[Verse]
Oh, there's a uniform that's hanging in what's known as father's room,
A uniform so simple in its style,
It has no fancy braid with gold or hat with feathered plume,
Yet me mother has preserved it all the while.

One day she made me try it on, a wish of mine for years,
"In memory of your father, dear", she said,
And when she placed the Sam Browne on, she was smiling through her tears,
As she placed the broad black brimmer on me head.

[Chorus]
It's just a broad black brimmer, ribbons frayed and torn,
By the careless whisk of manys a mountain breeze,
An old trench coat that's been battle-stained and worn,
And breeches almost threadbare at the knees.

A Sam Browne belt with a buckle big and strong,
And a holster that's been empty manys a day,
But when men claim Ireland's freedom and the one they'll choose to lead them,
Will wear the broad black brimmer of the IRA.

[Verse]
It was the uniform that was worn by me father long ago,
When he reached me mother's homestead on the run,
It was the uniform he worn in that little church below,
When, old Father Mac, he blessed the pair as one.

And after truce and treaty and the parting of the ways,
He wore it when he marched out with the rest,
And when they bore his body down that rugged heather braes,
They placed the broad black brimmer on his chest.

[Chorus]
It's just a broad black brimmer, ribbons frayed and torn,
By the careless whisk of manys a mountain breeze,
An old trench coat that's been battle-stained and worn,
And breeches almost threadbare at the knees.

A Sam Browne belt with a buckle big and strong,
And a holster that's been empty manys a day,
But when men claim Ireland's freedom and the one they'll choose to lead them,
Will wear the broad black brimmer of the IRA.

[Outro]
But when men claim Ireland's freedom and the one they'll choose to lead them,
Will wear the broad black brimmer of the IRA.