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Notes -
The song is not simply uncomplicated pro-IRA, it's set in the period of the Old IRA (before the Troubles, though in the transitional period between the War of Independence/Civil War of the 20s and the resurgence in the 60s/70s).
Written by Dominic Behan, who came from a Republican family and whose brother, Brendan Behan, was arrested in Britain for being part of a bombing campaign in the 30s, it is based on a true event and is told from the viewpoint of a young IRA volunteer who was raised on, and believes, the romantic idealised version of Irish-British history and the Republic and the armed struggle, and who dies in what is practically a pointless attack. As he lies dying he questions does this really achieve anything or benefit anyone?
The Clancy Brothers did do the definitive version, but other Irish groups like The Dubliners covered it also.
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