Wearing of the Green - Wolfe Tones

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 name no more you'll hear

His colors 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 poor old ireland

And how does she stand

She's the most distressful country

That ever you have seen

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

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' her breast

While I that would have died for her

May never be so blest

Those tears my mother shed for me

How bitter they'd have been

If I had proved a 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

Her colors should be torn from ireland's heart

Her sons with shame and sorrow

From the dear old soil will part

I've heard whispers of a

London has beyond sea

Where rich and poor stand equal

In the light of freedom's day

O erin must we leave you driven by the tyrant's hand

Must we ask a mother's blessing

Found the strange dist land

Where the cruel cross of england's

Thralldom never more be seen

And then in god we'll live and die

Still 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

For the wearing of the green

For the wearing of the green

They're hanging men and women

For the wearing of the green