Origins: We'll Crown De Valera

Subject: Song: We'll Crown De Valera
From: weerover
Date: 11 Mar 21 - 01:15 PM

While searching for something else I came across this bit of a song:

"Up De Valera, the leader of the fight,
Well follow him to battle for the orange, green and white;
And when we meet the English, well show them how to fight,
And we'll crown De Valera King of Ireland."

I have visited many sites which feature Irish traditional/historical songs but have never seen any mention of this. The cadence and structure of this (fragment?) suggests to me "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". Anyone got any more?

Subject: RE: Song: We'll Crown De Valera
From: GUEST,#
Date: 11 Mar 21 - 01:36 PM

It's possible there is more at the following link, but I don't know for sure. It require a NYT 'membership'.

https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/30/archives/eamon-de-valera-92-dies-lifelong-fighter-for-irish-de-valera.html

NB that placing the apostrophes with the first two 'well's didn't change anything regarding the search. That's all that came up other than what I presume is weerover's source:

https://visitballyhoura.com/explore/de-valeras-cottage

Subject: RE: Song: We'll Crown De Valera
From: cnd
Date: 11 Mar 21 - 08:31 PM

The NYT article doesn't help much... I don't have a membership but I evidently haven't yet surpassed my monthly quota. Here's the relevant bit:

“Dev,” as his suporters called him at the height of his political powers, dominated Irish public life for 30 years. During general election rallies, supporters sang “We'll Crown de Valera King of Ireland.” The “anti-Devites” were equally strong, but less fanatical, in their support of such rivals as William T. Cosgrave.

Subject: RE: Song: We'll Crown De Valera
From: cnd
Date: 11 Mar 21 - 09:23 PM

The 1933 book The Life Story Of Eamon De Valera by Sean O Foalain (p. 10) seems to have a very similar sinppet, though it's slightly different:

Up De Valera, you're the champion of the right,
We'll follow you to battle 'neath the orange, green and white,
And when next we meet the Sassenach, we'll beat him.
Oh, we'll beat him in the fight--
And make De Valera King of Ireland!

Identical text can be found in The Courier-News of Plainfield, NJ on May 18th, 1937 p. 7

A similar excerpt from Comparative Criticism: Volume 19, Literary Devolution: Writing in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England by E. S. Shaffer quotes from the play "At the Black Pig's Dyke" by Vincent Woods, which has the following similar (but again slightly different) lines. Note that, given the setting, it's very possible they're not "authentic" lines.

Up de Valera, you're the champion of the fight,
We'll follow you to battle 'neath the orange, green and white,
And when next we meet the Sassenach, we'll beat him.
Oh, we'll tackle Eoin O'Duffy and we'll roll him in the shite
And we'll crown de Valera King of Ireland!

An additional version can be found in Iris Murdoch: A Life by Peter Conradi:

Here's to De Valera,
The hero of the right,
We'll follow him to battle,
With orange green and white.
We'll fight against old England
And we'll give her hell's delight.
And we'll make De Valera King of Ireland.

Versions highly similar to a combination of a several of these but with nothing new to offer can be found in Eamon de Valera by M. J. Macmanus and IRA Jailbreaks 1918-1921 by Florence O'Donoghue.

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Though the Battle Hymn does work as a base for the lyrical theme,
when I first read it I thought it scanned well to Yellow Rose of Texas. It's a much more peppy tune which seems to fit with the energy the song was often described with.

Subject: RE: Origins: We'll Crown De Valera
From: weerover
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 05:08 AM

There is a good deal more of the song. I found this - http://museum.limerick.ie/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/39055, but the resolution of the image doesn't allow me to decipher much of the wording.

Subject: RE: Origins: We'll Crown De Valera
From: GUEST,#
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 10:34 AM

Interesting that the line, "And when we meet the English, well show them how to fight" appears only in two places with a Google search: 1) the site posted by weerover and 2) here on Mudcat.

Subject: RE: Origins: We'll Crown De Valera
From: cnd
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 10:49 AM

I would suggest you contact the museum and ask for a better quality scan of the piece

Subject: RE: Origins: We'll Crown De Valera
From: weerover
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 01:58 PM

Where's Jim Carroll when you need him?