Wearing of the Green

Oh, Paddy dear and did you hear the news that's goin' round? The shamrock is by law forbid to grow on Irish ground Saint Patrick's Day no more we'll keep his colours can't be seen For they're hangin' men and women for the wearin' of the green I met with Napper Tandy and he took me by the hand He said: "How's dear old Ireland and how does she stand? She's the most distressful country that you have ever seen For they're hangin' men and women for the wearin' of the green" For the wearin' of the green For the wearin' of the green They're hangin' men and women For the wearin' of the green Then since the colour we must wear is England's cruel red Sure Ireland's sons will ne'er forget the blood that they have shed You may take the shamrock from your hat and cast it on the sod But 'twill take root and flourish there though underfoot 'tis trod My father loved his country and sleeps within its breast While I that would have died for her must never so be blessed Those tears my mother shed for me how bitter they had been If I had proved a traitor to the wearin' of the green For the wearin' of the green For the wearin' of the green They're hangin' men and women For the wearin' of the green But if at last our colours should be torn from Ireland's heart Her sons with shame and sorrow from the dear old isle will part I've heard a whisper of a land that lies beyond the sea Where rich and poor stand equal in the light of Freedom's Day Oh Ireland must we leave you driven by a tyrant's hand And seek a mother's blessing from a strange and distant land Where the cruel cross of England shall never more be seen And in that land we'll live and die still wearing Ireland's green For the wearin' ot the green For the wearin' of the green They're hangin' men and women For the wearin' of the green For the wearin' of the green For the wearin' of the green They're hangin' men and women For the wearin' of the green