Take Me Up To Monto by George Hodnett

Montgomery Street, near the Custom House, was reputed to be the biggest red-light district of its kind until its closing down occurred in 1925. The song itself, with its child-like, almost nursery-rhyme style delivery, is quite amusing but if the words are examined, it can be seen to be quite a clever and sometimes very sharp view of some recent historical events. The first verse is principally praising alcohol. In the second verse "Butcher Foster – the imposter", is Chief Secretary Forster, more usually known as "Buckshot". He had introduced Coercion Acts in the late 19^th Century which allowed people to be arrested and imprisoned on suspicion of being involved in criminal activity. He was not a very popular individual which can be seen in the unfavourable way he is presented in the song. The bowler connects him to the crown and to loyalism, the growler to the English "Bulldog".

"Skin the Goat" was the nickname of James Fitzharris, the cabman who drove the murderers of Lord Cavendish and T.H.Burke to and from the Phoenix Park. He was sentenced to penal servitude for conspiracy because he refused to identify his passengers. Patrick O’Donnell, in another song was "a deadly foe to traitors". He had met the informer James Carey, who although he had played a leading in the murders, was freed for turning Queen’s Evidence. Of the 27 members of the Invincible society who were arrested, Carey’s evidence helped to send six for execution. Carey was then secretly dispatched to South Africa by sea and met O’Donnell "afloat". Then while travelling to Durban from Cape Town on the "Melrose" O’Donnell killed Carey and was sent back to London, tried and sentenced to death.

The Dublin Fusiliers come in for abuse also, and are mentioned in connection with the Boer War "oe’r the sea". The new police force, An Garda Siochana, come under suspicion too because their loyalty to the new "Gaelic" state is questioned when they can’t play a nationalist melody. Queen Victoria comes in for the greatest abuse of all in the song when she is described unfavourably and is also grossly insulted in a most crude manner by the Lord Mayor of the city, before bringing her up to Monto!

This song, set in Northern Ireland, tells us of two men’s friendship, seen through the eyes of another mutual friend. Even though they are of different religious affiliation, they don’t allow these differences to get in the way of their friendship. When Allan Bell, a Protestant, is killed for being in the wrong place, presumably by Catholic or Republican para-militaries, other Protestant or Loyalist para-militaries use this as an excuse for a revenge attack. Ironically the victim of their revenge attack is this man Sean O’Malley, the Catholic friend of the murdered Protestant. Revenge is their joint obsession and will be looked for by both parties in the sectarian divide. Allan Bell’s Catholic friends couldn’t understand why he was killed and even though the killers are told that O’Malley was his friend, they nevertheless went ahead with his killing. An eye for an eye, till everyone is blind. The writer doesn’t understand the situation any longer, or even if there is now anything to be learned from such atrocities. However, it is clear that the people who will be hurt are the innocent victims of this conflict, caught up in the orders given by the faceless para-military leadership. As Sands says, the likes of you and I.

This is a song about the great potato Famine that happened in Ireland in the 1840’s. The song is so-called after this great city because about a million Irish people fled to there and to other parts of the US to find a better life. The first verse speaks of how people dream "of the hills of Donegal" describing how the Irish missed the good times back in their homeland. In the second verse we hear how the Famine forced people to emigrate because this was the only way to escape the hunger and disease. They didn’t leave just for the sake of a holiday but because it was their only way of surviving. They knew that when they left the rocky west coast of Ireland they would have to spend "weeks on end" crossing the Atlantic in dirty little boats, some of which were called "coffin-ships". Sometimes all that was to be found on these boats were corpses and nearly-dead people, riddled with disease. Scurvy was a serious illness caused by a Vitamin C deficiency. The Irish people had relied on potatoes for their Vitamin C so when the crop failed a number of times their resistance levels were very low. Distress was at epidemic proportions. The final verse generalises about what became of Irish Emigrants in the US. It suggests how some of them did well and others not so. But it also tells how these migrants brought their own songs and music with them to America. This certainly influenced the development of music both in America and Ireland as some of this music was to develop into other types like for example, Bluegrass and Appalachian music. It also helped to soothe the sense of loss which these people felt away from home and hearth.

By Tracey Hughes

The song was wrote by Barry Moore his brother Christy Moore sings the song. Christy Moore is a well known singer in Ireland for singing traditional Irish music.The song is based on the famine years when millions emigrated to America and other countries, leaving behind millions of people who died of hunger and diseases that had occurred during those years.

