"Drill, Ye Tarriers" - A Railroad Work Song From 1888

Hey folks

This is an old folk song that dates back to 1888.

It paints the picture of the life of a "Tarrier" which was the name for the
Irish labourers who emigrate to America to work on the railroads.

These were the people who drilled the holes in which dynamite was placed to blast railroad tunnels.

"Drill, Ye Tarriers"

Every the morning seven o'clock
There are twenty tarriers drilling at the rock
The boss comes along and he says, "Keep still,
Come down heavy on your cast iron drill.
And drill, ye tarriers, drill"

Well you work all day for the sugar in your tay
Down beyond the railway
And drill, ye tarriers, drill
And blast, and fire.

Now the boss was a fine man down to the ground
And he married a woman who was six feet 'round
She baked good bread and she baked it well
But she baked it harder than the hobs of hell ...
Well drill, ye tarriers, drill

Well you work all day for the sugar in your tay
Down beyond the railway
And drill, ye tarriers, drill
And blast, and fire

Now our new foreman big Jim McCann
By God, he was a big mean man
Last week a premature blast went off
And a mile in the sky went big Jim Goff.
And drill, ye tarriers, drill

Well you work all day for the sugar in your tay
Down beyond the railway
And drill, ye tarriers, drill
And blast, and fire.

And when next payday came around
Jim Goff a dollar short was found
When asked the reason came this reply
"You were docked for the time you were up in the sky."
And drill, ye tarriers, drill

Well you work all day for the sugar in your tay
Down beyond the railway
And drill, ye tarriers, drill
And blast, and fire.

.A Tarriers life is work and sweat
No there aint been no Tarrier got rich yet
Its work and sweat and drill some more
Til you drill right down to the Devils door!
And drill, ye tarriers, drill

Well you work all day for the sugar in your tay
Down beyond the railway
And drill, ye tarriers, drill
And blast, and fire.

Every the morning seven o'clock
There are twenty tarriers drilling at the rock
The boss comes along and he says, "Keep still,
Come down heavy on your cast iron drill.
And drill, ye tarriers, drill"

Well you work all day for the sugar in your tay
Down beyond the railway
And drill, ye tarriers, drill
And blast, and fire.