Forty Shades of Green
Posted by Jim on March 29, 2026
Where did the phrase “Forty Shades of Green” for Ireland come from?
You might be surprised to hear that it was singer Johnny Cash that made the phrase “Forty Shades of Green” popular with a song that he was inspired to write after a trip to Ireland.
IrishCentral Staff
Mar 29, 2026
An aerial view of fields in Co Tipperary – how many shades of green can you count?! Getty
Describing the beautiful Irish landscape as “Forty Shades of Green” is used the world over, but how did the phrase become so popular?
You might be surprised to hear that it was country singer Johnny Cash who popularized the phrase “Forty Shades of Green” with a song of the same name, which appeared on his 1961 album “Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash”.
Cash was inspired to write the song during a trip to Ireland in 1959, and while he lists a number of popular destinations in Ireland – Dublin, Shannon, Dingle, Skibbereen – local legend has it that he got the initial inspiration in the Kockmealdown Mountains in Co. Tipperary.
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Listen to “Forty Shades of Green” by Johnny Cash:
Lyrics of “Forty Shades of Green” – Johnny Cash, 1959
I close my eyes and picture the emerald of the sea
from the fishin boats at Dingle to the shores at Donaghdee
I miss the River Shannon and the folks at Skibbereen
the moorlands and meadows and their Forty Shades of Green
But most of all I miss a girl in Tipperary town
and most of all I miss her lips as soft as eiderdown
I long again to see and do the things we’ve done and seen
where the breeze is sweet as shalimar and there’s Forty Shades of Green
I wish that I could spend an hour at Dublin´s churning suft
I long to watch the farmers drain the bogs and spade the turf
to see again the thatching of the straw the women clean
I´d walk from Cork to Larne to see those Forty Shades of Green
But most of all I miss a girl in Tipperary town
and most of all I miss her lips as soft as eiderdown
I long again to see and do the things we´ve done and seen
where the breeze is sweet as shalimar and there´s Forty Shades of Green