Mile 59

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[Verse 1]
In eighteen hundred and thirty-two
From Derry they sailed away
In the dingy hold of a coffin ship
For Phila-del-phi-a
When they landed in that city fair
Duffy met 'em at the pier
Said I'll give you work for a meager wage
If you sign your name right here
[Verse 2]
Fifty-seven Irish grunts
Off to work in the July heat
Into the bowels of a land didn't want them there
To face bigotry and deceit
Cutting through the limestone
Filling in ravines
As the proddy boys laid down the track
For them iron horse machines
[Chorus]
Now the good folk make their way back home
Down on the old Main Line
They pass the bones of dead paddies
Out by mile fifty-nine
The ghosts are down there still
By that old railroad line
They haunt the dark valley
Out by mile fifty-nine
[Verse 3]
After a few long weeks
Seven men fell ill
The others watched as they slipped away
And they buried them in that hill
Then they suffered and they prayed
To live another day
But East Whiteland got the word
And sent their thugs on the way
[Chorus]
[Verse 4]
They fell upon that shantytown
Pulled sick men from their bed
They beat them down, they gave the axe
And they shot them in the head
And when the deed was done
They covered up their crime
They threw the fifty in a pit
And it all got lost in time
[Chorus]
[Chorus]
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