Wolfgang ...

Do you have the address of the site you cut-and-pasted your remark from? Myself and another mudcatter have had some correspondence about this song. Its anti-Spanish sentiments are unusual given that the peninsular wars were effectively England's campaign and the Irish were generally well-disposed to England's opponents ... I speculated that if "Johnny" was pressed into the British Army - or if he joined voluntarily as a mercenary - then the "Bantry Girls" would not be overly interested in the politics, they'd just be pissed off with those, Spanish, English or otherwise, who'd be opposed to their object of desire ...