1972 ABC SPECIAL REPORT: “Give Ireland Back To The Irish“( McCartney & Wings)

In February 1972, Paul McCartney released a song with his new band Wings that caused a storm of controversy and was promptly banned as “unsuitable for broadcasting“. The song Give Ireland Back to the Irish was McCartney’s reaction to the events of Bloody Sunday just weeks before, in which 13 protesters were killed (a 14th person later died in hospital) by British soldiers in Northern Ireland. Many were surprised that McCartney had entered the debate. Until then the former Beatle had avoided overt political activism and was widely regarded as a congenial sheep farmer. Some dismissed it as a cynical attempt by McCartney to prop up a flagging post-Beatles career. What motivated McCartney? But Stuart Maconie, who discusses Give Ireland Back to the Irish on The People’s Songs on Radio 2, believes it was a natural response to events in Northern Ireland. “I think, like many people, he was simply horrified by Bloody Sunday,“ says Maconie. “And as a child of the huge Irish diaspora in the North West of England, he felt it even more keenly. “I don’t believe he was trying to ’outdo’ Lennon. I think he was utterly sincere and it was a very brave move.“McCartney’s former bandmate John Lennon, who had Irish heritage, had been increasingly politically active and appeared at a New York protest against the British Army’s presence in Northern Ireland. Eamonn McCann, a veteran journalist and political activist from Londonderry, believes that while McCartney probably had genuine reasons for writing this song, the ’Irish question’ was a convenient one for musicians to associate themselves with for publicity.