Background
The concept of Four Green Fields representing the four provinces of Ireland had been used before, having been previously used in the 1939 stained glass work My Four Green Fields by Evie Hone.
Makem frequently described the song as having been inspired by a drive through the "no man's land" adjoining Northern Ireland, where he saw an old woman tending livestock. She was oblivious to the political boundaries that loomed so large in the public's eye; the land was older than the argument, and she didn't care what was shown on the map.
Makem commonly sang the song as an encore.
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