Lyrics for an Irish song. I beleive its called "twenty one years"
I Don't know the first line, but I'll include what i do know.

".... 
and dry up your tears. 
You're sentenced to Dartmoor (sp?) 
for twenty-one years. 
So dry up your tears babe and kiss me good bye, 
for twenty one years is a mighty long time."

There is a line about a train in another verse..

"I hear the trian coming, it'll be here at five..."

and another part (end of a verse/refrain?)

"The best friends must part, babe, so must you and I"

Lyrics are close to that (working form my Mom's memory)

Need: lyrics, 
Would also like: information as to where I can find a recording, who's
recorded it, when, etc.

Thank you.

Hello colleentpr,

There are several versions of the lyrics, a common situation for a
traditional song.  (One notable difference in some versions is that
"Dartmoor" becomes "Nashville.")

Here are several pages with lyrics:

"Twenty-One Years" (from Very Best Irish Songs & Ballads, Volume 4 by Pat Conway)
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1857200950/ref=sib_vae_pg_60/002-5029663-4437661?%5Fencoding=UTF8&p=S01Q&twc=1&checkSum=nkNjbjXkbMW591aHP2QP5jauNLFjzWb7QzxFog7EGho%3D#reader-page

"101 Songs and Ballads - 1"
Owl Records
http://www.owlrecords.com/101s&b1.htm

"Twenty One Years" (Cat. #0404 (MFH #639) - As sung by Mrs. Chloe
Bain, Elkton, Missouri on September 6, 1959)
The Max Hunter Folksong Collection
http://www.smsu.edu/folksong/maxhunter/0404/

"Twenty-One Years"
International Lyrics Playground 
http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/t/twentyoneyears.shtml

"Twenty-One Years" (9 Nov 97)
Feisanna
http://www.feisanna.com/MusicLyrics/twenty1.txt

"Twenty-One Years"
Dreams of Morpheus
http://www.dreamsofmorpheus.com/whatsthescore/lyrics/twentyoneyears_lyrics.htm

Woody Guthrie, among others, recorded this song.

Search results for: "21 years" guthrie
MSN Music
http://music.msn.com/search/all/?ss=%2221+years%22+guthrie

Search results for: "twenty-one years" [first three results]
MSN Music
http://music.msn.com/search/all/?ss=%22twenty-one+years%22

"Country 1951-58 [Box Set] [Import] -- Marty Robbins" [track 67]
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000282WT/002-5029663-4437661?v=glance&s=music&vi=samples#disc_1

"Fishes & Fine Yellow Sand -- Waterson: Carthy" [track 12]
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00026WA78/qid=1124055327/sr=1-16/ref=sr_1_16/002-5029663-4437661?v=glance&s=music

There appear to be other recordings, though I didn't find any other
clips on Amazon.  You can search your favorite music store (whether
for downloads or CDs) for "twenty-one years" or "21 years" for
additional recordings.  (Some songs with this title, even by Irish
singers, are not this song.)

- justaskscott


Searched on Google for:

"years is a mighty long time"
"21 years is a * long time"
"twenty-one years is a * long time"

Searched on A9 for:

"years is a mighty long time"

Searched on MSN Music, Yahoo! Audio Search, and Amazon.com [popular music] for:

"21 years"
"twenty-one years"

Thank you! I had searched some music sites but was frustrated by, as
you said, the fact there are numerous songs with that lyric/title. The
second lyric page link (owl music) was the version I wanted. THANKS
AGAIN!!