Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears - Whistling Doneys
[Verse 1]
C G Am
On the first day of January, eighteen ninety-two,
F Dm F G
they opened Ellis Island and they let the people through.
C G Am
And the first to cross the threshold, of that isle of hope and tears,
F Dm F G G7
was Annie Moore from Ireland, who was all of fifteen years.
[Chorus]
F G C Am
Isle of hope, isle of tears, isle of freedom, isle of fears,
F G
but it's not the isle you leave be--hind
F G C Am
That isle of hunger, isle of pain, isle you'll never see a--gain,
F G F C
but the isle of home is always on your mind.
[Verse 2]
C G Am
In a little bag she carried, all her past and history,
F Dm F G
and her dreams for the future, in the land of liber--ty.
C G Am
And courage is the passport, when your old world disappears,
F Dm F G G7
but there's no future in the past, when you're fifteen years.
[Chorus]
F G C Am
Isle of hope, isle of tears, isle of freedom, isle of fears,
F G
but it's not the isle you leave be--hind
F G C Am
That isle of hunger, isle of pain, isle you'll never see a--gain,
F G F C
but the isle of home is always on your mind.
[Instrumental]
C G Am
F Dm F G
C G Am
F Dm F G G7
[Verse 3]
C G Am
When they closed down Ellis Island, in 1943,
F Dm F G
sev--enteen million people had come there for sanct--uary.
C G Am
And in the springtime when I came here, and I stepped onto its piers,
F Dm F G G7
I thought of how it must have been, when you're fifteen years.
[Chorus]
F G C Am
Isle of hope, isle of tears, isle of freedom, isle of fears,
F G
but it's not the isle you leave be--hind
F G C Am
That isle of hunger, isle of pain, isle you'll never see a--gain,
F G F C
but the isle of home is always on your mind.