[5] "The Patriot Game" has been recorded by numerous artists, including The Kingston Trio, The Bluebells, The Dubliners, The Wolfe Tones, Schooner Fare, and The Clancy Brothers.
The Clancy Brothers chose not to sing the verses which sanctioned the murders of Irish police officers or which criticised Éamon de Valera, a choice to which Behan took exception:[citation needed] This Ireland of mine has for long been half free, Six counties are under John Bull's tyranny.
I don't mind a bit if I shoot down police They are lackeys for war never guardians of peace And yet at deserters I'm never let aim The rebels who sold out the patriot game[6] When Liam Clancy sang the song with the Clancy Brothers, he did include the John Bull verse, but rewrote the second half of it as "So I gave up my boyhood to drill and to train, to play my own part in the patriot game".
The verse about police officers is very commonly omitted, even by nationalist bands such as the Irish Brigade and the Wolfe Tones, although Harvey Andrews and Declan Hunt included it unaltered.
Where is the young man, this Earth ever taught Whose life is less sacred than all the old frauds Whose boyhood less lovely, whose vision less vain Than the old men who paid for the patriot game Like Behan, Bob Dylan used the melody of "The Merry Month of May" for his own song "With God on Our Side".
Mike Evans writes that "legend has it" that, during an early tour of the UK by Bob Dylan, Behan rang him at his hotel room with an uncompromising tirade.
The song features heavily in Martin McDonagh's play The Lieutenant of Inishmore, where it is used to comment on the character's misunderstanding of IRA splinter groups.