We recorded two songs with the same name in Clare in the 1970s
As you will see from the note, we could find very little information on one version version, the other has both Roud and Laws numbers
Jim Carroll

CARROLL MACKENZIE COLLECTION

Erin’s Green Shore (Laws Q27; Roud 280) Tom Lenihan, Knockbrack, Miltown Malbay Recorded 1976

One evening so late as I rambled,
On the banks of a clear purling stream.
I saw down on a bed of primroses
And so gently fell into a dream.
I dreamt I beheld a fair female
Her equals I ne’er saw before.
And she sighing for the wrongs of her country
As she strays around Erin’s green shore.

I quickly addressed this fair female;
‘My jewel, come tell me your name.
In this country I know you’re a stranger
Or I would not have asked you the same.’
She resembled the goddess of liberty
And green was the mantle she wore,
And she sighed for the wrongs of her country
As she strays around Erin’s green shore.

Her eyes were like two sparkling diamonds
Or the stars of a cold frosty night.
Her cheeks were like two blooming roses
And her teeth of the ivory so white.
She resembled the goddess of freedom,
And freedom the mantle she wore,
And she sighed for the wrongs of her country
As she strays around Erin’s green shore.

‘I know you’re a true son to Gráinne
And my secrets to you, well I’ll unfold.
For here in the midst of all dangers,
Not knowing my friends from my foes.
I’m a daughter to Daniel O’Connell
And from England I’ve lately came o’er.
I have come to awaken my brethren
That slumber round Erin’s green shore.

In transport of joy I awoke and
I found I had been on a dream.
For this beautiful damsel had fled me
And I longed for to slumber again.
May the heavens above be her guardian,
For I know I won’t see her no more.
May the sunbeams of glory shine o’er her
As she strays around Erin’s green shore.


"Another Aisling (see Josie Baker’s Kilrush) Tom learned this from his sisters. His air is 'Cailín Deas Crúite na mBó'. The song was widely found in the United States and was reported to have been circulated on English and Irish broadsides. Two versions were found in Virginian, aptly titled ‘The Irish Dream Song' and 'The Irishman’s Dream'. Zimmermann dates it to the first half of the 19th Century."
Reference:
Folk-Songs of the South, John Harrington Cox, Harvard University Press, 1925.
Songs of Irish Rebellion, Georges-Denis Zimmermann, Dublin 1967.
Jim Carroll

Erin’s Green Shore Michael ‘Straighty’ Flanagan Inagh Recorded in singer’s home Carroll Mackenzie Collection

As I roved out walking one fine summer’s morning,
I straight took my way to a green shady grove,
Where I met my own darling, so early in the morning.
I asked her would she come with me to Erin’s green shore.

I’ll leave old England and go back to Ireland.
I’ll leave old England and you’ll ne’er see me more.
I’ll leave old England and go home to see my darling.
I’ll live forever in Erin’s green shore.

Why will you leave me my charming young creature?
Why will you leave me all throbbing when you go?
For my heart it will break to part with you my darling,
Tomorrow we’ll be parted and you’ll ne’er see me more.

Now I must leave you my charming young creature,
Now I must leave you and from you I will go.
For there is another girl both handsome, neat and pretty,
She's the pride of old Ireland in Erin’s green shore.

Oh Johnny, lovely Johnny you might be mistaken,
You might be mistaken so from me do not go.
For I’ll get my father’s property, and you and I will marry,
And then we will live happy in Erin’s green shore.

Had I the wealth of Damer or all that’s in England,
Or all the gold and silver that is in Mexico.
I would not leave my dearie for a hundred thousand yearly.
Adieu my lovely fair one, will I e’er see you more?

I’ll leave old England and go back to Ireland,
I’ll leave old England and you’ll ne’er see me more.
I’ll leave old England and go home to see my darling,
Ireland forever in Erin’s green shore.

“This is very different from Tom Lenihan’s ‘Aisling’ bearing the same title (Roud 280, Laws Q 27) and I can find no reference to this whatever. Tom’s song tells of an encounter with a ‘dream woman’ who symbolises Ireland and her woes. This more earthbound piece tells of an Irish immigrant in England who persuades his lover to return to Ireland with him, only to abandon her and sail away, leaving her bereft on the English shore.”
Jim Carroll