The Irish Rovers - The Orange and the Green

This would have been great for St. Patrick's Day, but since the Irish Rovers are claimed by one commenter - "You yanks do know the Irish Rovers are Northern Irish Protestants right?" - to be Protestant, I guess any time is fine.

So what's the story behind the orange and the green?  And here:  And here.

[O]range Irish are mainly protestants who see themselves as british, they are descended from English and scottish planters who arrived in Ireland in the 17th century. The meaning behind orange is the orange order which celebrates the battle of the boyne in 1690 when king William of orange (protestant) defeated king James (catholic). Green Irish are mostly roman catholic and see themselves as Irish. They are descended from Irish natives who have always lived in Ireland. Green is the general colour of Ireland and this is why they are called the green Irish.

Hence the flag of Ireland:

Notice even in their flag, they have to keep the Orange and the green separated.

And, generally they hate each other to this day. We should be thankful that Americans from the North and the South did not carry this hatred from the Civil War into today or we'd be killing each other even now. It is good that this song can view the entire sorry situation with humor. ("Humour" in the UK.)  TD