The Wearing of the Green

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"The Wearing of the Green" is an anonymous Irish street ballad dating to 1798. It was not, in fact, written by Dion Boucicault (1822-1890), despite many assertions to this effect, as he was not born for another 24 years. Dion Boucicault (an Irish-born playwright) did publish the song, however--with some small changes and the addition of the last verse, below, which is in notable contrast to the rest of the song (especially the middle verse), in that it advocates emigration, in place of staying in defiance. (Boucicault, himself, fled to New York.)

Wearing a shamrock in the "caubeen" (hat) was a sign of rebellion and green was the colour of the Society of the United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary organisation. During the period of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 displaying revolutionary insignia was made punishable by hanging. The context of the song is the repression that led up to and followed the rebellion.

[edit] Lyrics

O Paddy dear, an' did ye hear the news that's goin' round?

The shamrock is forbid by law to grow on Irish ground;

St. Patrick's Day no more we'll keep, his colour can't be seen,

For there's a cruel law agin the wearin' o' the Green.

I met wid Napper Tandy¹ and he took me by the hand,

And he said, "How's poor ould Ireland, and how does she stand?"

She's the most distressful country that ever yet was seen,

For they're hangin' men an' women there for the wearin' o' 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 a shamrock from your hat and cast it on the sod,

It will take root and flourish there though underfoot it's trod.

When law can stop the blades of grass from growin' as they grow,

And when the leaves in summer-time their colour dare not show,

Then will I change the colour, too, I wear in my caubeen

But 'till that day, 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 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.

O Erin, must we leave you driven by a tyrant's hand?

Must we ask a mother's blessing from a strange and distant land?

Where the cruel cross of England shall nevermore be seen,

And where, please God, we'll live and die still wearin' o' the green!

¹Napper Tandy, mentioned in the poem, was a shopkeeper and political activist in Dublin who, having been identified by the British as a United Irish revolutionary, had to flee to France.