Click to hear The Fraser Clan of upstate New York sing Free and Green


Free and Green

Captain Taggart took the field with his men as hard as steel
And we drove the bloody traitors to the sea
Before the guns had stilled there were many hundreds killed
And there’s many an Irish girl who’s sad tonight

When the smoke had cleared it was just as we had feared
Captain Taggart lay wounded on the ground
With his head upon my knee, there he met eternity
And I proudly closed his eyes and then I cried

It’s whiskey in the morning, whiskey in the night
Another Irish soldier lad has fought his final fight
We’ll toast him ‘til we’re drunk boys and douse the candlelight
Tell them, Captain Taggart is coming home tonight

We took his body home and the drums and pipes did drone
And we pulled a fine black casket through the streets
Then we told his grieving wife, he loved her more than life
And we gave to his young son his father’s sword

Now the people they all dream of an Ireland free and green
Where nowhere can be heard the battle cry
The fighting’s gone too long, and it just drags on and on
And I’d like to know some peace before I die

It’s whiskey in the morning, whiskey in the night
Another Irish soldier lad has fought his final fight
We’ll toast him ‘til we’re drunk boys and douse the candlelight
Tell them, Captain Taggart is coming home tonight