"The Island" | |
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Song by Paul Brady | |
Released | 1985 |
"The Island" is a 1985 song by an Irish musician Paul Brady.
The song appeared on the album 'Back to the Centre', and features Kenny Craddock on piano. The only other instrument is a guitar solo by Phil Palmer The album was produced by long time Brady collaborator Jennifer Maidman (formerly known as Ian Maidman).
The start of the song compares the tragic events of the Lebanese Civil War with the Troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1980s. [1] Comments are made on activities in Northern Ireland: "They're rising banners over by the markets / Whitewashing slogans on the shipyard wall". "The Markets" is a well known Republican area surrounding St George's Market in Belfast, and the shipyard is that of Harland and Wolff in East Belfast, near a Loyalist area. The song then compares the peace and serenity of making love on the island with the hypocrisy of some religious leaders and the tragedy of young people being "sacrificed" (on both sides) for political beliefs.
The song was referred to pejoratively through a refrain of "the island" in Christy Moore's song The Other Side, a song in support of those detained in Long Kesh. However, Christy Moore later toned down the lyrics in this song and rerecorded it in 2011 as Tyrone Boys. [2]
Belfast is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel. It is the second-largest city on the island of Ireland, with an estimated population of 348,005 in 2022, and a metropolitan area population of 671,559.
Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland that is variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares an open border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. At the 2021 census, its population was 1,903,175, making up around 3% of the UK's population and 27% of the population on the island of Ireland. The Northern Ireland Assembly, established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998, holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, while other areas are reserved for the UK Government. The government of Northern Ireland cooperates with the government of Ireland in several areas under the terms of the Belfast Agreement. The Republic of Ireland also has a consultative role on non-devolved governmental matters through the British–Irish Governmental Conference (BIIG).
Robert William Gary Moore was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career, he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal and jazz fusion.
Planxty were an Irish folk music band formed in January 1972, consisting initially of Christy Moore, Andy Irvine, Dónal Lunny, and Liam O'Flynn. They transformed and popularized Irish folk music, touring and recording to great acclaim.
In the music of Ireland, Irish rebel songs are folk songs which are primarily about the various rebellions against British Crown rule. Songs about prior rebellions are a popular topic of choice among musicians which supported Irish nationalism and republicanism.
Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is an Irish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his significant success as a solo artist, he is one of the founding members of the bands Planxty and Moving Hearts. His first album, Paddyon the Road was recorded with Dominic Behan in 1969. In 2007, he was named as Ireland's greatest living musician in RTÉ's People of the Year Awards.
Paul Joseph Brady is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician from Strabane, Northern Ireland. His work straddles folk and pop. He was interested in a wide variety of music from an early age.
Daniel Gerard Morrison is an Irish former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer, author and activist who played a crucial role in public events during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. An Irish republican, Morrison is also a former Sinn Féin publicity director and editor of Republican News and An Phoblacht. He is the secretary of the Bobby Sands Trust and current chairman of Féile an Phobail, the largest community arts festival in Ireland.
The Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, sometimes referred to as the Irish border or British–Irish border, runs for 499 km (310 mi) from Lough Foyle in the north-west of Ireland to Carlingford Lough in the north-east, separating the Republic of Ireland from Northern Ireland.
Self Aid was an unemployment benefit concert held in Dublin, Ireland on 17 May 1986. The concert performances were primarily by Irish musicians, although Elvis Costello and Chris Rea, both Englishmen of Irish descent, were designated "honorary Irishmen" for the day; the event was promoted by Jim Aiken. The concert included the last performance by The Boomtown Rats until they reformed in 2013.
"Belfast Brigade" is an Irish folk song to the tune of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic".
"I'll Tell Me Ma" is a traditional children's song. It was collected in various parts of the United Kingdom in the 19th century and again appears in collections from shortly after the turn of the 20th century. In Ireland, especially within Ulster, the chorus usually refers to Belfast city and is known colloquially as "The Belle of Belfast City", although it is also adapted to other Irish cities, such as Dublin. Other versions refer to the "Golden City" or "London City". This song is Roud Folk Song Index number 2649.
