The Wearing Of The Green lyrics

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 hanging men and women
For the wearing 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 hanging men and women there
For the wearing of the green.

For the wearing of the green
For the wearing of the green
They're hanging men and women
For the wearing of the green.

Then since the color we must wear
Is England's cruel red
Sure Ireland's sons will n'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 still
Tho' underfoot 'tis trod.

My father loved his country
And sleeps within its breast
While I that would have died for her
Must never soul be blessed
Those tears my mother shed for me
How bitter they had been
If I had proved the traitor to
The wearing of the green

For the wearing of the green
For the wearing of the green
They're hanging men and women
For the wearing of the green.

But if at last our color 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 wearing of the green
For the wearing of the green
They're hanging men and women
For the wearing of the green.

For the wearing of the green
For the wearing of the green
They're hanging men and women
For the wearing of the green.