Origins: They Wounded Old Ireland

Subject: RE: Origins: They Wounded Old Ireland
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 22 Aug 11 - 06:35 PM

I don't know if the song is intended to be anything but a well written song. Is it revisionist history? How so?

D

BYW: All history is open to revision on a minute by minute basis. Someone opens a trunk and finds an old letter and more facts come to light. Events don't change but cause and effect does. Just today I read that the Great Depression would probably have been several years shorter in the US had FDR not meddled in the economy.

Subject: RE: Origins: They Wounded Old Ireland
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 22 Aug 11 - 10:23 AM

But Ian, it says on right on the album notes that it's Andy's prayer for peace. Don't you believe it?

Well, I don't either.

Subject: RE: Origins: They Wounded Old Ireland
From: Musket
Date: 22 Aug 11 - 03:41 AM

The question appears to be;

Who can throw the most jingoism into revision of history?

Subject: RE: Origins: They Wounded Old Ireland
From: GUEST,999
Date: 22 Aug 11 - 02:25 AM

Great. We got two guests (now three).

What is the question?

Subject: RE: Origins: They Wounded Old Ireland
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Aug 11 - 01:05 AM

I don't for a moment believe that the message above was written by Andy M. Stewart. It is quite different from the cordial tone of the correspondence I had with his agent this last week.
I don't know how the Digital Tradition came to attribute the song to Mark Westphal, but I guess a resource is only as accurate as its sources. Here is the text of an e-mail I received from Mark Westphal:

Joe,

I did not write "They Wounded Old Ireland"

I did write:
Pick Up Your Rifle
My Father Once Said to Me
NINA

Best Regards,

Mark Westphal

Subject: RE: Origins: They Wounded Old Ireland
From: Noreen
Date: 21 Aug 11 - 06:29 PM

Is Mark Westphal the MW who submitted these words to the Digital Tradition?

How odd...

Subject: RE: Origins: They Wounded Old Ireland
From: GUEST,Andy M Stewart
Date: 21 Aug 11 - 03:39 PM

I am the writer of both words and music of "They Wounded Old Ireland"
published by Strathmore Music and Film Services , Worldwide. Registered by MCPS in the UK and Harry Fox Agency in the US. The album it first appeared on was by me and entitled "By the Hush", it won folk album of the year in 1983 and a separate award ,presented by the ex Prime Minister of Britain James Callaghan and given to me personally in London. The talentless and arrogant ass Mark Westphal has claimed the copyright. I want an an immediate apology, and dissolution of this false claim or I will sue him and all others associated with this fraud.
Sincerely
Andy M Stewart.

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Note from Joe Offer: I highly doubt that the author of this post is actually Andy M. Stewart, but I have no way to ascertain the identity of this poster.

Subject: Origins: They Wounded Old Ireland
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Aug 11 - 08:17 PM

I received an e-mail from somebody who alleges that Andy M. Stewart wrote "They Wounded Old Ireland."
I know that Andy's songbook, The Andy M. Stewart Collection, has the song - but some of the songs in the book were not written by Stewart. Does anyone know the songwriter's name for certain, and can you correct the Digital Tradition lyrics that are posted below?
In the album notes for Stewart's By the Hush album, it says that words and music were written by Andy M. Stewart

• They Wounded Old Ireland
  

  (Words and Music: Andy M. Stewart)
  

  This song deals with two recent periods in Irish history - some of the events leading up to the formation of the Irish Republic, and the present-day situation in Ulster. The cause of the "troubles" is well-enough documented in history books, the song, however, is simply Andy's prayer for Peace and maybe one day happiness for the peoples of the North, and an end to the violence that has claimed so many innocents.
  

Any idea why it was attributed to Mark Westphal in the Digital Tradition?
Thanks.
-Joe-

THEY WOUNDED OLD IRELAND
(Mark Westphal) (Andy M. Stewart)

Come gather 'round you freeborn men
And draw your chairs to mine.
And I'll tell you of my country,
That you might understand.
And of the English armies,
That marched in for to stay.
Oh that night they wounded Old Ireland,
And she's bleeding to this day.

Their dogs of war were loosed to run
And hunt the rebels down
They hoped to rule this land by fear
And hold it for the Crown
But a mighty thought was born in Men
When they killed James Connely
Oh that night they wounded Old Ireland
And she's bleeding to this day.

The Border lies like an open wound
That only love can heal
For bitterness and cruelty
They will never close the weal
The mean of vision built a dream
Which the blind men stole away
Ah that night they wounded old Ireland
And she's bleeding to this day.

My heart it holds a vision clear
That thousands more can see
Of Ireland free from hatred
And death and bigotry
Where Irishman to Irishman
Can in friends clasp a hand
If we banish fright from the Ulster night
Then we'll free Old Ireland.

Copyright Mark Westphal
@Irish @rebel
filename[ WOUNDIRE
MW
oct97

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You'll find a collection of Mark Westphal songs and poems on this page (click). Note that "They Wounded" isn't on the list.