The wearing of the green (Frederick W. Goodrich)
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- (Posted 2024-01-30) CPDL #78946:
- Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2024-01-30). Score information: Letter, 12 pages, 644 kB Copyright: Personal
- Edition notes:
General Information
Title: The wearing of the green
Composer: Anonymous (Traditional)
Arranger: Frederick W. Goodrich
Lyricist:
Number of voices: 4vv Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong, Folksong
Language: English
Instruments: A cappella
First published: 1910 J. Fischer & Bro.
Description: IRISH FOLKSONG
External websites:
Original text and translations
English text
O Paddy dear, an’ did you hear the news that’s goin’ round?
The shamrock is forbid by law to grow on Irish ground:
Saint Patrick’s day no more we’ll keep, his colours can’t be seen,
For there’s a cruel law again’ the wearin’ o’ the green.
I met with Napper Tandy, and he took me by the hand,
And said, “How’s poor ould Ireland, and how does she stand?”
She’s the most distressful country that ever yet was seen,
They’re hanging men and women there for wearin’ o’ the green.
Oh! if 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, Tho’ under foot ’tis trod.
When law can stop the blades of grass from growing as they grow,
And when the leaves in summertime their verdue cease to show,
Then I will change the colour I wear in my coubeen;
But till that time, please God, I’ll stick to wearin’ o’ 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 toil will part;
I’ve heard whisper of a country that lies far beyond the say,
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 wearin’ o’ the green.