
Key of F, Capo 3 open D tuning (DAF#DAD)

A song about being torn between two shores, the one you have left and the adopted one. In the end, although your decision is a difficult one and affects not only yourself, you try to accept it and live your life. You hope that loved ones can accept it too. However the loss of regular contact is a big price to pay, particularly as the years go by.

On the long road out to find your fortune
and the million songs you sang along the way
Did you ever think about me,
did you ever see my face
or did it all get lost when you left us on that day?

As you wandered through the bright lights of the city
and gazed at sights your eyes had never seen
And you built your hopes so high,
but the years they passed you by
In this world so far removed from where you'd been.

The times weren't bad and they might have gotten better
But there was nothing here to keep you so you say
But your friends they all did well,
have their families and their homes
It's as much as you've to show for going away.

But the curse of the immigrant falls upon you now
as you reminisce of all that's gone before
Was it worth all the memories,
Was it worth all the pain
As dreams break like shells upon the shore.

What are days spent waiting for the sunset
When loneliness is never far away
But to sing across the miles
to a stranger's friendly smile
Made it all seem worth it anyway.

On the long summer evenings never ending
As the children ran and played outside the door
It was all so easy then
for I knew just where you were
It was all I ever really asked you for.

But the curse of the immigrant falls upon you now
as you reminisce of all that's gone before
Was it worth all the memories,
Was it worth all the pain
As dreams break like shells upon the shore.

There's times when I wander through the meadow
in a verse or a notion in my head
And often in the night those spirits whisper
The peaceful healing words I never said.

Now the glasses touch and we drink another measure
to precious times that bond us boy to man
Is it better to dream on,
than to live a life that's gone
When there's no one on this earth who really can.

And the curse of the immigrant falls upon you now
as you reminisce of all that's gone before
Was it worth all the memories,
Was it worth all the pain
As dreams break like shells upon the shore.