Irony

What examples from the song are ironic? How can you tell?

I noticed two examples that struck me as ironic:

1. "Hide your wives and daughter; hide the groceries too.
The great nations of Europe comin through."

- This is ironic on behalf of Randy Newman because he first warns listeners about having to hide their women and their food and then goes on to explaining it is because the "great" nations of Europe are coming. People associate the word "great" with something exciting and admirable, but the excerpt here is describing what these nations do as exactly the opposite. In reality, you would not have to hide anyone or anything from something great. 

2. "Balboa found the Pacific, and on the trail one day,
he met some friendly Indians whom the Church told him were gay,
soooooooooooooo
he had them torn apart by dogs on religious grounds they say
the great nations of Europe were quite holy in their way."

- The last phrase, "the great nations of Europe were quite holy in their way", is ironic in the sense that "holy" usually means something very sacred and saint-like. What the nations of Europe did with the indians by tearing them apart, etc. is not sacred at all; it is exactly the opposite. 

Throughout the song in general, the author describes horrific events and then connects them to the "great nations of Europe". The excerpt below is another example of how these "great" nations actually committed terrible things:

 "destroying everything in its path from sea to shining sea,

like the great nations of Europe in the 16th century"

What examples are not ironic? How can you tell?

1. "The Great Nations of Europe had gathered on the shore.
They'd conquered what was behind them and now they wanted more,
so they looked to the mighty ocean and took to the Western sea -
the great nations of Europe in the 16th century."

- This example is not ironic at all. Here, the nations of Europe are described as the fearless conquerors they were and the adjective "great" has been supported by historical references such as the nations pioneering into the Western sea.