"" (), or in English, "The Soldier's Song", is the national anthem of Ireland. The music was composed by Peadar Kearney and Patrick Heeney, the original English lyrics written by Kearney, and the Irish-language translation, now usually the version heard, by Liam Ó Rinn. The song has three verses, but only the choral refrain is used as the national anthem.
The Presidential Salute, played when the President of Ireland arrives at an official engagement, consists of the first four bars of the national anthem immediately followed by the last five.
History Origins The song was originally written in English as "A Soldier's Song". It was composed "early in 1910 or late in 1909", with words by Peadar Kearney, and music by his childhood friend and neighbour Patrick Heeney, who had collaborated on songs since 1903.de Burca 1957 pp.50–51 Kearney assisted Heeney in setting the refrain.de Burca 1957 pp.52–53 Heeney composed it with his melodeon.One Productions 2015 at 8m40s Seán Rogan, later of the Irish Citizen Army, may also have helped with the music, and first wrote it in musical notation. Kearney wrote much of the text in the Swiss Café at the corner of O'Connell Street and North Earl Street. The first draft of the text, handwritten on copybook paper, sold at auction in Dublin in 2006 for €760,000.; After being rejected by The United Irishman, Bulmer Hobson's magazine Irish Freedom published the text in 1912.de Burca 1957 p.53 Whelan and Son of Ormond Quay, Dublin, published the lyrics for sale as a flysheet. It was used as a marching song by the Irish Volunteers and Seamus Hughes first sang it in public at a Volunteer fundraising concert.de Burca 1957 p.54 It was sung by rebels in the General Post Office (GPO) during the Easter Rising of 1916. Its popularity increased among rebels held in Frongoch internment camp after the Rising.
The sheet music was first published in late 1916 by Whelan and Son, in an arrangement by Cathal Mac Dubhghaill (Cecil Grange MacDowell). In December 1916 in New York City, Victor Herbert published his own piano and orchestral arrangements under the title "Soldiers of Erin, the Rallying Song of the Irish Volunteers", on the instigation of R. F. O'Reilly, an Irish priest. O'Reilly arranged for proceeds to go to the Gaelic League, but paid royalties to Kearney and Heeney once he discovered they were the authors. With later cheques from the US, Kearney earned "not much more than £100".de Burca 1957 pp.55–56 The song's first commercial recording was made in New York City in early 1917 by George Potter and commissioned by Ellen Byrne De Witt, a prominent Irish-American businesswoman. Margaret Skinnider, in her 1917 memoir of the rising, called it the "Volunteer Marching Song" and (incorrectly) said "I have been told the men in the rising of '67 also sang it."
By 1917, according to Séumas Robinson, the song was being parodied by British soldiers in Ireland. Éamon de Valera's platform at the June 1917 East Clare by-election featured a large banner with the opening two lines.; photograph is Editorial #3247099 from Getty Images That October the Irish Volunteers allied with Sinn Féin under de Valera and during the Irish War of Independence (1919–21) the Volunteers evolved into the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The song's popularity led to its being called the "Sinn Féin anthem". Copies were confiscated by British security forces as seditious. Carl Hardebeck played it unannounced on Low Sunday 1918 in St Peter's Cathedral, Belfast. Victor Herbert's version was well known to Irish Americans by 1919, when de Valera arrived as President of Dáil Éireann of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic. In the 1922–23 Civil War, the IRA split into the "National Army" of the nascent Irish Free State and the "Irregulars" loyal to the defunct Republic. Both sides continued to sing "The Soldier's Song". After the war, it remained popular as an Army tune, and was played at many military functions.
Official adoption
The Free State did not initially adopt any official state anthem. The delicate political state in the aftermath of the Civil War provoked a desire to avoid controversy. Ex-unionists continued to regard "God Save the King" as the national anthem, as it had been for the rest of the British Empire. For nationalists, the fact that "The Soldier's Song" described Irishmen fighting a foreign foe allowed it to overlook the painful memory of the Civil War. W. T. Cosgrave, 1922–32 President of the Executive Council, avoided explicitly making it the national anthem for fear of exacerbating the antipathy for the Free State held by unionists in Northern Ireland.Mullaney-Dignam 2008 p.417 On the other hand, the government did not want to disassociate the state from the anthem for fear of leaving a potent symbol available for its republican opponents to claim.Morris 1998 pp.76, 83 The same equivocation hung around the status of the Irish tricolour.
