"Off to Dublin in the Green"

No personal notes.

Per wikipedia, this is an IRA marching song dating back to approximately 1916 (the Easter Uprising), however the lyrics confound this theory. '...To the rattle of a Thompson gun'. The Thompson submachinegun did not go into production till 1921. It was used during the Civil War but had not even been conceived during the Easter Rising. The song also refers to the IRA, which did not exist till late 1919-early 1920, well after the Easter Rising.

Off To Dublin In The Green
(Song about joining the IRA)

Chorus
And we're all off to Dublin in the green, in the green
Where the helmets glisten in the sun
Where the bayonets flash and the rifles crash
To the rattle of a Thompson gun.

Oh I am a merry ploughboy and I ploughed the fields all day
Till a sudden thought came to my head that I should roam away
For I'm sick and tired of slavery since the day that I was born
And I'm off to join the IRA, and I'm off tomorrow morn.

I'll leave aside my pick and spade, I'll leave aside my plough,
I'll leave aside my horse and yoke, I no longer need them now.
And I'll leave aside my Mary, she's the girl that I adore
And I wonder if she'll think of me when she hears the rifles roar.

And when the war is over and dear old Ireland is free,
I'll take her to the church to wed, and a rebel's wife she'll be.
Well, some men fight for silver and some men fight for gold
But the IRA are fighting for the land that the Saxons stole.