(intro 2x) C G C G

     D                             G
    Kids wear white garters, and smell like their mothers
           C                     G
    whose husbands and fathers alike
                 D                       C
    drink black beer in the same public houses
      C           D               G      C G
    smelling of smoke and strong whiskey.

     D                    G
    Mammies and daddies, skipping ropes,
     C                      G
    lectures from priests, living in hope
           D                        C
    that they've not mistaken the brand of their coats,
          C             D        G        C G
    paid for by their spiritual teachings.

       D                      G
    A busy year this, the streets running red,
     C                      G
    how many sent to their nuptial bed.
              D                  C
    And how many sent home to a winter of graves,
             C         D           G       C G
    and how many wait in for the slaughter.

 G           D
Oh, oh, the holy ground,
  C                        Am                             D
céad mile failte, there's saints and there's scholars to see.
 G           D
Oh, oh, the holy ground,
 C                      Am                        D
faraway hills ain't as green as they once used to be.

( Em Am Em Am )

          D                    G
    It's Easter again, and we cannot forget
          C                      G
    our brothers and sisters and all that was said.
         D                          C
    So practise your pipes, stand proud in the wet,
             C           D          G      C G
    for the eyes of the world are upon you.

     D                    G
    God in his mercy has given us men
         C                         G
    to lead us to peace, but they can't bring an end
             D                        C
    to the profits that pay off the lease on the land,
         C             D         G    C G
    we still send them over the water.

     D                G
    Seventeen years, Kelly is a man,
          C                          G
    who stands on the street with a gun in his hand.
             D                        C
    He's protecting the pipers that play in the band,
              C      D             G
    while the enemy waits with an army.

 G           D
Oh, oh, the holy ground,
  C                        Am                             D
céad mile failte, there's saints and there's scholars to see.
Em           D
Oh, oh, the holy ground,
 C                      Am                        D
faraway hills ain't as green as they once used to be.

( Em Am Em Am )

     D                G
    Dia le hÉireann, suckle the empire,
     C                G
    dia le hÉireann, suffer the loss
             D                           C
    of the green and the blue while the media feeds
              C           D            G     C G
    on the blood and the pain and the hatred.

     D                      G
    Father walks home on a colourless night,
             C                G
    and the organisation has blinded his sight,
         D                      G
    His wife and his kids are sleeping tonight,
            C                       D
    in the arms of sweet Jesus and Mary.

Em           D
Oh, oh, the holy ground,
  C                        Am                             D
céad mile failte, there's saints and there's scholars to see.
 G           D
Oh, oh, the holy ground,
 C                      Am                        D
faraway hills ain't as green as they once used to be.

Em           D
Oh, oh, the holy ground,
  C                        Am                             D
céad mile failte, there's saints and there's scholars to see.
 G           D
Oh, oh, the holy ground,
 C                      Am                        D
faraway hills ain't as green as they once used to be.