IRISH MUSIC

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Register for The Wild Geese Today e-mail updates. Whether singing about James Connolly or Bobby Sands or quoting Federico García Lorca, Wexford-born rocker and Black 47 leader Larry Kirwan casts a discerning, empathetic and sometimes angry eye on the world. On the occasion of the band's March release of the album "Bittersweet Sixteen," we present a look at Kirwan's work, below in the context of Irish history. UPLOADED 5/18/06, 11:30 PM EDT In Music, Plays, Kirwan Grapples With Legacy of Anglo-Irish Strife By TheWildGeese.com Black47.com Larry Kirwan Wexford-born American Larry Kirwan has often used his creative energies to consider figures from Ireland's freedom struggle. In his 1993 play "Blood," Kirwan portrays a kidnapped James Connolly facing off with fellow revolutionaries Patrick Pearse and Sean MacDermott about their differing visions of the new Ireland they want to create. Kirwan has also written a drama with music titled "Mister Parnell," featuring Irish parliamentarian and home-rule leader Charles Stewart Parnell and his beloved Katherine O'Shea. Below are lyrics from Kirwan's songs, "James Connolly" and "Bobby Sands MP," the latter featured on Black 47's new compilation, "Bittersweet Sixteen," MORE ABOUT KIRWAN ON WGT Black 47's Larry Kirwan: At 'Sixteen' Still a Voice for the Underdog 'Bittersweet Sixteen'—Black 47's Child Comes of Age: A Review celebrating the band's 16 years touring.Sands, of course, embarked on his fateful hunger strike March 1, 1981, succumbing May 5 that year, one of 10 who starved themselves to death that year. Ninety years ago this month, on May 12, trade union leader Connolly, a leader of the doomed Easter Rising, was shot by a British army firing squad after a perfunctory court-martial. Other lyrics are available at the band's official Web site, at www.Black47.com. The lyrics below are reproduced here with Kirwan's permission. BOBBY SANDS MP My name is Bobby Sands, MP Born in the city of Belfast Divided by religion I grew up fast I was stabbed and I was spat upon My family run out of its home There was only one solution Turn the whole system upside down But the system had other ideas I got lifted for carryin' a gun In a trial without a jury I got fourteen years from the judge Screws beat me regularly But they couldn't break me because I had the love of my comrades And a burnin' faith in my Cause Still I left a girl outside pregnant Married her while on remand Now I got a son and a pain in my heart When he doesn't recognize his old man Your soul's on ice oh oh oh oh But they can't stop the desire To break on out oh oh oh oh When your heart is on fire We wouldn't wear their convict clothes So they stripped us to the bone Threw in some threadbare blankets..... And when they jeered us about our nakedness As we slopped out down the halls We wouldn't come out of their prison cells We smeared shit on their prison walls Stuck in an eight foot concrete box With a bible, a mattress And the threat of violence every day.... Can I make it through these fourteen years Will my son remember my face I don't blame her for the separation But for Christ's sake let him keep his name Your soul's on ice oh oh oh oh But they can't stop the desire To break on out oh oh oh oh When your heart is on fire Five simple things we ask of them Five simple things denied But Thatcher will not compromise.... I ask my Mother's permission To finally break her heart We have come to a decision — HUNGER STRIKE Three comrades starve behind me I pray to God that my Death will lead to compromise.... I can no longer see your face My bones break through my skin I'm goin' back to Belfast City You can't cage my spirit in Your soul's on ice But they can't stop the desire To break on out When your heart is on fire. Easter Monday was one of the most critical days in the history of Ireland. On that day, Irish Volunteer units and the Irish Citizen Army, led by Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, began their famous Easter Rising, seizing the General Post Office and other key locations around Dublin. Commemorate the men and woman who took on the British Empire against all odds with one of our "Heroes of the Easter Rising" items. JAMES CONNOLLY Marchin' down O'Connell Street with the Starry Plough on high There goes the Citizen Army with their fists raised in the sky Leading them is a mighty man with a mad rage in his eye "My name is James Connolly - I didn't come here to die But to fight for the rights of the working man And the small farmer too Protect the proletariat from the bosses and their screws So hold on to your rifles, boys, and don't give up your dream Of a Republic for the workin' class, economic liberty" Then Jem yelled out "Oh Citizens, this system is a curse An English boss is a monster, an Irish one even worse They'll never lock us out again and here's the reason why My name is James Connolly, I didn't come here to die....." And now we're in the GPO with the bullets whizzin' by With Pearse and Sean McDermott biddin' each other goodbye Up steps our citizen leader and roars out to the sky "My name is James Connolly, I didn't come here to die... Oh Lily, I don't want to die, we've got so much to live for And I know we're all goin' out to get slaughtered, but I just can't take any more Just the sight of one more child screamin' from hunger in a Dublin slum Or his mother slavin' 14 hours a day for the scum Who exploit her and take her youth and throw it on a factory floor Oh Lily, I just can't take any more They've locked us out, they've banned our unions, they even treat their animals better than us No! It's far better to die like a man on your feet than to live forever like some slave on your knees, Lilly But don't let them wrap any green flag around me And for God's sake, don't let them bury me in some field full of harps and shamrocks And whatever you do, don't let them make a martyr out of me No! Rather raise the Starry Plough on high, sing a song of freedom Here's to you, Lily, the rights of man and international revolution" We fought them to a standstill while the flames lit up the sky 'Til a bullet pierced our leader and we gave up the fight They shot him in Kilmainham jail but they'll never stop his cry My name is James Connolly, I didn't come here to die. ... " RELATED RESOURCES: More On Music From WGT Black 47 Official Website (Includes audio and lyrics of many of the band's songs.) The Easter Rising, from WGT Discuss Kirwan's Muse and Music in WGT's Forum This feature was edited by Gerry Regan and Alex Féthière and produced by Gerry Regan. Search WWW Search TheWildGeese.com E-mail us for more information about The Wild Geese Today Click to return to The Wild Geese Today's Home Page Copyright © 2006, Alex Féthière and GAR Media. All rights reserved. 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