The Reason I Left Mullingar
(Pat Cooksey)

I walked through the city a stranger in a land I can never call home

And I curse the sad notion that caused me, in search of my fortune, to roam

I'm weary of working and drinking and a week's wages left in a bar

And God it's a shame to use a friend's name just to beg for the price of a jar

Chorus

I remember that bright April morning when I left home to travel afar

But to work till you're dead for one room and a bed is not the reason I left Mullingar

This London's a city of heartbreak on Friday there's friends by the score

But when the pay's finished on Monday a friend's not a friend anymore

For the working day seems never ending from the shovel and pick there's no break

And when you're not working you're spending the fortune you left home to make

Chorus

And for every man here that finds fortune and comes home to tell of the tale

Each morning the broadway is crowded with many the thousands who fail

So young men of Ireland take warning in London you will never find

The gold at the end of the rainbow you might just have left it behind

Chorus