Oh, in eighteen hundred and sixty one, The Yankee war had just begun, I put my corduroy breeches on,
ChorusTo work upon the rail way, the railway, I'm weary of the railway, Oh, poor Paddy works on the railway!
Oh, in eighteen hundred and sixty-two, My corduroy breeches they were new; I took my pick with a navvy's crew, To work upon the railway. Oh, in eighteen hundred and sixty-three, I sailed away beyond the sea; I sailed away to Amerikee, To work upon the railway. Oh, in eighteen hundred and sixty-four, I landed on the American shore; I had a pickaxe and nothing more, To work upon the railway.

Eckstorm and Smyth, Minstrelsy of Maine (1927)

In eighteen hundred and forty-six, I found myself in the hell of a fix, A-working on the railway, the railway, the railway, Oh, poor Paddy works on the railway. In eighteen hundred and forty-seven, When Dan O'Connell went to heaven, He worked upon the railway, the railway, the railway, Oh, poor Paddy works on the railway. In eighteen hundred and forty-eight, I found myself bound for the Golden Gate, A-working on the railway, the railway, the railway, Oh, poor Paddy works on the railway. In eighteen hundred and forty-nine, I passed my time on the Black Ball Line, A-working on the railway, the railway, the railway, Oh, poor Paddy works on the railway.

Paddy Works on the Railway is a heaving shanty with the unique technique of counting by the years. Despite describing railway construction, it was also used around docks and aboard ships. Some versions center around the California gold rush while others describe America in the 1860s, just prior to the first transcontinental railway. The use of years to tell a story is also found in the folk song Peg and Awl.

This shanty relates to the great Irish emigration to America, with Paddy as a generic name for an Irishman. It may have found its way from music halls, but Sir Richard Runciman Terry argues that his great-uncle used to sing an earlier version:

When I was a little tiny boy I went to sea in Stormy’s employ, I sailed way across the sea When I was just a shaver. It’s I was weary of the sea When I was just a shaver.

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