The Wolfe Tones - You’ll Never Beat the Irish, Part 1 lyrics

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
By poison, murder and deceit!

Murder, plunder faugh a balla, clear the way
Cheating, stealing, diddly-idel day
Ducking, diving, faugh a balla, 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
Imposed a reformation- confiscating
Usurpation!

And 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 fight until the end
You know, you should have known:
You'll never beat the Irish

That 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 other greedy bands
They took the land of Ulster
Killed their Chieftains poisoned, plundered!

Murder, plunder faugh a balla, clear the way
Cheating, stealing, diddly-idel day
Ducking, diving, faugh a balla, clear the way
Diddly-aidel doh, diddly-aidel day

And by defective titles
They cheated Connacht and the West
Across the seventeenth century from war
We had no rest
The curse of Cromwell plagued the land
Till our towns ran red with blood
Then the Battle of the Boyne was fought
By William, James and foreign hoards

And 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 fight until the end
You know, you should have known:
You'll never beat the Irish

Murder, plunder faugh a balla, clear the way
Cheating, stealing, diddly-idel day
Ducking, diving, faugh a balla, clear the way
Diddly-aidel doh, diddly-aidel day

Murder, plunder faugh a balla, clear the way
Cheating, stealing, diddly-idel day
Ducking, diving, faugh a balla, clear the way
Diddly-aidel doh, de-diddly-aidel day