I wonder how I survived it all
The ordinary miserable childhood
The Irish Catholic childhood is yet worse
I wonder how I survived it all

My father and mother should have stayed in New York
Instead, they returned to Ireland
People brag and whimper about the woes of their early years
But nothing can compare with the Irish

The happy childhood is hardly worth your while
The poverty
The alcoholic father
The defeated mother
Pompous priests
The happy childhood is hardly worth your while

We were wet
Moaning by the fire
It was only the rain
The walls of Limerick glistened with the damp

I wonder how I survived it all
My father and mother should have stayed in New York
The happy childhood is hardly worth your while
We were wet
A miserable childhood