Play the chords, if you like. I would like to relate to you that this song, and many others I learned whilst playing in a Ceili band with some friends who moved to America from Ireland, were taught to me as songs to be sung unaccompanied. This is a difficult concept for many to wrap their brains around. A song such as this can be quite powerful in a concert, if the singer puts down the Guitar (or whatever) and sings it a cappella.