The following is transcribed from the back of the album cover: The Rising of the Moon - Irish Songs of Rebellion by the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.

"The Earl of Pembroke (Strongbow) led the first English army into Ireland in 1169. Soon English (norman) settlements were established and for centuries there were endless raids, skirmishes and wars. Through all these there was no united Irish effort, and not until Wolfe Tone founded the Society of United Irishmen, in 1791, was Irish nationalism, as we know it, established. Under Tone's leadership Irish and Anglo-Irish, Catholic and Protestant were united in a demand for independence from the British crown. This led to the great risings of 1798. These risingsf, however, were largely local and isolated and, when expected French help did not arrive, the revolt failed. Only in Wexford was there any success.

While people were waiting for the 1798 rising, pikes and guns were hidden in thatch and bogs, and hearts were beating fast. Sixty years after the rising, John Keegan Casey wrote this song while in prison as a Fenian; he died in prison at the tender age of twenty-three as a result of his sufferings. The phrase, "The rising of the moon", has become alamost proverbial in connection with an Irish uprising in arms. The air is well-known as The Wearing of the Green."

rich r