In the chorus he describes how the people who immigrated to America are remembering their relatives and homes back in Donegal. In the first verse he mentions the year 1847. 1847 was the worst year of the famine. The famine began in 1845-1850 it began when the potato crops failed this was caused by a disease which spread across the crops, the potatoes were so important as they were the main source of food for the Irish people. In 1841 Ireland had a population of 8,175,000 and in 1871 it had gone down to 4,412,000. Ireland had lost 3,763,000 people out of the country out of those 1,072,276 had died of diseases or hunger. The rest emigrated to England, America, Canada and Australia.

During the famine the government set up workhouses the workhouses were overflowing with people at the end of 1847 the majority of those people were children. In the workhouses all the families were separated from each other, men and women had to stay in different parts of the workhouses. The workhouses were a total disaster because the death toll rose drastically. The government set up soup kitchens to establish temporary feeding facilities instead of relief work. The soup kitchens turned out to be a good plan but a lot of people were too embarrassed to stand in a line to get food no matter how hungry they were but over all it was a good thing.

The Irish landlords had to start evicting their tenants as they were getting no money so they had evict the tenants and rent it to people with money. Many families were evicted between 1849 and 1854. Some landlords helped out their tenants by paying for them to emigrate. In 1848 most people were really disgusted about the landlords helping their tenants they said it was England trying to annihilate the population.

Over 2 million people left the country. They left the country because they wouldn’t survive if they stayed in Ireland, it was their only chance of survival. The ships that they travelled on were known as the ‘coffin ships’ most of the people who travelled on the ships died because they were crowded and filthy. It took roughly a month to get to America on a ship. The people on the ships couldn’t go up on to the top of the ship. People were reluctant to get on the ships as they knew they had little chances of survival. Before they could go into the countries they had to be inspected for head lice and other diseases. If the people had diseases they were not allowed into the country they were left on the ship to die. Some of the people had luck as they survived and found jobs which would help them feed their families, other people were misfortunate as they couldn’t find anyone to give them jobs and they were left to die in the fields. They travelled all over America looking for jobs and they kept their old cultures and ways ‘ to ease their lonely hearts’.

Back Home in Derry written by Bobby Sands

Bobby Sands wrote this song for his comrades from Derry who were in the "H-Blocks" on political prisoner protest routine. He used to perform this song at the nightly concert which they held in the "H-Block", singing it out through a keyhole in his cell-door. An IRA leader and hunger-striker, Sands was a capable songwriter. In the song he is looking back in time to many years before when Irish convicts were sent out to Tasmania (Van Diemens’ Land). He is comparing their fate in the 18^th and 19^th centuries with the fate of modern Irish prisoners in the Northern Troubles who likewise had to leave their wives and families. They were equally unhappy and were full of hate towards the English. The chorus says how they are missing their homes in Derry and are unhappy about where they are. Lots of prisoners died of disease or poor conditions or were killed on the way to Tasmania. The numbers got smaller as they buried their comrades in the sea each morning. This was to be prophetic for the future as Sands himself was to be the first to die in the new wave of hunger-strikes against the policy of the Thatcher Government in the early 1980’s.

He likens life on Tasmania to slavery, where the officers of the law have guns to make you do as they say. This probably reflects what was going on in the "H-Blocks" where the IRA prisoners mounted a very difficult campaign to try and achieve political status for their members. The authorities had little interest in the bravery of these people who were to die in the near future. In the last verse he almost threatens to die like the ghosts of his comrades who have gone before him.

This song was written by John Gibbs. It is about "Irish Ways" meaning how Irish people lived, their customs and traditions, their lives, work and culture. For example when the Vikings came with their boats and built towns, this changed the way that Irish people were living. He speaks of "Irish Laws" and of how we fought for our freedom. Cromwell and the English soldiers came and interfered with our freedom of speech and religion, this he says was the beginning of a shameful period in the history of this Island because of these soldiers’ behaviour. Gibb’s own view is seen in the piece where he wonders will he see the "gates being opened up to a people and their freedom". The song was originally written on the back of a cigarette packet. I like the song because it relates simply to the past and tells of the feelings held about these groups who came to influence the making of history in Ireland.

It tells the story of how Ulster was taken over by England. These four fields are the four provinces(divisions) of Ireland. Munster, Leinster, Ulster and Connaught. The old woman in the song represents Ireland as was often the case in earlier poetry. The woman tells the story of how her people fought and even died to try to keep her four fields together. In the past she says that her four green fields are like precious jewels but it then comes to the point of the British taking over. In the song the British are called "strangers". Coming back to the present she says that she now only has three fields left and that her other one is "in bondage", it has been taken away.

England still rules Ulster. But she says that "my sons have sons" who will continue to fight for the freedom of her last field. She believes that one day her four fields will be back together again. Like many Irish people, the writer is expressing a view that Ireland will one day be reunited, North and South together again politically.

