Guy Clark - Immigrant Eyes lyrics

rate me

Oh Ellis Island was swarming

Like a scene from a costume hall

Decked out in the colors in Europe

And on fire with the hope of it all

There stood my father's own father stood huddled

With the tired and hungry and scared

Turn of the century pilgrims

Bound by the dream that they shared

They were standing in lines just like cattle

Poked and prodded and shoved

Some were one desk away from sweet freedom

Som were were torn from someone they love

Through this sprawling tower of babel

Came a young man confused and alone

Determined and bound for America

And carryin' everything that he owned

Chorus

Sometimes when I look in my grandfather's Immigrant Eyes

I see that day refelcted and I can't hold my feelings inside

I see starting with nothing and working hard all of his life

So don't take it for granted say grandfather's Immigrant Eyes

Now he rocks and stares out the window

But his eyes are still just as clear

As the day he sailed through the harbor

And come ashore on the island of tears

My grandfather's days are numbered

But I won' t let his memory die

'Cause he gave me the gift of this country

And the look in his Immigrant Eyes