Hi Joe,

Bobbie Hanvey attributes the song to Gusty Spence In an interview from 1995, but it's not clear if Spence claims it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziB316bUKBE&t=287s

Further, when I've spoken to singers and audiences in the loyalist song scene, some said they didn't think Spence wrote it.

I know Noel Large didn't write the song (I interviewed him about it earlier this year) and (like others) he isn't 100% sure who did.

The first recorded version I have heard is from 1982.

John is right in saying that the melody is the same as that used for the rebel song 'James Connolly', but both songs borrow the melody from the older Scottish folk song 'Dark Lochnagar'.

I'm currently carrying out research for a book project on loyalist songs and will update this post if I encounter new source material along the way.

Similarly, if anyone has any more leads on the song, I'd love to hear from them. My email address is: MillarS3@Cardiff.ac.uk

All the best,
Stephen