Give Ireland Back to the Irish
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| “Give Ireland Back to the Irish” | |||||
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| Single by Wings from the album Wild Life (The Paul McCartney Collection) |
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| B-side | "Give Ireland Back to the Irish (version)" | ||||
| Released | February 25, 1972 | ||||
| Format | 7" single | ||||
| Recorded | 1972 | ||||
| Genre | Rock | ||||
| Label | Apple Records | ||||
| Writer(s) | Paul McCartney Linda McCartney |
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| Producer | Paul McCartney Linda McCartney |
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| Wings singles chronology | |||||
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"Give Ireland Back to the Irish" is a Paul and Linda McCartney song written in response to the events of Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland on January 30, 1972. The song was released on February 25, 1972 as the debut single by McCartney's new band Wings, and it was the first recorded song by Wings that included Northern Irish guitarist Henry McCullough.
It was completely barred from media exposure in the United Kingdom, being banned by the BBC, Radio Luxembourg and the Independent Television Authority. On the BBC Radio 1 chart show Pick of the Pops, Alan Freeman had to refer to it as "a record by the group Wings".[1]
"From our point of view," said Paul McCartney, "it was the first time people questioned what we were doing in Ireland. It was so shocking. I wrote 'Give Ireland Back to the Irish', we recorded it and I was promptly 'phoned by the Chairman of EMI, Sir Joseph Lockwood, explaining that they wouldn't release it. He thought it was too inflammatory. I told him that I felt strongly about it and they had to release it. He said, 'Well it'll be banned', and of course it was. I knew 'Give Ireland Back to the Irish' wasn't an easy route, but it just seemed to me to be the time. All of us in Wings felt the same about it. But Henry McCullough's brother who lived in Northern Ireland was beaten up because of it. The thugs found out that Henry was in Wings."[2]
The song reached number 1 in the singles charts in the Republic of Ireland and Spain, but it only climbed to number 16 in the UK singles chart and number 21 in the U.S.
The B-side of the single, "Give Ireland Back to the Irish (version)", is an instrumental version of the A-side. The A-side was reissued as a bonus track on the 1993 remastered CD of Wings' Wild Life album.
[edit] Personnel
[edit] Notes
- ^ "The seven ages of Paul McCartney", BBC, 17 June 2006.
- ^ Lewisohn, Mark. Wingspan. Little Brown, 2002. ISBN 0-316-86032-8
