Come Irishmen both young and stern with adventure in your soul 
There are better ways to spend your days than in working down a hole 
I was tall and true all of 6 foot 2, but they broke me across the back 
By a name I'm known and it's not my own, they call me Crooked Jack 

And the ganger's blue-eyed boy Big Jack could do no wrong 
And the reason simply was because I could work hard hours and long 
I was tall and true all of 6 foot 2, but they broke me across the back 
By a name I'm known and it's not my own, they call me Crooked Jack

I've seen men old before their time, their faces drawn and gray 
But I never thought so soon would mine, be lined the self-same way 
I was tall and true all of 6 foot 2, but they broke me across the back 
By a name I'm known and it's not my own, they call me Crooked Jack

I curse the day I went away to work on the hydro dams 
Our sweat and tears, our hopes and fears bound up in shuttering jams 
I was tall and true all of 6 foot 2, but they broke me across the back 
By a name I'm known and it's not my own, they call me Crooked Jack

And they say that honest toil is good for the spirit and the soul 
But believe me boys, it's for sweat and blood that they want you down the hole
I was tall and true all of 6 foot 2, but they broke me across the back 
By a name I'm known and it's not my own, they call me Crooked Jack