If We Only Had Old Ireland Over Here chords

by Foster & Allen

Song Key: G Major → Ab Major

Time Signature: 6/8

Tempo: 168 bpm

Guitar Tuning: E A D G B e

Skill Level: Intermediate after the key change

Guitar Chords in G Major: G, D, D7, C, A, Em

Guitar Chords in Ab Major: A♭, E♭, E♭7, D♭, B♭, Fm... all charts below

If We Only Had Old Ireland Over Here

Song Key is highlighted - Transpose to any other key

               G       D     G     C     G
Intro: 6/8 |       |       |    -    |       |

         G                C               G
1. I was dream-ing of old Ire-land    And Kill-ar-neys lakes and dells
         C                G                      A                    D7
   I was dream-ing of the sham-rock    And  the  dear  old  Shand-on  Bells
           G              C               G
   When my mem-o-ries sug-ges-ted    In a vis-ion bright and clear
           C                         G                D                G
   All the strange things that would hap-pen    If we had old Ire-land here

               G                    C              G
Chorus: If the Blar-ney stone stood out in Syd-ney Har-bour
            C                                  G
        And Dub-lin Town to Mel-bourne came to stay
                               C                    G
        If the Shan-non Riv-er joined the Bris-bane Wat-ers
                 A                                    D      D7
        And Kill-ar-ney’s lakes flowed in-to Bot-a-ny Bay |      |
               G                   C              G
        If the Shand-on Bells rang out in old Fre-man-tle
            C                                 G
        And Coun-ty Cork in Ad-e-laide did ap-pear
               Em                                G
        Erin's sons would nev-er roam    All the boys would stay at home
                            D              G             Eb
        If we on-ly had old Ire-land o-ver here     |(key change)|

             Ab              Db                   Ab
2. There are lots of lov’-ly las-sies    Dan-cin' on the vil-lage green
             Db             Ab               Bb            Eb7
   There are lots of lovely col-leens    The fin-est ev-er seen
             Ab                  Db                Ab
   Where the boys are all called Pad-dy    And the girls called Mol-ly Dear
             Db                  Ab                  Eb               Ab
   Sure we'd wrap the green flag round them    If we had old Ire-land here

               Ab                   Db             Ab
Chorus: If the Blar-ney stone stood out in Syd-ney Har-bour
            Db                                 Ab
        And Dub-lin Town to Mel-bourne came to stay
               Db                                   Ab
        If the Shan-non Riv-er joined the Bris-bane Wat-ers
                 Bb                                    Eb     Eb7
        And Kill-ar-ney’s lakes flowed in-to Bot-a-ny  Bay |       |
               Ab                  Db             Ab
        If the Shand-on Bells rang out in old Fre-man-tle
            Db                                Ab
        And Coun-ty Cork in Ad-e-laide did ap-pear
               Fm                                Ab
        Erin's sons would nev-er roam    All the boys would stay at home
                            Eb             Ab
        If we on-ly had old Ire-land o-ver here |   𝄎   |

           Ab      Eb     Ab    Db     Ab
Outro: |        |      |     -      |  𝄑  |

Notes & Helpful Tips:

Level Of Ease: This version of the song is in the key of G major with a key change to A♭ Major. It starts easy, and then becomes more difficult after the key change. You will need to know barre chords, namely A♭, D♭, E♭, E♭7, and Fm.
Time signature: 6/8 - This means 6 eighth-note/quaver beats per bar, therefore the count is | 1 2 3 4 5 6 | etc. With the metronome set at 168 bpm, every beat or click = one eighth-note.
When you see a bar with 2 chords separated by a hyphen, the timing count of the bar is split in half, e.g., | G - C | means you play the G chord for 3 counts and the C chord for 3 counts.
Beginners: An easier version of the song would be to play in the key of E Major with a key change to F Major. You would still need to play some barre chords, but they would be easier. Capo on 3 if you are playing with the video.
An easier way to play along with the music would be to stop the video at the key change, place a capo on the first fret, press F# on the Transposer, restart the video and continue playing the easy chords in G Major.
The easiest way is to not play along with the video. You can simply play in the original key of G Major, retaining all the chords before the key change, namely G, C, A, D, D7 and Em... very easy. 🥳

Song Details:

Songwriters: Traditional
Lyrics Begin: I was dreaming of old Ireland, and Killarneys lakes and dells,
Performing Artists: Foster & Allen
Genre: Traditional Irish Folk Song
Album: And Some That Will Be - Greatest Hits
Released: 1998
Format: 2XCD, Compilation
Country: UK
Label: Telstar-TV