Killeen of Texas Lyrics

There's a town in Texas that they call Killeen

Named after me, Francis Patrick Killeen

Well, after my namesake anyway

Who sought a better life in Amerikay

The year, it was Eighteen Five O

The hunger was great: he had to go

With his brother, John, he left the Mayo bogs

To find a new life over in New York

Frank and John sailed to New York

When John went west to dig for gold

But Frank took the first job that came along

And went to work on the railroad

He had no schooling and he had no wealth

He spoke with a red-neck bog accent

But the railroad company took him on

So Francis Killeen now had a job

Well, Frank rose rapidly through the ranks

And soon was the boss for the laying of tracks

It was he that brought the railroad down

All the way to Galveston

They stopped for a rest beside a stream

And they called this resting place Killeen

And now it's a city as fine as any

And the folk who live there are quite many

There's a town in Texas they call Killeen

Named after me