"The Wearing of the Green" is an Irish street ballad lamenting the repression of supporters of the Irish Rebellion of 1798. It is to an old Irish air, and many versions of the lyric exist, the best-known being by Dion Boucicault. The song proclaims that "they are hanging men and women for the wearing of the green".
The revolutionary Society of United Irishmen adopted green as its colour, and supporters wore green-coloured garments, ribbons, or cockades. In some versions, the "green" being worn is shamrock rather than fabric.
Many versions of the lyric exist. The general format is that the narrator is a rebel who has left Ireland for exile and meets a public figure (Napper Tandy, in most versions), who asks for news from Ireland, and is told that those wearing green are being persecuted.
Halliday Sparling's Irish Minstrelsy (1888) includes the anonymous "Green upon the Cape", dated to 1798. This longer poem describes the narrator's journey into exile before reaching the elements common to later versions. The narrator is a croppy from Belfast who arrives in Paris and is questioned by "Boney" (Napoleon Bonaparte).
In an 1802 version published in Dundalk entitled "Green on my Cape", it is Robert Emmet who meets the narrator, in Brest. Versions from the 1840s and 1850s feature Napoleon.
The best-known version is by Dion Boucicault, adapted for his 1864 play Arragh na Pogue, or the Wicklow Wedding, set in County Wicklow during the 1798 rebellion. In the second verse, Boucicault's version recounts an encounter between the singer and Napper Tandy, an Irish rebel leader exiled in France. Boucicault claimed to have based his version on a half-remembered Dublin street ballad. His addition of the third and last verses is in notable contrast to the middle verse in advocating emigration to America rather than staying in defiance. Boucicault himself fled to New York after leaving his wife for a young actress.
Henry Grattan Curran (1800–76), son of John Philpot Curran, wrote a version of his own, and claimed the original was written in County Tipperary. Wellington Guernsey's version was published in 1866.
In the 1937 Hopalong Cassidy film, North of the Rio Grande, actor Walter Long's Irish character, Bull O'Hara, leads the singing of another version of the song. The lyrics in this version are lighthearted and celebrate the beauty of Ireland.
The revolutionary Society of United Irishmen adopted green as its colour, and supporters wore green-coloured garments, ribbons, or cockades. In some versions, the "green" being worn is shamrock rather than fabric.
Many versions of the lyric exist. The general format is that the narrator is a rebel who has left Ireland for exile and meets a public figure (Napper Tandy, in most versions), who asks for news from Ireland, and is told that those wearing green are being persecuted.
Halliday Sparling's Irish Minstrelsy (1888) includes the anonymous "Green upon the Cape", dated to 1798. This longer poem describes the narrator's journey into exile before reaching the elements common to later versions. The narrator is a croppy from Belfast who arrives in Paris and is questioned by "Boney" (Napoleon Bonaparte).
In an 1802 version published in Dundalk entitled "Green on my Cape", it is Robert Emmet who meets the narrator, in Brest. Versions from the 1840s and 1850s feature Napoleon.
The best-known version is by Dion Boucicault, adapted for his 1864 play Arragh na Pogue, or the Wicklow Wedding, set in County Wicklow during the 1798 rebellion. In the second verse, Boucicault's version recounts an encounter between the singer and Napper Tandy, an Irish rebel leader exiled in France. Boucicault claimed to have based his version on a half-remembered Dublin street ballad. His addition of the third and last verses is in notable contrast to the middle verse in advocating emigration to America rather than staying in defiance. Boucicault himself fled to New York after leaving his wife for a young actress.
Henry Grattan Curran (1800–76), son of John Philpot Curran, wrote a version of his own, and claimed the original was written in County Tipperary. Wellington Guernsey's version was published in 1866.
In the 1937 Hopalong Cassidy film, North of the Rio Grande, actor Walter Long's Irish character, Bull O'Hara, leads the singing of another version of the song. The lyrics in this version are lighthearted and celebrate the beauty of Ireland.
To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!
The Wearing Of The Green
O Paddy dear, and did ye hear the news that's goin' round?
The shamrock is by law forbid to grow on Irish ground!
No more Saint Patrick's Day we'll keep, his color can't be seen
For there's a cruel law ag'in the Wearin' o' 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 yet was seen
For they're hanging men and women there for the Wearin' o' the Green."
"So if the color we must wear be England's cruel red
Let it remind us of the blood that Irishmen have shed
And pull the shamrock from your hat, and throw it on the sod
But never fear, 'twill take root there, though underfoot 'tis trod.
When laws can stop the blades of grass from growin' as they grow
And when the leaves in summer-time their color dare not show
Then I will change the color too I wear in my caubeen
But till that day, please God, I'll stick to the Wearin' o' the Green.
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