Across The Western Ocean

1. Oh the times are hard and the wages low,
    Amelia, where you bound for?
The Rocky Mountains is my home,
    Across the Western Ocean.
    Across the Western Ocean.
    Across the Western Ocean.
The Rocky Mountains is my home,
    Across the Western Ocean.

2. The land of promise there you'll see
    Amelia, where you bound for?
I'm bound across the Western sea
    Across the Western Ocean.
    Across the Western Ocean.
    Across the Western Ocean.
I'm bound across the Western sea
    Across the Western Ocean.

3. I'll take my way from Liverpool...
In Liverpool that Yankee school...

4. There's Liverpool Pat with his tarpaulin hat...
And Yankee Jack the packet rat...

5. Beware these packet ships I say...
They'll steal your stores and clothes away...


In the wake of potato famine, over a million Irish people immigrated to the United States in the late 1840's, their passages frequently paid by relatives already in America. Crossing the Atlantic by packet ship was inexpensive, but took at least six weeks.  An estimated one of every five immigrants died at sea.