On the first day of January,
Eighteen ninety-two,
They opened Ellis Island.
And they let the people through.
And first to cross the threshold.
Of that isle of hope and tears,
Was Annie Moore from Ireland
Who was all of fifteen years.
Isle of hope, isle of tears,
Isle of freedom, isle of fears,
But it's not the isle you left behind.
That isle of hunger, isle of pain,
Isle you'll never see again
But the isle of home is always on your mind.
In a little bag she carried
All her past and history,
And her dreams for the future
In the land of liberty.
And courage is the passport
When your old world disappears
But there's no future in the past
When you're fifteen years
Isle of hope, isle of tears,
Isle of freedom, isle of fears,
But it's not the isle you left behind.
That isle of hunger, isle of pain,
Isle you'll never see again
But the isle of home is always on your mind.
When they closed down Ellis Island
In nineteen forty-three,
Seventeen million people 1700
Had come there for sanctuary.
And in springtime when I came here
And I stepped onto it's piers,
I thought of how it must have been
When you're fifteen years.
Isle of hope, isle of tears,
Isle of freedom, isle of fears,
But it's not the isle you left behind.
That isle of hunger, isle of pain,
Isle you'll never see again
But the isle of home is always on your mind.
Isle of hope, isle of tears,
Isle of freedom, isle of fears,
But it's not the isle you left behind.
That isle of hunger, isle of pain,
Isle you'll never see again
But the isle of home is always on your mind.
The isle of home is always on your mind.
[00:16.300]On the first day of January,
[00:20.388]Eighteen ninety-two,
[00:24.132]They opened Ellis Island.
[00:27.786]And they let the people through.
[00:32.012]And first to cross the threshold.
[00:35.877]Of that isle of hope and tears,
[00:40.075]Was Annie Moore from Ireland
[00:44.028]Who was all of fifteen years.
[00:49.500]Isle of hope, isle of tears,
[00:53.524]Isle of freedom, isle of fears,
[00:57.892]But it's not the isle you left behind.
[01:05.140]That isle of hunger, isle of pain,
[01:09.157]Isle you'll never see again
[01:14.070]But the isle of home is always on your mind.
[01:22.107]In a little bag she carried
[01:25.568]All her past and history,
[01:29.372]And her dreams for the future
[01:32.922]In the land of liberty.
[01:37.147]And courage is the passport
[01:40.723]When your old world disappears
[01:45.451]But there's no future in the past
[01:49.476]When you're fifteen years
[01:54.291]Isle of hope, isle of tears,
[01:58.059]Isle of freedom, isle of fears,
[02:02.589]But it's not the isle you left behind.
[02:09.419]That isle of hunger, isle of pain,
[02:13.587]Isle you'll never see again
[02:18.287]But the isle of home is always on your mind.
[02:56.090]When they closed down Ellis Island
[02:59.555]In nineteen forty-three,
[03:04.306]Seventeen million people 1700
[03:07.226]Had come there for sanctuary.
[03:11.706]And in springtime when I came here
[03:15.492]And I stepped onto it's piers,
[03:19.762]I thought of how it must have been
[03:23.858]When you're fifteen years.
[03:28.810]Isle of hope, isle of tears,
[03:32.546]Isle of freedom, isle of fears,
[03:37.042]But it's not the isle you left behind.
[03:43.858]That isle of hunger, isle of pain,
[03:48.042]Isle you'll never see again
[03:52.557]But the isle of home is always on your mind.
[03:59.778]Isle of hope, isle of tears,
[04:03.554]Isle of freedom, isle of fears,
[04:07.825]But it's not the isle you left behind.
[04:13.996]That isle of hunger, isle of pain,
[04:18.318]Isle you'll never see again
[04:22.954]But the isle of home is always on your mind.
[04:30.266]The isle of home is always on your mind.
