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Come all ye young fellows and list' while I tell
On the terrible misfortune that upon me befell
Centralization they say was the name
But me I just calls it the government game
My name it don't matter, I'm not young anymore
But in all of my days I'd never been poor
I'd lived the right good life and not felt no shame
'Til they made me take part in the government game
My home was St. Kyran's, a heavenly place
It thrived on the fishin' of a good hearty race
But now it will never again be the same
Since they made it a pawn in the government game
Sure, the government paid us for movin' away
And leaving our birth place for a better day's pay
They said that our poor lives would ne'er be the same
Once we took part in the government game
It's not many years now since they all moved away
To places more prosperous way down the bay
There's not one soul left now, not one who remains
They've all become part of the government game
Now St. Kyran's lies there all empty as Hell
Except for the graveyard where our dead parents dwell
The lives of their children are buried in shame
They lost out while playing the government game
To a place called Placentia, well, some of them went
And in finding a new home their allowances spent
So for jobs they went lookin' but they looked all in vain
For the roof had caved in on the government game
It's surely a sad sight, their movin' around
A wishin they still lived by the cod-fishin' ground
But there's no goin' back, now, there's nothing to gain
Now that they've played in the government game
They tell me our young ones the benefits will see
But I don't believe it - oh, how can it be?
They'll never know nothing but sorrow and shame
For their fathers were part of the government game
And when my soul leaves me for the heavens above
Take me back to St. Kyran's, the place that I love
And there on my gravestone right next to my name
Just say I died playing the government game