Your father sailed on the Murmansk run    To guide the flocks of the ships home one by one    Grey beneath the Arctic sun    Or the glow of Northern Lights       I see you have his photograph    His eyes are watching for dangers fore or aft    Trading days beneath the sun    For the cold and wintry nights of the Murmansk run       He never did come home to you    It's long forgotten, a childhood dream or two    But something of the cold got through    And it lingers in your eyes       On days like these you hear the wind    And feel the chill of the ice floes closing in    Trading days beneath the sun    For the cold and wintry nights of the Murmansk run       Save our souls, river of darkness over me    Save our souls, lost on the dark uncharted sea       Now you hide yourself from view    You seem to find it an easy thing to do    Trading days beneath the sun    For the cold and wintry nights of the Murmansk run       Save our souls, river of darkness over me    Save our souls, lost on the dark uncharted sea       Well you wake up in the morning on Hester street    And run to the factory, You can't afford to be late    Working every morning, every evening, every day    For your money, Yet there's nothing to save       Watching your life pass by the window    Feeling it all run through your hands    Counting the thousands behind in the lines    Waiting time for their chance       From Ellis Island, day after day    From Ellis Island, dreams slip away       Meanwhile from the market come the cries    Of every tongue and every nation    Refugeless refugees    Faces from the endless plains of Russia    Blonde Norwegian, dark Croatian    Songs in sad minor keys    Feeling the heat inside the fumace    Trying to make that break away    Reaching their hands for a grip    On the edge just to slip back again       From Ellis Island, day after day    From Ellis Island, dreams slip away       Ah well I've heard it said    If you just use your head    You can make your fortune here    One lucky break and that's all it would take       But it never seems to be near    Another day, another ship pulls into harbor    And the crowd spills down the gangway    Clutching their suitcases tight       Blinking in the sunlight at the door of the new world    They hold the handrail    With all the post thrown behind    Caught in between now and forever    Wondering just what lies ahead    Each one is waiting and hoping    The door will be open to them       On Ellis Island, day after day    On Ellis Island, time slips away       From Ellis Island, day after day    From Ellis Island, dreams slip away       Save our souls, river of darkness over me    Save our souls, lost on the dark uncharted sea