Chords for The Streets of New York

_ _ _ [Cm] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Eb] _
_ [Bb] _ _ [F] _ _ [Eb] _ _ [Bb] _
I was eighteen [C] years old [Bb] when I went [Eb] down to Dublin with a fistful [Gm] of money [Cm] and a [F] cartload of dreams.
_ [Bb] Take your time, [C] said me father, [Bb] stop rushing [Eb] like hell [Bb] and remember [Gm] all is not what [F] it seems [Bb] to be.
_ [Dm] Brothers, fellas, [Gm] what caught you?
[Eb] Were the coat on [Bb] your back [Gm] or the watch that you got from [F] your mother?
[F] So [Bb] take care, me [C] young bucko, [Bb] and mind [Eb] yourself well, [Bb] will you give this [F] sweet note to [Bb] me brother?
_ [F] At the time Uncle Benji [Eb] was a policeman [Bb] in Brooklyn, me father [F] the youngest, [Eb] he looked after [F] the farm.
[Bb] When a phone call [Cm] from America [Bb] said send a [Eb] lad over, me old fella [Gm] said sure [F] it wouldn't do [Bb] any harm. _
[Eb] For I've spent my life working [Bb] this fertile ground, [Eb] for a few pints a porter [Bb] and the smell of a pound.
Sure maybe [Cm] there's something [Bb] you'll learn or [Eb] you'll see and [Bb] you can bring it [Gm] back home, [F] make it easy [Bb] on me.
[Eb] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [F] So [Bb] I landed [Cm] at Kennedy [Bb] when a big [Eb] yellow taxi carried me [Gm] and me vines [Eb] through the streets [F] and the rain. _
[Bb] Well me poor [C] heart was thumping [Bb] around with [Eb]
excitement [Bb] and I hardly [Gm] even heard [F] what the driver [Bb] was saying.
We [F] came in the [Gm] short parkway [Eb] through the [Bb] flatlands of Brooklyn [Eb] to my [Bb] uncle's apartment on East [F] _ _ 53rd.
[Bb] I was feeling [C] so happy, [Bb] I was humming [Eb] a song [Bb] and I sang [F] you're as free [Bb] as a boar.
_ [F] Well to shorten the story [Eb] what I found [Bb] out that day, [F] Uncle Benji got shot [Eb] down in an [Bb] uptown foray.
_ And while [C] I was flying [Bb] my way to [Eb] New York, [Bb] poor Benji [Gm] was [F] lying in a cold [Bb] city _ morgue.
[Eb] So I phoned up the old [Bb] fella and told him the news, [Eb] I could tell he could hardly [Bb] stand up in his shoes.
And he wept [G] as he told me [Bb] go ahead [Eb] with the plan [Bb] and not [Gm] to forget [F] be a proud [Bb] Irish [Cm] man.
_ [Bb] _ _ [G] _ [C] So I went [Dm] off to [C] Nelly's beside [F] Fordham [C] Road, started [Am] to learn [F] about lifting [G] the load. _
[C] But the [D] heaviest thing [C] that I carried [F] that year [C] was the [Am] bittersweet thoughts [G] of my hometown [C] so dear.
[G] I went home [Am] that December [F] cause the old [C] fella died [Am] and to borrow the money [G] from _ Philanderside.
[C] And sure all [Dm] the bright flowers [C] and grass [F] couldn't hide [C] the poor [G] wasted face [C] of my father.
_ [G] I sold off the old [F] farmyard for what [C] it was worth [G] and into my bag [F] stuck a [G] handful of earth.
[C] And I [D] boarded a plane [C] and I caught [F] me a [C] train and I found [Am] myself back in [G] the US [C] again.
_ [F] It's been 22 years [C] since I set foot in Dublin, [F]
the kids know to use [C] the correct knife [G] and fork.
_ _ But [C] I'll never [D] forget the green [C] grass and the [F] rivers as I keep law and [Am] order [G] on the streets of [C] New York. _ _
_ [G] _ [C] La la la [Dm] la la [C] la la la [F] la la [C] la [Am] la la [F] la la la [G] la la [C] la la la la [Dm]
la [C] la la [F] la la la [C] _ _ [Am]
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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _