Tom Callahan: Music

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My emigrant ancestors, Walshes and Callahans, came to Western New York State in the 1820's as part of the wave of Irish immigrants who dug the Erie Canal and later worked on the docks and in the grain elevators as scoopers. "Dig, Paddy, Dig" tells the story of the Irish laborers who made the American Century possible.

Dig, Paddy Dig

Dig, Paddy Dig
'til you can dig no more.
Dig, Paddy, Dig
That's all that you're good for.

The English planters came
and took away your land.
The English planters came and put their shovel in your hand.
With that foreign shovel you worked that stolen soil.
And with that foreign shovel, they took the profits of your toil.

While they said . .

Dig, Paddy Dig
'til you can dig no more.
Dig, Paddy, Dig
That's all that you're good for.

The sons of '98 came to Amerikay.
Where the sons of '98 heard the labor bosses say...

Dig, Paddy Dig
'til you can dig no more.
Dig, Paddy, Dig
That's all that you're good for.

From the Hudson to Lake Erie with your pick and with your spade,
From the Hudson to Lake Erie, their great canal you made.
And on the lakeport's docks, ships full of prairie gold,
and at the lakeport's docks, they sent you down into the hold.
And they said . . .

Dig, Paddy Dig
'til you can dig no more.
Dig, Paddy, Dig
That's all that you're good for.

With your wooden shovel and the endless tons of grain,
you stoked the mighty engine of the industrial machine.

Some fight with pikes and rifles,
in song we praise their struggle.
But the unsung fight with patience,
and conquer with a shovel.

While they hear . . .

Dig, Paddy Dig
'til you can dig no more.
Dig, Paddy, Dig
That's all that you're good for.
Dig, Paddy Dig
'til you can dig no more.
Dig, Paddy, Dig
That's all that you're good for.