Genre Irish folk Language English | Writer(s) Anthony Murphy | |
"The Orange and the Green" or "The Biggest Mix-Up" is a humorous Irish folk song about a man whose father was a Protestant ("Orange") and whose mother was a Catholic ("Green"). It describes the man's trials as the product of religious intermarriage and how "mixed up" he became as a result of such an upbringing.
This song was written by Anthony Murphy of Liverpool, and has been recorded by bands such as The Irish Rovers, The Wolfe Tones, Paddy Reilly, The Brobdingnagian Bards, The Grehan Sisters, and The Kreellers. It is sung to the same tune as "The Wearing of the Green", which is also used in the "The Rising of the Moon", another Irish ballad.
History
Liverpool, home to a great many Irish immigrants, has a very high proportion of Catholics. On the other hand, the Protestant Orange Order is also very strong. The Orange Lodge marches every year in July, with bands of fifes, drums and bagpipes, to celebrate the victory of Protestant King William of Orange over Catholic King James II, on 12 July 1690. Although Liverpool is not known for its sectarian violence, one doesn't have to go too far back to uncover tensions in the city within people's living memory, such as when an Orange mob threw rocks at Archbishop Heenan in 1958. Catholics and Protestants have often intermarried, giving rise to the frustrations often encountered by those born of such mixed marriages.