Paddy's Lament

This song was written around the time of the American Civil War. It is about the lamenting of the losses of the Irish who left their home country for America. It also tells of the Irish who participated in the American Civil War. The singer represents a current perspective of the events being a modern singer, but the songwriter offers a historical perspective and seems to write the song more as a story than a piece of historically accurate information. I think the song was okay, but still not a favorite of mine...it won't be on my Top 25 Most Played on my iPod. This song tells us about the hardships faced by immigrants into the country. The Irish immigrants came over uneducated and worked as low pay manual laborers such as miners and railroad workers. It also tells us that America, the seemingly land of plenty, was not quite as good as earlier perceived. Despite this, conditions in America were better than in Ireland where there was the potato famine and low working wages.