Go Move Shift
Christy Moore Lyrics

Born in the middle of the afternoon In a horsedrawn carriage on the old A-5
Born on the roadside in a carriage while the sun was high up above on a busy highway.

The big twelve wheeler shook my bed, You can't stay here the policeman said.
A truck so large passed by that it shook my cradle, and soon a cop came around to tell my family that they couldn't stay here anymore.

CHORUS You'd better get born in some place else. So move along get along Move along get along, Go Move Shift!
It's best to be born and live someplace else where there are no rules against staying or don't have to worry about being displaced.

Born in the common by a building site Where the ground was rutted by the trail of wheels The local Christian said to me, "You'll lower the price of property."
Born in the presence of the community by the side of newly constructed buildings where I was looked down upon by a religious person who insisted that I brought down the property values of the neighborhood.

Born at potato picking time In a noble tent in a tatie field. The farmer said, "The work's all done It's time that you was moving on."
Born during the time potatoes were being harvested (late summer) in a tent set up amongst the fields where a farmer voiced his desire for me to move further along since the work needing to be done was already finished.

Born at the back of a hawthorn hedge Where the black hole frost lay on the ground. No eastern kings came bearing gifts. Instead the order came to shift.
Born during a time of cold, harsh weather at the edge of a hawthorn bush, and instead of being welcomed, the order to move along came instead of kings bearing gifts.

The eastern sky was full of stars And one shone brighter than the rest The wise men came so stern and strict And brought the orders to evict
Born under a sky lit by the brilliant stars of the East where the wisest of men came bearing terrible news that my family was to be evicted from where we were born.

Wagon, tent, or trailer born Last month, last year, or in far off days Born here or a thousand miles away There's always men nearby who'll say
Born in any of the above circumstances, whether recent or long gone, near or far, there will always be individuals who tell you that you don't belong, and you have to move along.

Six in the morning out in Inchicore The guards came through the wagon door. John Maughan was arrested in the cold A travelling boy just ten years old.
At six in the morning out in Inchicore, through the doorway of the wagon came the guards. John Maughan, a ten-year-old traveller boy, was arrested in the cold.

Mary Joyce was living at the side of the road No halting place and no fixed abode. The vigilantes came to the Darndale site And they shot her son in the middle of the night.
Mary Joyce lived on the side of the road with nowhere to stop and no fixed location. The vigilantes came to the Darndale site and murdered her son in the middle of the night.