Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears - Whistling Doneys
D A Bm
On the first day of January, eighteen ninety-two,
G Em G A
they opened Ellis Island and they let the people through.
D A Bm
And the first to cross the threshold, of that isle of hope and tears,
G Em G A A7
was Annie Moore from Ireland, who was all of fifteen years.
[Chorus]
G A D Bm
Isle of hope, isle of tears, isle of freedom, isle of fears,
G A
but it's not the isle you leave be--hind
G A D Bm
That isle of hunger, isle of pain, isle you'll never see a--gain,
G A G D
but the isle of home is always on your mind.
[Verse 2]
D A Bm
In a little bag she carried, all her past and history,
G Em G A
and her dreams for the future, in the land of liber--ty.
D A Bm
And courage is your passport, when your old world disappears,
G Em G A A7
but there's no future in the past, when you're fifteen years.
[Chorus]
G A D Bm
Isle of hope, isle of tears, isle of freedom, isle of fears,
G A
but it's not the isle you leave be--hind
G A D Bm
That isle of hunger, isle of pain, isle you'll never see a--gain,
G A G D
but the isle of home is always on your mind.
[Instrumental]
D A Bm
G Em G A
D A Bm
G Em G A A7
[Verse 3]
D A Bm
When they closed down Ellis Island, in 1943,
G Em G A
seventeen million people had come there for sanctu--ary.
D A Bm
And in the springtime when I came here, and I stepped onto its piers,
G Em G A A7
I thought of how it must have been, when you're fifteen years.
[Chorus] x 2
G A D Bm
Isle of hope, isle of tears, isle of freedom, isle of fears,
G A
but it's not the isle you leave be--hind
G A D Bm
That isle of hunger, isle of pain, isle you'll never see a--gain,
G A G D
but the isle of home is always on your mind.