You'll Never Beat The Irish

In eleven sixty-seven, they came to ireland on the make

They were followed by invasions and by conquests in their wake

The kings and queens of england made the land a battleground

They took the land by fraud, defeat; poison, murder and deceit!

Murder, plunder, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Cheating, stealing, diddly-idel-day

Ducking, diving, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Diddly-aidel-doh, diddly-aidel-day

Then by the fifteenth century they held precariously to the pale

The invaders were more irish than the irish, that's the tale

A fat greedy king (called henry)'s dick was bigger than his brain

Forced a reformation- confiscating usurpation!

You'll never beat the irish, no matter what you do

You can put us down and keep us out, but we'll come back again

You know we are the fighting irish and we'll fight until the end

You know, you should have known: You'll never beat the irish

Murder, plunder, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Cheating, stealing, diddly-idel-day

Ducking, diving, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Diddly-aidel-doh, diddly-aidel-day

The virgin queen, elizabeth, brought more turmoil to our land

She decimated munster, scorched the earth and all at hand

Then james the first and charles the mad brought out other greedy bands

They took the land of ulster, killed their chieftains- poisoned, plundered!

Murder, plunder, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Cheating, stealing, diddly-idel-day

Ducking, diving, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Diddly-aidel-doh, diddly-aidel-day

And by defective titles, they cheated connaught and the west

Across the seventeenth century from war we had no rest

For the curse of cromwell plagued the land, 'til our towns were red with blood

Then the battle of the boyne was fought by william, james and foreign hoards

You'll never beat the irish, no matter what you do

You can put us down and keep us out, but we'll come back again

You know we are the fighting irish and we'll fight until the end

You know, you should have known: You'll never beat the irish

Murder, plunder, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Cheating, stealing, diddly-idel-day

Ducking, diving, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Diddly-aidel-doh, diddly-aidel-day

At the siege of limerick, patrick sarsfield won the day

But the irish they were cheated when his army went away

Queen ann and her successors forced on us those penal laws

Denying the rights and liberty of religion, land, and property!

Murder, plunder, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Cheating, stealing, diddly-idel-day

Ducking, diving, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Diddly-aidel-doh, diddly-aidel-day

Then came the three mad georges and they had us nearly fooled

They couldn't speak the lingo of the countries that they ruled

Puppets of the ascendancy they kept the irish down

But the rebels and the whiteboys hard their army on the run!

You'll never beat the irish, no matter what you do

You can put us down and keep us out, but we'll come back again

You know we are the fighting irish and we'll fight until the end

You know, you should have known: You'll never beat the irish

The famine queen, victoria came to rule us by and by

She was on the throne so bloody long, we thought she'd never die!

She presided over hunger, famine, poverty, and disease

She drove the people from their home to their death or to the land beyond the sea!

Murder, plunder, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Cheating, stealing, diddly-idel-day

Ducking, diving, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Diddly-aidel-doh, diddly-aidel-day

All across the 19th century, fought oppression with great zeal

O'connell spoke his blarney for emancipation and repeal

Young ireland and the fenians tried the dynamite and the gun

Parnell, the men of sixteen died, then michael collins had them on the run!

You'll never beat the irish, no matter what you do

You can put us down and keep us out, but we'll come back again

You know we are the fighting irish and we'll fight until the end

You know, you should have known: You'll never beat the irish

Murder, plunder, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Cheating, stealing, diddly-idel-day

Ducking, diving, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Diddly-aidel-doh, diddly-aidel-day

In 1922 well they divided up our land

Six counties held by england, it was all they could command

Against the wishes of the majority of the people of our land

They drew a dorder through our country through town and home and mountains

Murder, plunder, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Cheating, stealing, diddly-idel-day

Ducking, diving, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Diddly-aidel-doh, diddly-aidel-day

Then the country was engulfed into a bloody civil war

Between those against the treaty and those who voted for

George the iv, he opend parliament for the stalled in the north

While the rest were building ireland from the ruined colonial lashes

You'll never beat the irish, no matter what you do

You can put us down and keep us out, but we'll come back again

You know we are the fighting irish and we'll fight until the end

You know, you should have known: You'll never beat the irish

Then edward, george, and elizabeth looked after ireland's fate

They watched discrimination grow in a gerrymandered state

Homes and churches burnt while the orange power did grew

Discrimination bigotry in housing jobs and liberties

Murder, plunder, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Cheating, stealing, diddly-idel-day

Ducking, diving, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Diddly-aidel-doh, diddly-aidel-day

From the ashes of the past, the phoniex did emerge

A new declared republic, on the world it did converge

The search for peace prosperity and unity in our land

We too are locked in europe, till they made their peace agreement

You'll never beat the irish, no matter what you do

You can put us down and keep us out, but we'll come back again

You know we are the fighting irish and we'll fight until the end

You know, you should have known: You'll never beat the irish

Murder, plunder, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Cheating, stealing, diddly-idel-day

Ducking, diving, faugh a ballagh, clear the way

Diddly-aidel-doh, diddly-aidel-day