The Kelly Family - Wearing Of The Green

Oh, Paddy dear, and did you hear the news that's going 'round?
The Shamrock is forbid' by law to grow on Irish ground;
Saint Patrick's day no more to keep, his colour can't be seen,
For there's a bloody law against the wearin' of the green.

I met with Napper Tandy, and he took me by the hand,
And he said, "How's poor old Ireland, and how does she stand?"
"She's the most distressful country that ever you have seen;
They'r hanging men and women there for wearing 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 still, though under food it's trod;

When the law can stop the blades of grass from growing as they grow,
And when the leaves, in summertime, their verdure dare not show,
Then I will change the colour that I wear in my caubeen,
But, till that day, please God, I'll stick to wearing of the green.

But, if at last, our colour should be torn from Ireland's heart,
Her sons, with shame and sorrow, from the dear old soil will part;
I've heard whisper of a country that lies far beyond the sea,
Where rich and poor stand equal in the light of freedom's day.

Oh, Erin, must we leave you, driven by the tyrant's hand?
Must we ask a mother's welcome from a strange, but happier land?
Where the cruel cross of England's thraldom never shall be seen,
And where, thank God, we'll live and die still wearing of the green.