The Streets Of New York chords by The Wolfe Tones

Tuning: Standard (E A D G B E)

intro:

G Am C D G D C G

verse 1:

       G              Am          C             D
I was eighteen years old, when I went down to Dublin
        G         Em          C            D
With a fistful of money and a cartload of dreams
 G                         Am          C            D
"Take your time", said me father "stop rushing like hell
    G               Em          D7       G
And remember all is not what it seems to be
             D             Em              C            G
For there's fellows would cut you for the coat on your back
        C              G            D
Or the watch that you got from your mother
         G            Am         C              D
So take care me young buck-o and mind yourself well
             G              D7         G
And will you give this wee note to me brother"

verse 2:

       D                      C            G
At the time Uncle Benjy was a policeman in Brooklyn
        D                          C         D
And me father the youngest looked after the farm
       G               Am             C            D
When a phone call from America said 'Send the lad over'
        G          Em                    C      G
And the ould fella said sure it wouldn't do any harm
      C                           G
For I spoent my life working this dirty old ground
      C                           G
For a few pints of porter and the smell of a pound
                       Am               C               D
And sure maybe there's something you'll learn or you'll see
            G             Em            C        G
And you can bring it back home, make it easy on me

verse 3:

               Am            C          D
So I landed at Kennedy and a big yellow taxi
G                 Em                C               D
Carried me and my bags through the streets in the rain
G                      Am      C              D
Well my poor heart was thumpin around with excitement
       G          Em              D7         G
And I hardly even heard what the driver was saying
         D            Em               C            G
We came in the shore parkway to the flatlands in Brooklyn
       C       Em           D
To my uncle's apartment on East 53rd
      G          Am          C         D
I was feeling so happy I was humming a song
      G               D7        G
And I sang you're as "Free as a bird"

verse 4:

         D                       C              G
Well to shorten the story what I found out that day
          D                  C      G
Was that Benjy got shot in a uptown foray
    G           Am        C         D
And while I was flyng my way to New York
      G         Em         D7        G
Poor Benjy was lying in a cold city morgue
       C             D            G
Well I phoned up the ould fella, told him the news
         C            D              G
I could tell he could hardly stand up in his shoes
                   Am          C              D
And he wept as he told me, go ahead with the plan
     G        Em           C      G
And not to forget to be a proud Irishman

key change:

A Bm D E

verse 5:

A               Bm        D             E
So I went up to Nelly's beside Fordham Road
       A           F#m         D           E
And I started to learn about lifting the load
        A           Bm            D           E
But the heaviest thing that I carried that year
        A             F#m            D           A
Was the bitter sweet thoughts of my home town so dear
       E         F#m                  D         A
I went home that December 'cause the old fella died
       F#m         D          E
Had to borrow the money from Phil on the side
    A                Bm         D              E
And all the bright flowers and grass couldn't hide
     A           E          A
The poor wasted face of my father

verse 6:

        E                   D               A
I sold off the old farmyard for what it was worth
    E                  D           E
And into my bag stuck a handful of earth
       A         Bm           D           E
Then I boarded a train and I caught me a plane
       A            F#m        D     A
And I found myself back in the U.S. again
          D                        A
It's been twenty-two years since I set foot in Dublin
     D                      A               E
The kids know to use the correct knife and fork
          A       Bm             D             E
But I'll never forget the green grass and the rivers
      A           F#m          D             A
As I keep law and order in the streets of New York

outo:

A Bm D E A F#m D E

A Bm D E A F#m D A