There Never Was a Coward Where the Shamrock Grows

DESCRIPTION: "Let cowardly slanderers say what they may," the Irish are brave. "Pat may be foolish and very often wrong, Pat has a temper but it doesn't last long. Pat is full of jollity and everybody knows That you'll never find a coward where the shamrock grows"
AUTHOR: unknown (see NOTES)
EARLIEST DATE: 1880 (sheet music published by T. B. Harms)
KEYWORDS: Ireland | courage coward
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 176, "Pat may be foolish and very often wrong" (1 fragment)
Roud #37283
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1623), "There never was a coward where the shamrock grows," unknown, n.d.
NOTES [76 words]: This seems to have, er, bloomed all over the place around 1880. There are multiple claims of authorship. The sheet music published by M. D. Swisher, Philadelphia, credited it to J. Molloy. The sheet music by T. B. Harms and Co. lists Frank Wilson as the author and says it was sung by Harry and John Kernell. The broadsides I've seen list no author (which is pretty typical). The Harms sheet music seems to be more common, but that doesn't prove much. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: KSUC177B

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