A "coffin ship" was one that was so bad that the majority of the passengers died before reaching the US; i understand that sharks followed them, just as they had followed slave ships...
"...I never even got so far that they could change my name..." - many of the immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island found their names changed due to their documents having been written by someone who either misheard their name, couldn't spell it, or just thought it wasn't "American" enough. (My own family's original name - two of my great-grandfathers were Bohemian immigrants - was changed, but not at Ellis Island; my great-grandfather just changed it after he'd been here a while...)
I believe (having just listened twice) that it's "...stepped hand in hand down Broadway/(With the first man on the moon..." - a parade for the astronauts.
Also, "Did you work upon the railroads" - the crews building the transcontinental railroad were mostly Chinese (on the tracks from the west coeast eastward) and Irish (on the tracks pushing west).
"Did you rid the streets of crime" - even now many bg-city police forces are predominantly Irish
"Were your dollars from the White House" - JFK, obviously
"Were they from the five-and-dime" - George Wollworth was Irish.
A "coffin ship" was one that was so bad that the majority of the passengers died before reaching the US; i understand that sharks followed them, just as they had followed slave ships...
"...I never even got so far that they could change my name..." - many of the immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island found their names changed due to their documents having been written by someone who either misheard their name, couldn't spell it, or just thought it wasn't "American" enough. (My own family's original name - two of my great-grandfathers were Bohemian immigrants - was changed, but not at Ellis Island; my great-grandfather just changed it after he'd been here a while...)
I believe (having just listened twice) that it's "...stepped hand in hand down Broadway/(With the first man on the moon..." - a parade for the astronauts.
Also, "Did you work upon the railroads" - the crews building the transcontinental railroad were mostly Chinese (on the tracks from the west coeast eastward) and Irish (on the tracks pushing west).
"Did you rid the streets of crime" - even now many bg-city police forces are predominantly Irish
"Were your dollars from the White House" - JFK, obviously
"Were they from the five-and-dime" - George Wollworth was Irish.