;Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears
;Brendan Graham
 
 
[capo on 2nd]
 
[Intro]
.F Am Dm G C
 
 
.       C           G         Am             C
 On the first day of January, eighteen ninety-two,
.     F           C               Dm              G
 They opened Ellis Island and they let the people through.
.         C                  G                Am               C
 And the first to cross the threshold of that isle of hope and tears,
.    F               C               Dm             G     G7
 Was Annie Moore from Ireland who was all of fifteen years
 
 
[Chorus]
.         F             G              C      G/B      Am
 Isle of hope, isle of tears, isle of freedom, isle of fears,
.          F              Dm      G
 But it's not the isle you left behind.
.             F              G                C     G/B     Am
 That isle of hunger, isle of pain, isle you'll never see again,
.         F              G             C
 But the isle of home is always on your mind
[]
 
.     C              G               Am           C
 In a little bag she carried all her past and history,
.         F             C           Dm           G
 And her dreams for the future in the land of liberty.
.      C            G                Am               C
 And courage is the passport when your old world disappears,
.      F              C                      Dm               G
 But there's no future in the past, when you're all of fifteen years
 
 
[Chorus]
.         F             G              C      G/B      Am
 Isle of hope, isle of tears, isle of freedom, isle of fears,
.          F              Dm      G
 But it's not the isle you left behind.
.             F              G                C     G/B     Am
 That isle of hunger, isle of pain, isle you'll never see again,
.         F              G             C
 But the isle of home is always on your mind
[]
 
[Instrumental]
.F Am Dm G C
 
.          C                 G         Am              C
 When they closed down Ellis Island in nineteen forty-three,
. F                 C            Dm               G
 Seventeen million people had come there for sanctuary.
.         C               G              Am               C
 And in Springtime when I came here and I stepped onto its piers,
.    F               C                        Dm           G     G7
 I thought of how it must have hurt when you're only fifteen years
 
 
[Chorus]
.         F             G              C      G/B      Am
 Isle of hope, isle of tears, isle of freedom, isle of fears,
.          F              Dm      G
 But it's not the isle you left behind.
.             F              G                C     G/B     Am
 That isle of hunger, isle of pain, isle you'll never see again,
.         F              G             C
 But the isle of home is always on your mind
 
[up 1 half-step]
 
.         F             G              C      G/B      Am
 Isle of hope, isle of tears, isle of freedom, isle of fears,
.          F              Dm      G
 But it's not the isle you left behind.
.             F              G                C     G/B     Am
 That isle of hunger, isle of pain, isle you'll never see again,
.         F              G             C
 But the isle of home is always on your mind
[]