I believe this song was written in the late 60s early 70s and was inspired by the growing Civil Rights movement at that time. I think it was written by a guy called McConnell from somewhere around Enniskillen. I seem to remember it was recorded by Planxty on one of their earlier albums. Im sure Mr. McConnell, aka. "Chordstrangler" (see above posts), can enlighten you more about his song, though hes pretty guarded about what he actually says in the song, restricting himself to two themes: [1] A prevailing sense of a general lack of freedom abroad; [2] Bemoaning the lack of leaders who can help us in this situation, eg. "Where are you now when we need you? What burns where the flame used to be?". There are various interpretations of the song. Some see it as being a general comment on N.Ireland society at that time. Others see it as relating to the internal power struggles which were going on within the Civil Rights Movement. Yet others see it as being about both these issues.