This song was written about a man who spoke out fiercely and fought for Irish Independence in the 1916 Rising against Great Britain. Connolly’s parents were Irish but he was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He strongly believed that every country’s land, mines, banks and governments should be controlled by the workers. This was known as socialism and for many years he worked for the Dublin Socialist Society. He emigrated to America at the beginning of the new century but in 1910 he returned to Ireland to work with Jim Larkin as an organiser for his trade union, the ITGWU.

In 1915 Connolly began to speak out and write about the planning of a rising. At this time the Military Council of the IRB were already planning a rebellion for Easter Sunday, 1916 so they asked James Connolly to join them, hoping that he would bring the Irish Citizen Army and the labour movement with him. Eventually the rising took place on Easter Monday, 1916 in Dublin. Things did not go according to plan and by that Friday Connolly and his men surrendered. Everyone who was involved in the rising was sent to prison and the leaders were sentenced to death or life imprisonment. James Connolly was one of the leaders to be executed on the 12^th of May, sitting in a chair, as his ankle had been shattered by a bullet during the rising.

In this song, we are shown how brave and proud he was and also how strongly he felt about having proper civil rights in Ireland, so much so that he was prepared to be killed if this would help to liberate Ireland from Britain.

This song was written by Donough MacDonagh in 1967. Set in Dublin city 1913 it was based on the work done by James Larkin for Dublin Workers. He was a founder of the ITGWU set up to protect workers and to gain improvements in their status. He was a man with a great speaking voice and not alone did he help his fellow workers as a trade union organiser, he also became their hero. In the song we are told how the workers stood by Larkin for eight months. They went without food even because the leader of the bosses, William Martin Murphy, would not allow a Union man work for any of his companies. Many families went without proper food and clothing during this time due to the Strike and Lockout. Larkin was arrested and then James Connolly took over and brought new life just as the workers were about to give up. The song goes on to talk of the rebellion in 1916 when the English were accused in the song of burning down the city. Many leaders were shot after the rebellion. They are buried in Arbour Hill. Larkin left Ireland for America after the Strike failed. He did not return to Ireland until 1923. Pamela Roche.

This song was written by Peadar Kearney in 1907, the writer of Ireland’s National Anthem. The song is mainly about Ireland criticising the British. Ireland is civilised but not nearly civilised enough for the British. It is full of ironic statements about the Irish character for example how the British kept the Irish from crime and gently raised them from a dreadful beginning. When he says that it is a song of peace and love we know of course that this is sarcasm in the extreme. The almost caring group who kept Irish homes from want and care are wished peace and plenty, almost evil-ly! "God Bless England is our prayer" is delivered with the utmost insincerity. It mentions the violence used in earlier Irish history such as "pikes" and "guns" and suggests that we should forget about the past and concentrate on the future. The Irish people will surprise the British with their many improvements. What Kearney is really saying is that Ireland should never give up on the idea of freedom and Independence.

A wedding song from Rathlin Island, off the coast of County

Antrim. It was collected by Mary Cambell in her book Rathlin

Stories (1936). Unfortunately, only two verses had survived as

the language was dying out there. It was first sung by Grainne

Nic Mhaonagail many years ago and Brian Mac Lochlainn

produced the original text. According to linguists, the Gaelic

spoken on Rathin was a combination of Antrim and Scottish

Gaelic. Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh’s father wrote the additional

two verses in the spirit of the original song.

This song was composed by Pete St. John in the 1970’s.

It is about a young family, going through hard times during

the Famine years of 1845-9. The young man, Michael was

married to Mary. They had a child and together they stole

food from one of Sir Charles Trevelyan’s emergency food

depots in order to feed their family. Unfortunately Michael

was caught, was jailed and shipped off to Australia.

Unlike during a Famine today, food was not given to people

for free and Michael could not get a job. This gave him no

other alternative but to go out and steal as his wife and child

were dying of hunger, but unfortunately Michael was caught

and this is why he was jailed. He left behind his wife and child

not knowing if he would ever see them again.

This would never have happened if more aid was given

to the Irish people during the Famine time or if people like

Trevelyan would have been more generous to the starving

people of Ireland. But they could not change the philosophy

of the time, which was that of Laissez-Faire, which did not

encourage Governments to help in the alleviation of Famine.

The philosophy expected people to be able to help themselves out of such a disaster or perish.

Michael tried to help himself and his family the only way that he knew how, but breaking the law had its own penalties. Michael was one among many who were shipped to Australia for stealing food to feed their families and this is just one of the many reasons why many Irish people have relatives in Australia.

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