Tony McAuley was a Northern Irish broadcaster, producer and musician.
Between 1 March 1976 and 3 October 1981, Irish republican prisoners in HM Prison Maze carried out a variety of protests against the withdrawal of Special Category Status for prisoners convicted of proscribed "terrorism" offences. These protests culminated in the 1981 Irish hunger strike in which ten prisoners died.
H Block is an album recorded by various Irish folk artists, and produced by Christy Moore in 1978.
Jennifer Maidman is a British musician, singer, producer, songwriter, actress and author who has collaborated extensively with many internationally well known groups and artists. Her work appears on hundreds of recordings from 1976 onwards and she has received numerous awards, including a platinum award from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for the album 'Hormonally Yours', on which she worked as part of the band Shakespears Sister. She was a core member of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra from 1984 until 2007. She is best known as a bass guitarist but also sings and plays guitar, keyboards, drums, percussion, ukulele, cuatro and Chapman Stick. In June 2016, her website announced that she was working on a solo album in Woodstock, New York featuring amongst others, Jerry Marotta, Annie Whitehead, and David Torn. The album, entitled 'Dreamland' was released on 1 August 2017 and features Marotta, Torn and Whitehead, with guest contributions from Paul Brady and Robert Wyatt amongst others. Since 2017, she has also been collaborating frequently with New York-based arts cooperative The Secret City. In 2021, she reunited with Joan Armatrading for a live stream concert at the Asylum Chapel in London. In 2022, the concert was broadcast in the UK by the BBC and released as a double album on CD and streaming services.
"If They Come in the Morning" is the original title of the song better known as "No Time For Love". It was recorded by Moving Hearts for their debut album in 1981. It also has been recorded in 1986 by Christy Moore on his The Spirit of Freedom album. It was written by American singer/songwriter Jack Warshaw in 1976. The title was borrowed from the book of the same title by Angela Davis, rephrasing the closing line of James Baldwin's letter to her of November 19, 1970: "...if they take you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night". From its first line the song attacks unjust law in the forms of "apartheid, internment, conscription, partition and silence..." with references to places prominent in the news at the time: Boston, Chicago, Saigon, Santiago (Chile), Cape Town and Belfast. Warshaw had visited Belfast on a research project and knew fellow Belfast/Derry songwriters The People of No Property whose recording was to be the source of Moore's version. To Moore and Irish opposition to partition and, as they see it, British occupation of Northern Ireland, it was a freedom anthem. Moore varied the song's first line, slipping in "we call it" after "They call it the law..." so that its meaning is unmistakable. He also entered Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands into the fourth stanza after Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in place of "the Panthers," giving the song greater traction through Sands' martyrdom.
The Battle of Lenadoon was a series of gun battles fought over a six day period from 9–14 July 1972 between the Provisional IRA and the British Army. It started on Thursday, 9 July 1972 in and around the Lenadoon Avenue area and spread to other places in Belfast. Loyalist paramilitaries and the Official Irish Republican Army were involved in some of the incidents. 28 people in total were killed in Belfast according to the CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths. The violence ended a two-week truce between the forces of the British Government and the IRA.
The Troubles of the 1920s was a period of conflict in what is now Northern Ireland from June 1920 until June 1922, during and after the Irish War of Independence and the partition of Ireland. It was mainly a communal conflict between Protestant unionists, who wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom, and Catholic Irish nationalists, who backed Irish independence. During this period, more than 500 people were killed in Belfast alone, 500 interned and 23,000 people were made homeless in the city, while approximately 50,000 people fled the north of Ireland due to intimidation. Most of the victims were Nationalists (73%) with civilians being far more likely to be killed compared to the military, police or paramilitaries.