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This thought is repeated in the refrain at the end of each verse.

The genuine feeling that does come across quite clearly, however, is that Paddy is weary of working on the railway. The reference to O’Connell tells us very little except that the song isn’t so much relating a story as laying down specific and sometimes random thoughts– a characteristic of many songs in the shanty tradition. He was a major figure in Irish history but had no significant connection with railways or their employees. poor Paddy works on the railway G In eighteen hundred and forty two. In 1841, Paddy puts his corduroy britches on and gets to work. O’Connell was an Irish politician and nationalist campaigner. Poor Paddy On The Railway - The Dubliners / From the album A drop of the hard. Paddy here refers to Irish workers in general rather than any one individual. In the fifth verse, there’s a random reference to Daniel O’Connell being alive in 1845. In subsequent verses he sails across the sea, he lands in Columbia and later he changes his trade to carrying bricks. In 1842 we learn he didn’t “know what to do” to work on the railway. Paddy here refers to Irish workers in general rather than any one individual. Poor Paddy Works on the Railway follows a simple, repetitive structure telling the story of one or possibly several navvies between 18. ‘Paddy’ refers to Irish workers in general The Irish worked on every major railway, road and canal in the UK. They had to be tough and they carried out their crippling work on a diet made up largely of bread, meat and beer. Thousands jumped at the chance to earn a living as a rail worker. In the mid 19th century, famine torn Ireland was a rich source of young men looking for work. The thousands of Irish labourers employed building Britain’s rail and canal network were known as navigators, which became shortened to navvies – a name that was to be associated with Irish workers for more than a hundred years. He might also have credited the Irish with building Britain’s railways and canals.