New Road (B. McNeill & R. Kavana)

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Pack up your bags for you're leavin’, smile as you rise

But don’t look in her eyes for she’s grievin’

Take the road south to the wide river’s mouth

Where your forefathers rode for the weavin’

And lift up your head in

The first rain of Spring as you go.

 

Chorus: Road, road, old road and true road,

              Follow the line o’ the hills

              To the sea for the new road.

 

You’re lookin’ for work and for wages but the merchants

Are robbers and towns without jobs are just cages

There’s lumber and gold if you’ll face the cold

With the men who can stand the snow’s rages

And you’ll feel the East Wind

From the Rockies to Newfoundland’s shore.

 

    And the ones left behind will look on and sigh

    For the songs and the stories that come by-and-by

    From the homeland whose children will never return.

    And the memory will strike you no matter where

    In the sound of a jig or a reel or an air

    From the homeland whose children will never return.

 

Westwards was always a notion, take your heart in your hands

And strike out for the land o’er the ocean

For the good news comes home and sets others to roam

Yon’s a wheel that’s a long time in motion

And it spins like the leaves

From the trees when the season is o’er.

 

As you look from the North in the mornin’

The new road looks fair but the old one’s still there as a warnin’

Still you’ve nothing’ to lose for whichever you choose

You must walk thru’ the storm you were born in

But maybe you’re safe from

The bailiffs and lords if you go.

 

    But the time always comes in the dark of the night

    When you look thru’ the glare of the big city lights

    To the homeland whose children will never return.

    And the question you’re askin’ is always the same

    With your hand on your heart do you still have a claim

    To the homeland whose children will never return.