Song 7 "Paddy's Lament"

"Paddy's Lament" is a song that is about an Irish immigrant to America during the Civil War.

The Irish man was immediately put into battle during the Civil War and disliked it quite a bit. In fact, he advises the "boys" not to come to America either. He even says "curse Americay". He came because of the Irish potatoe famine and sold all he owned (cow and pigs) to get there, hoping to make a fortune. Then after fighting in the war, he only wanted to go back to Dublin.

The song is told in a firsthand account and it seems as the songwriter wrote about the events as they happened. Also, the way the songwriter uses "me" and other Irish accent phrases in the song make it seem more authentic. Of course, it is probably like that because it was at first sung by an Irish man who sounded like that.

I think this song was very surprising. When I first heard it I was expecting it to be about how much better America was than Ireland, but it was just the opposite. It seems to emphasize the in an even greater way how terrible the Civil War actually was. It's such a harsh song against America it's quite surprising. I did enjoy the part "Well meself I lost me leg, they gave me a wooden peg". It's kind of absurd. I guess it was funny because it was unexpected.

This song shows that times were obviously very, very bad during the Civil War. This a different story than is told from most of the immigrants who came to America. The Civil War must have been devastating.