29 April 1972 So the British Army's chart-topping reign in Ireland only lasted a week. Be it buyer's remorse or a new-found sense of awareness and taste, they were dislodged by an Irish folk protest song about the killings on Bloody Sunday. Despite merely recounting the obvious events and not calling for listeners to reprise … Continue reading Paddy Wagon – ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ →

22 April 1972 On 30 January 1972—Bloody Sunday—British soldiers killed 13 unarmed civilians at a protest march in the nationalist Bogside area of Derry. The immediate response in Ireland included the burning of the British Embassy in Dublin. Three months later, the British Army were at number one in the Irish singles charts. There's more. … Continue reading The Pipes and Drums and the Military Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards – ‘Amazing Grace’ →

8 April 1972 How popular and iconic was Big Tom? Well, he was the first Irish person to have a song named after them go to number one in Ireland, and is one of only four Irish people ever to have had that distinction. His home town of Castleblayney in Co. Monaghan had already been … Continue reading Big Tom and The Mainliners – ‘Broken Marriage Vows’ →

1 April 1972 In this year of 'The Men Behind The Wire' and 'Give Ireland Back To The Irish', surely 'Three Leafed Shamrock' is another politically-charged protest song, right? Or maybe, like 'Ceol An Ghrá' immediately before it at number one, it showcases a new-found national pride in Irish cultural heritage, doesn't it? No and … Continue reading John Kerr – ‘Three Leafed Shamrock’ →

10 March 2017 Steve Earle's Galway Girl was from Dublin. Ed Sheeran's Galway Girl was from Limerick. Alliteration, rhythm and other mysteries of lyric writing were probably the forces prevailing over mundane accuracy in both instances. That said, fans of feminist and post-colonial theories will recognise the trope of a western male tourist or voyager … Continue reading Ed Sheeran – ‘Galway Girl’ →

11 March 1972 I checked Harry Nilsson's figures on a well-known streaming service, and was unsurprised to see that 'Without You' and 'Everybody's Talkin'' were doing around five to ten times the numbers of his other songs. Even my awareness of him in the '90s was just for those two tracks and little in the … Continue reading Nilsson – ‘Without You’ →

13 January 2017 Welcome to 2017, the year Ed Sheeran broke the Irish singles charts and they had to change the rules. It's also the year that, aside from a week's carry-over of 'Rockabye' from the end of 2016, only eight songs went to number one in Ireland; since three of them are his that's … Continue reading Ed Sheeran – ‘Shape Of You’ →

4 March 1972 The immediate responses to Bloody Sunday included the burning of the British Embassy in Dublin, Bernadette Devlin slapping Tory minister Reginald Maudling on the floor of the House of Commons, and Paul McCartney writing 'Give Ireland Back To The Irish'. Also: Irish people buying 'Give Ireland Back To The Irish' all the … Continue reading Wings – ‘Give Ireland Back To The Irish’ →