come irishmen both young and stern with adventure in your soul there are better ways to spend your days than workin down a hole i curse the day i went away to work on those hydro dams all our sweat and tears our hopes and fears bound up with shuttering jams i was tall and true all of six foot two til they broke me across my back by a name i m known and it s not my own they call me crooked jack and i ve seen old men before their time their faces drawn and gray but i ain t never thought so soon would mine be lined in that self same way and i was tall and true all of six foot two but they broke me across the back and by a name i m known it s not my own they call me crooked jack  they say that honest toil is good for the body and the soul but believe me boys it s for sweat and blood that they want you down a hole i was tall and true all of six foot two but they broke me across my back by a name i m known it s not my own they call me crooked jack they call me crooked jack