It seems like only yesterday I sailed from out of Cork
A wanderer from Erin's Isle I landed in new York
There wasn't a soul to greet me there, a stranger on your shore
But Irish luck was with me there and riches came galore
And now I'm going back again to dear old Erin's Isle
My friends will greet me on the pier and meet me with a smile
There faces sure I've almost forgot,
I've been so long away
My mother will introduce them all and this to me she'll say...
Shake hands with your Uncle Mike me boy
And kiss your sister Kate
And her's the girl you used to swing down on the garden gate
Shake hands with all the neighbors and kiss the colleens all
You're as welcome as the flowers of Spring in Dear Old Donegal
Oh, there'll be a party when I come home
They'll come from near and far
They'll line the roads for miles and miles
In Irish jaunting cars
The spirits will flow and we'll be gay
And fill your heart with joy
The piper will play an Irish reel to greet the Yankee boy
We'll dance and sing the night away
A sight you've never seen
The lads all decked in corduroy the colleens wearing green
There'll be thousands there I've never seen
I've been so long away,
My mother will introduce them all and this to me she'll say