Ireland’s Green Shore - PD arrangement Tim O’Brien / Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Corp / ASCAP

One evening for pleasure I rambled
On the banks of some cold purling stream
I set down on a bed of primroses
And I gently fell into a dream
I dreamed that I saw a fair female
Her equal I never saw before
And I sighed for the loss of our country
As we stray there on Ireland’s green shore

Her cheeks were like two blooming roses
Her teeth were like ivory so white
Her eyes shone like two sparkling diamonds
Or the stars on some cold frosty night
She was dressed in the richest attire
And green was the mantle that she wore
All bound down with the hemlocks and the roses
As we stray there on Ireland’s green shore

Transgression of joy I awoken
I found this was only a dream
That pretty fair female had fled me
I longed to be slumbering again
May the heavens above be her guardian
Though I know I’ll never see her anymore
May the goldliest sunbeam shine upon her
As she lies sleeping on Ireland’s green shore

One evening for pleasure I rambled
On the banks of some cold purling stream
I set down on a bed of primroses
And I gently fell into a dream

Ireland’s Green Shore – fit the original concept perfectly and opens the recording. I learned it from an a capella version sung by Maggie Hammons from Webster County WV. It’s a prime example of the Irish “aisling” or “dream” song, and speaks longingly of a homeland that’s no longer within reach. I built my own version from a guitar tuning learned from Kelly Joe Phelps, adding Stuart Duncan’s fiddle, Edgar Meyer’s bass, and Kenny Malone’s percussion, before crowning it with Del McCoury’s harmony vocal.