Green Island chords by Christy Moore

Verse 1:

    F      C           Am            F
The island lies like a leaf upon the sea
      F      C               Am              F
Green island like a leaf new fallen from the tree
G              Am
Green turns to gold
   Dm              C                G
As morning breezes gently shake the barley
Em          G      Am
Bending the yellow corn
G              Am
Green turns to gold,
        Dm             C              G
There´s purple shadows on the distant mountains
        Em         G      Am
And the sun in the yellow corn

Verse 2:

     F             C              Am               F
They came in their longships from lands beyond the sea
     F             C               Am               F
They came in their longships, they saw the land was green
G           Am
Wind in the barley,
Dm               C              G
Trout and salmon leaping in the rivers
Em         G      Am
Sun in the yellow corn
G        Am
Leaping a shore
     Dm                    C               G
They slaughtered those who laboured in the barley
Em            G         Am
Scything them down like corn


Verse 3:

    F         C               Am           F
The longships sailed away and new invaders came
     F            C              Am                 F
With long bow and lance bringing death in England´s name
     G              Am
With sword and with mace
          Dm                  C         G
They went reaping through the fields of barley
     Em            G      Am
They plundered the yellow corn
G             Am
Crop followed crop
    Dm               C                 G
And prospered in the killing fields of barley
       Em         G         Am
In the harvest of new young corn


Verse 4:

F        C                  Am              F
Marching down the years the men of war they came
     F       C                  Am          F
With bombs, assassin´s bullets, c.s gas and guns
G               Am
Ghosts from the past
    Dm              C                     G
Are chasing shadows through the fields of barley
Em            G      Am
Hiding in the yellow corn
G            Am
Nine hundred years
        Dm                C                    G
They´ve tried to trap the wind that shakes the barley
        Em         G      Am
And the sun in the yellow corn


Verse 5:

    F      C           Am            F
The island lies like a leaf upon the sea
      F      C               Am              F
Green island like a leaf new fallen from the tree
G              Am
Green turns to gold
   Dm              C                G
As morning breezes gently shake the barley
Em          G      Am
Bending the yellow corn
G           Am
No force on earth
    Dm            C                    G
Can ever trap the wind that shakes the barley
       Em         G      Am
Or the sun in the yellow corn