In the days I went a courtin'
I was never tired resortin'
To an ale-house or a playhouse
And many's the house besides
But I told me brother Seamus
I'd go off and be right famous
And I never would return again
'Til I roamed the world wide

Goodbye Muirsheen Durkin
Sure I'm sick and tired of working
No more I'll dig the praties
And no longer I'll be fooled
As sure's me name is Carney
I'll be off to California
Where instead of diggin' praties
I'll be diggin' lumps of gold

I've courted girls in Blarney
In Kanturk and in Killarney
In Passage and in Queenstown
That is the Cobh of Cork
Goodbye to all this pleasure
I'll be off to take me leisure
And the next time that you hear from me
Will be a letter from New York

So it's Goodbye Muirsheen Durkin
I'm sick and tired of working
No more I'll dig the praties
And no longer I'll be fooled
As sure's me name is Carney
I'll be off to California
Where instead of diggin' praties
I'll be diggin' lumps of gold

Goodbye to the girls at home
I'm going far across the foam
To try and make me fortune
In far Amerikay
There's gold and jewels and plenty
For the poor and for the gentry
And when I return again
I never more will say

Goodbye Muirsheen Durkin sure
I'm sick and tired of working
No more I'll dig the praties
And no longer I'll be fooled
As sure's me name is Carney
I'll be off to California
Where instead of diggin' praties
I'll be diggin' lumps of gold