St. Patrick’s Day was yesterday (Thursday), of course, but we’ll allow that the hangover window is officially permissible for celebrating all things green (as one’s complexion might be the day after). As such, it seems only fitting to offer an Irish tune this week, not that it’s necessary to limit oneself to St. Paddy’s week to enjoy the utterly infectious style of music.
I’ve been a lifelong fan of the genre, from the Dubliners to The Pogues, as well as Canadian practitioners like Great Big Sea and Spirit of the West (and many other as well), and I can trace it all back to an album my mother played when I was a toddler by an obscure group called the Abbey Tavern Singers.
I remember the traditional song “Mick Maguire” from that album, but especially the colourful, crazy “The Orange and the Green.”
With hilarious, self-deprecating humour – “Now my parents never could agree about my type of school/ My learnin’ was all done at home, that’s why I’m such a fool” – the song considered the plight of a boy with sectarian stripes inherited from mixed-marriage parents (Protestant/orange father and Catholic/green mother), a good-natured nod to the deeper issues at play in the Ireland of the day.
I certainly didn’t get the politics at that age, but the song seemed silly and colourful, and I still love it even now.
Considered a Celtic classic, the familiar folk tune has been covered by many bands, and has been a staple of Irish-Canadian transplants The Irish Rovers, performing here with the late great Jimmy Ferguson, for over 50 years.
Lyrics
[Chorus] Oh, it is the biggest mix-up that you have ever seen.Me father he was Orange and me mother she was Green.
Oh, my father was an Ulster man, proud Protestant was he.
My mother was a Catholic girl, from county Cork was she.
They were married in two churches, lived happily enough,
Until the day that I was born and things got rather tough.
Baptized by Father Riley, I was rushed away by car,
To be made a little Orange-man, me father’s shining star.
I was christened “David Anthony,” but still, in spite of that,
To my father, I was William, while my mother called me Pat.
With Mother every Sunday, to Mass I’d proudly stroll.
Then after that, the Orange lodge would try to save my soul.
For both sides tried to claim me, but I was smart because
I’d play the flute or play the harp, depending where I was.
One day me Ma’s relations came round to visit me.
Just as my father’s kinfolk were all sittin’ down to tea.
We tried to smooth things over, but they all began to fight.
And me, being strictly neutral, I bashed everyone in sight.
Now my parents never could agree about my type of school.
My learnin’ was all done at home, that’s why I’m such a fool.
They’ve both passed on, God rest ’em, but left me caught between
That awful colour problem of the Orange and the Green.
Oh, it is the biggest mix-up that you have ever seen.
Me father, he was Orange and me mother, she was Green.
Yes, it is the biggest mix-up that you have ever seen.
Me father, he was Orange and me mother, she was Green.