Forty Shades of Green

(Johnny Cash)



I close my eyes and picture

The emerald of the sea

From the fishin' boats at Dingle

To the shores at Dunehea.



I miss the river Shannon

And the folks at Skibbereen

The meadows and the moorlands

And their forty shades of green.



But most of all

I miss a girl in Tipperary town

And most of all I miss her charms

And hair so long and brown.



I long again to see and do

The things we've done and seen

Where the breeze is sweet as Shalimar

And there's forty shades of green.



I wish that I could spend an hour

At Dublin's churning surf

I long to watch the farmers

Drain the bogs and spade the turf.



To see again the thatching

Of the straw the women clean

I'd walk from Cork to Larne to see

Those forty shades of green.



But most of all

I miss a girl in Tipperary town

And most of all I miss her charms

And hair so long and brown.



I long again to see and do

The things we've done and seen

Where the breeze is sweet as Shalimar

And there's forty shades of green...