Give Ireland Back to the Irish

*Single* de Paul McCartney
Sortie	25 février 1972
Durée	3:42
Genre	Rock
Format	45 tours
Auteur	Paul McCartney
Label	Apple Records

Give Ireland Back to the Irish est une chanson des Wings sorti en single en 1972.

Historique

Écrite en 1972 par Paul McCartney, quatre semaines après les évènements de Derry qui ont entraîné la mort de 14 pacifistes irlandais tués par l'armée britannique le 30 janvier 1972.

Cette chanson, interdite d'antenne en Angleterre^[1]^,^[2], est une des rares chansons engagées de Paul McCartney ; la seconde étant How Many People écrite en 1989 à la mémoire de Chico Mendes assassiné en décembre 1988, parce qu'il tentait de faire protéger la forêt amazonienne de la destruction.

Peu après la sortie de ce titre, Paul répondait à une interview de Tim White :

« J'ai toujours juré de ne pas faire de chansons politiques, mais il y eut ce massacre, alors que ces personnes faisaient une manifestation pacifique. Nos soldats, des parachutistes de l'Armée de mon pays, sont venus et ont tué des gens. Nous nous battions contre les Irlandais, c'était comme être en guerre avec eux. Et j'ai grandi avec cette idée que les Irlandais sont bons, ils sont nos compagnons, nos frères^[3]. »

En plus de la censure, la chanson eut d'autres conséquences :

« Suite à la sortie de Give Ireland Back to the Irish, quelques concerts des Wings ont été annulés au Royaume Uni, et le frère du guitariste Henry McCullough, qui est né à Derry, a été agressé par des voyous en Irlande^[4]. »

Références

↑ http://www.iol.ie/~beatlesireland/Irish%20Heritage/contactsheritage.html The BBC immediately banned the song, which was a coup for McCartney
↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5087006.stm In the year that he turned 30, Sir Paul found two of his singles banned by the BBC. Give Ireland Back To the Irish, released in February, was blacklisted for its political content, while December's Hi, Hi, Hi was thought to contain drugs references
↑ http://www.iol.ie/~beatlesireland/Irish%20Heritage/contactsheritage.html "I always vowed that I'll be the one who doesn't do political songs, but what happened over there was that they had this massacre when some people had been doing a peaceful demonstration. Our soldiers, my country's Army paratroopers, had gone in and killed some people. So we were against the Irish; it was like being at war with them. And I'd grown up with this thing that the Irish are great, they're our mates, our brothers"
↑ http://www.iol.ie/~beatlesireland/Irish%20Heritage/contactsheritage.html "As a result of Give Ireland Back to the Irish, some Wings concerts in the UK were picketed, and the brother of Wings guitarist Henry McCullough, a native of Derry was jumped by a group of thugs in Ireland"

[1] ttp://www.iol.ie/~beatlesireland/Irish%20Heritage/contactsheritage.html The BBC immediately banned the song, which was a coup for McCartney

[2] ttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5087006.stm In the year that he turned 30, Sir Paul found two of his singles banned by the BBC. Give Ireland Back To the Irish, released in February, was blacklisted for its political content, while December's Hi, Hi, Hi was thought to contain drugs references

[3] ttp://www.iol.ie/~beatlesireland/Irish%20Heritage/contactsheritage.html "I always vowed that I'll be the one who doesn't do political songs, but what happened over there was that they had this massacre when some people had been doing a peaceful demonstration. Our soldiers, my country's Army paratroopers, had gone in and killed some people. So we were against the Irish; it was like being at war with them. And I'd grown up with this thing that the Irish are great, they're our mates, our brothers"

[4] ttp://www.iol.ie/~beatlesireland/Irish%20Heritage/contactsheritage.html "As a result of Give Ireland Back to the Irish, some Wings concerts in the UK were picketed, and the brother of Wings guitarist Henry McCullough, a native of Derry was jumped by a group of thugs in Ireland"

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