Smoke and strong whiskey (video) (intro)

C - G  - C - G (2x)

D                                             G

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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.

+ repeat CHORUS ...

(Christy Moore)