Forty Shades of Green
"Forty Shades of Green" is a song about Ireland, written and first performed by American country singer Johnny Cash. Cash wrote the song in 1959 while on a trip to Ireland; it was first released as a B-side of the song "The Rebel–Johnny Yuma" in 1961. It is also included in two of Cash's albums: Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in 1963, and Johnny Cash: The Great Lost Performance – Live at the Paramount Theatre, Asbury Park, New Jersey, recorded live in 1990 and released in 2007.
"Forty Shades of Green" | |
---|---|
Single by Johnny Cash | |
from the album Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash | |
A-side | "The Rebel - Johnny Yuma" |
Released | April 1961 |
Genre | Folk |
Length | 2:54 |
Label | Columbia |
Songwriter(s) | Johnny Cash |
Producer(s) | Don Law, Frank Jones |
Cash once recalled performing the song in Ireland and being told by an old man afterwards, that it must have been an old Irish folk tune.[1]
"Forty Shades of Green" has also been recorded by Dexys Midnight Runners, Daniel O'Donnell, Foster and Allen, Roger Whittaker and Ruby Murray, among others.[2]
Irish guitarist Gary Moore quoted the song in the title track of his 1987 album, Wild Frontier, as a reference to a once innocent Ireland "before the wars began": "The victims you have seen. You'll never hear them sing again The Forty Shades Of Green".[3]
References
- "The Appalachians: Filming with Johnny Cash". Sierra Club. Archived from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
- "Search for "forty shades of green"". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
- "Gary Moore - Wild Frontier Lyrics | MetroLyrics". Metrolyrics.com. Retrieved 26 April 2021.