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The Luck of the Irish Lyrics
If you had the luck of the Irish
You'd be sorry and wish you were dead
You should have the luck of the Irish
And you'd wish you was English instead!
A thousand years of torture and hunger
Drove the people away from their land
A land full of beauty and wonder
Was raped by the British brigands! Goddamn! Goddamn!
If you could keep voices like flowers
There'd be shamrock all over the world
If you could drink dreams like Irish streams
Then the world would be high as the mountain of morn
In the 'Pool they told us the story
How the English divided the land
Of the pain, the death and the glory
And the poets of auld Ireland
If we could make chains with the morning dew
The world would be like Galway Bay
Let's walk over rainbows like leprechauns
The world would be one big Blarney stone
Why the hell are the English there anyway?
As they kill with God on their side
Blame it all on the kids the IRA
As the bastards commit genocide! Aye! Aye! Genocide!
If you had the luck of the Irish
You'd be sorry and wish you was dead
You should have the luck of the Irish
And you'd wish you was English instead!
Yes you'd wish you was English instead!
You'd be sorry and wish you were dead
You should have the luck of the Irish
And you'd wish you was English instead!
A thousand years of torture and hunger
Drove the people away from their land
A land full of beauty and wonder
Was raped by the British brigands! Goddamn! Goddamn!
If you could keep voices like flowers
There'd be shamrock all over the world
If you could drink dreams like Irish streams
Then the world would be high as the mountain of morn
In the 'Pool they told us the story
How the English divided the land
Of the pain, the death and the glory
And the poets of auld Ireland
If we could make chains with the morning dew
The world would be like Galway Bay
Let's walk over rainbows like leprechauns
The world would be one big Blarney stone
Why the hell are the English there anyway?
As they kill with God on their side
Blame it all on the kids the IRA
As the bastards commit genocide! Aye! Aye! Genocide!
If you had the luck of the Irish
You'd be sorry and wish you was dead
You should have the luck of the Irish
And you'd wish you was English instead!
Yes you'd wish you was English instead!
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wonderful, powerful lyrics. i'm glad there were huge figures who had the guts to scream and shout about the atrocities that went on here in northern ireland in the 70s. lennon's asking the english to put themselves in OUR shoes.
"If you had the luck of the Irish You'd be sorry and wish you were dead"
you couldn't get a more poignant opening line than that. thanks lennon, shame you weren't my era... but i respect you endlessly for this.
This song is about the religious war in Ireland...
This song is about the religious war in Ireland. He's making fun of the fact that Irish are known for their "luck" but look at their situation.
Just an absolutely beautiful song, one of John's forgotten gems. Even Yoko cant ruin this one. This was my grandmother's favorite song of all time, God rest her soul. She passed away in 1988 and this song will forever be linked to her when i hear it. She used to love singing along to the line "and the poets of auld Ireland".....my favorite John Lenon song for totally sentimental reasons, but even still....this is a wonderful song
Such a beautiful song... Could do without Yoko though but still glad Lennon wrote this
Hes not making fun of the Irish you fool! John Lennons family was Irish and he was disgusted when innocent people were killed in northern Ireland! It was written in the 70s, but thankfully the war up north has stopped and now Ireland is rich ,happy and in peace.
Nobody said he was making fun of the Irish, SpongeBunny said he was making fun of the irony around the difficult situation the Irish are in and the stereotypical notion of "The Luck of the Irish." No need to leap to offensiveness.
Nobody said he was making fun of the Irish, SpongeBunny said he was making fun of the irony around the difficult situation the Irish are in and the stereotypical notion of "The Luck of the Irish." No need to leap to offensiveness.