Man this truly means a great deal to me. My grandmother was a huge Clancy Brothers fan. She passed this onto my mother who in turn passed it onto me. The Liam Clancy version of this is one of my Ma’s all time favorites so when I perform it, I’m always trying to pay tribute to that. Thank you for the kind words.
"I've learned all me life it's old England to blame." In fairness, the lad's being a bit naive there, as most of the troops there back then were Scottish (and Northern Irish). Nice song though. ❤
I appreciate your insight. I think naivety is a central theme throughout this song. We have to remember our narrator is a barely 16 year old boy who’s about to give up his life not necessarily because he wants to, but because he feels he needs to. He may not understand all the inner workings of the political climate of the time (I didn’t at 16, still don’t now) but he’s going to fight anyway because he grew up believing it was his duty to do so.
