My heartache goes back o’er the water,
To a land that I left long ago.
I loved one of Erin’s fair daughters,
She was faithful to me I well know.

Her form was as neat as a fairy,
And her smiles were a blessing to me.
But I’ll never deceive you, dear Mary.
O’er the bright Emerald Isle of the sea

In the cot o’er the brook where we parted,
Each night, sure I see in my dream.
When I waken almost broken hearted,
And I think of the past that has been.

But I toil for your sake oh my darling!
That happy day I long for to see.
When I’ll go back and wed you, dear Mary.
O’er the bright Emerald Isle of the sea.

Conversation after song between Martin Reidy, Jim Carroll and Pat Mackenzie:
Jim: And that’s the first song you ever learned?
Martin: I learned that – the first song ever I learned.
Jim: And you remembered it.
Martin: I’d be singing it and I driving cows – every night, I’d be singing!

“There is no record of this having been published anywhere; it is possible that Martin learned it from one of the songbooks he purchased in Ennis as a young man.”
Jim Carroll