C G       C G      C G      C G

[Verse 1]
 D                           G
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
Smelling of smoke and strong whiskey

C G

  D                       G
Mammies and daddies and skipping ropes
    C                  G
Lectures from priests, living in hope
 D                         C
They've not mistaken the brand of their coats
  C                 D        G
Paid for by their spiritual teachings

C G

   D                     G
A busy year this, the streets running red
 C                  G
How many sent to a nuptial bed
         D                   C
And how many sent home to a winter of graves
         C        D           G
And how many wait in for the slaughter

C G

[Chorus]
G        C       D
Oh          the holy ground
  C                        Am                             D               
Ceud mile failte, there's saints and there's scholars to see
G        C       D
Oh          the holy ground
    C                        Am                        D
The far away hills ain't as green as they once used to be

[Bridge]
Em      Am      Em      Am

[Verse 2]
      D                   G
It's Easter again and we cannot forget
 C                        G
Brothers and sisters and all that was said
     D                          C
So practice your pipes, stand proud in the wet
         C           D          G
But the eyes of the world are upon you

C G

 D                    G
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
We still send them over the water

C G

 D                    G
Seventeen years and Kelly's 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

[Chorus]
G        C         D
Oh            the holy ground
C                          Am                             D
Ceud mile failte, there's saints and there's scholars to see
G        C         D
Oh            the holy ground
     C                       Am                        D
The far away hills ain't as green as they once used to be

[Bridge]
Em      Am      Em      Am

[Verse 3]
D                 G
Dia le hEireann, suckle the empire
C                 G
Dia le hEireann, suffer the loss
         D                         C
Of the green to the blue while the media feeds
         C             D           G
On the blood and the pain and the hatred

C G

D                         G
Father walks home on the 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

[Chorus]
G         C        D
Oh            the holy ground
C                          Am                             D
Ceud mile failte, there's saints and there's scholars to see
G         C         D
Oh             the holy ground
     C                       Am                        D
The far away hills ain't as green as they once used to be