The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-04-02
IRISH SONG
AND ITS HISTORY
Origin of "The Wearing of
the Green" is Not Easy
to Trace.
In Its Present Form 1t Has
Been Credited to Dion
Boucicault.
The Story of a Song That
Has Often Stirred the
Irish Heart.

To all classes Of the Irish race there
is no song more dear than "The Wear
Ing Of the Green" On st. Patrlck's
day, March II, the day of the sham
rock, on the buttonhole nearest the
heart, is carried the national emblem,
and on the lips of all true Irishmen.
at some time during the day, are re-
peated the words Of the song as the
late great Irish actor, Dion Boucicault.
arranged them from a song Of prob
ably several generatio earlier, the
author of the original of which no one
has ever been able to learn, says n
| writer in last Sundays Times.
A song is the song of a nation only
| when it is a song men sing when they
| face death, or for the singing of which
| they are willing to risk Imprisonment.
There is no method in the musical
madness of fighting men. This has
| been demonstrated In the spirited
French "Marseillaise." in lifting
quickstep, musically worthless and fit
ted with any words such as yankee
Doodle and Dixie" or in solemn
hymn such as Elm Feste Burg"
In the trenches of the Crimea the
song was annie Laurie" In the
trenches of Cuba 1t was "A Hot Time
in the Old Town Tonight" There was
no more reason for the lads from Kent
and Yorkshire to choose a Scotch love
song for their "hymn before action"
than for Yankee boys to discard their
national airs for ragtime tune-but
they did.
So there can be no argument WHY
1rishmen from one end of the world
to the other are stirred by "rhe Wear
ing of the Green as they are by no
other earthly sounds, rich as their
mother land is in rival melodies.
1t has a proud history-this old
song which once brought forth a royal
prescript against it's being sung in the
British dominions. Long before that
eventful singing it sent men to the
scaffold because it symboized a. pa
triotism that was the assurance of
DEATH Prison was the penalty, down
almost to the present day. Yet men
never cease to sing it.
The origin Of "The Wearing of the
Green is not easy to trace. The we'll
Iknnwn Wa1ol, nj, {o1o
fod furnish clew to the genealogy of
most of the old songs of England and
Scotland, as well az those of Wales. But
the beginnings of Irish melodies are
lost in the haze Of traditions that
merge into folklore.
Antiquarians are of the opinion that
at first the tune was "keen"-thc
hereditary funeral of one OF the royal
houses Of the island before the days
Of Cromwell Certain 1T is that it was
song Of the camp when James made
his hopeless stand. But the words are
lost. and 1t is not until 1745 that 1t
is found linked with stanzas that be-
gin:
The pixies must be together
When the moon Is on the green.
/ The present words-the present SONG
in fact-may, however, be accredited
, to Dion Boucicault the actor. The
words are his, written to the ancient
: melody and introduced by him close
to so years ago in the popular Irish
play "Arrah ma Pogue" They are sung
by Shaun the Post.
1t was on the evening of March %
1865, that 1.-THE Wearing of the Green,
| in its present form, was first sung
| The play was produced at the Prin.
, cess theater, London, soon after Clerk
: enwell prison was blown up by the
t Fenians. There was a storm Of indig
! nation in London, and Boucicault't
English associates and admirers ad.
: vised him not to sing it, but sing Il
he would and did, and it almost caused
: riot. g--
l 1t resulted in the cabinet ministers
8 Of the late Queen Victoria issuing ar
E edict prohibiting the singing of tht
song in British dominions, and fol