"The Soldier's Song" was widely, if unofficially, sung by nationalists. Public perception that it was officially recognised sprang from a concert on 3 February 1924 at the Theatre Royal, Dublin by the Army Music School under its German-born director, Colonel Fritz Brase. As an encore to the concert, Brasé conducted "Irish March, no.1", his medley of Irish patriotic airs, which ended with that of "The Soldier's Song". Most dignitaries present stood up at this point, including Governor-General Tim Healy, Cosgrave and most of the Executive Council, although Richard Mulcahy remained seated.Mullaney-Dignam 2008 p.32 On 28 April 1924, Cosgrave expressed opposition to replacing "The Soldier's Song", which was provisionally used within the State. Sean Lester, publicist at the Department of External Affairs considered "The Soldier's Song" to be "hardly suitable in words or music" and favoured the music, though not the words, of "Let Erin Remember". This was used as the anthem for the state at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, and other events abroad for the next two years. The Dublin Evening Mail held contests in 1924 and 1925 to find verses for a new anthem; the first produced no sufficiently good entry, and the second's winning entry was soon forgotten.
There was concern that the lack of an official anthem was giving unionists an opportunity to persist with "God Save the King". Ewan Morris writes, "While some, perhaps many, nationalists undoubtedly disliked 'The soldier's song', few would have objected so strongly as to refuse to honour it as the national anthem. But for ex-unionists 'The soldier's song' remained anathema, and 'God save the king' continued to be the national anthem they honoured."Morris 1998 p.77 By 1926 foreign diplomats' protocol offices were requesting copies of the anthem's score. On 12 July 1926, the Executive Council decided to adopt it as the National Anthem, with Cosgrave the driving force in the decision. He wrote to Lester, "there must be uniformity in regard to the national anthem and that for the present the 'Soldier's song' is to be used for this purpose both at home and abroad".Mullaney-Dignam 2008 p.33 The decision was not publicised.Mullaney-Dignam 2008 p.35 On 20 July 1926, Osmond Esmonde asked President Cosgrave what the National Anthem was, but the Ceann Comhairle Michael Hayes ruled 'If the Deputy desires to investigate any problem in regard to the National Anthem, he cannot ask a question of the President. The President cannot be asked to define what is the National Anthem. It is not part of his functions.' Esmonde instead asked Minister for Defence Peter Hughes what 'as far as the Army is concerned' was the National Anthem. The draft response provided for Hughes stated that 'while no final decision has been come to', "The Soldier's Song" was 'at present accepted as the National Anthem',Morris 1998 p.76Mullaney-Dignam 2008 p.34 However, this wording was vetoed by Cosgrave, and in the Dáil chamber Hughes responded simply 'The "Soldier's Song.
In 1928, the Army band established the practice of playing only the chorus of the song as the Anthem, because the longer version was discouraging audiences from singing along. Also in 1928, Chief Justice Hugh Kennedy, returning from an official trip to North America, reported that an official arrangement of the music was "very badly needed" for circulation abroad. This was produced in July 1929 by Fritz Brase. This consisted only of the chorus, and was published under the title "The Soldier's Song" rather than "A Soldier's Song", although variants such as the "Soldiers' Song" continued to occur in later official documentation.Mullaney-Dignam 2008 p.31 fn.83
Copyright The national anthem was played at closedown by Radio Éireann from its inception in 1926. The Catholic Truth Society of Ireland included it in a 1929 publication commemorating the centenary of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829. Cinemas and theatres played the anthem when closing from 1932 until 1972.Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. – Playing of National Anthem. Dáil Éireann – Volume 258 – 27 January 1972 Peadar Kearney, who had received royalties from sheet music publishers, issued legal proceedings for royalties from those now performing the anthem. He was joined by Michael Heeney, brother of Patrick Heeney, who had died in 1911. In 1934, the Department of Finance acquired the copyright of the song for the sum of £1,200 (£980 to the copyright holders plus £220 expenses).Written Answers. – National Anthem. Dáil Éireann – Volume 609 – 8 November 2005 Copyright law changed in the 1950s, such that the government had to reacquire copyright in 1965, for £2,500.Committee on Finance. – Vote 18—Miscellaneous Expenses. Dáil Éireann – Volume 214 – 2 March 1965 Ruth Sherry states that it is unclear whether the official anthem is the music alone or the text also; however, the official 1934 Estimate of the amount required ... for the acquisition by the state of copyright in the national anthem includes the line item, 'Payment to the holders of copyright in the words and music of the "Soldier's Song"' [emphasis added]. While the state held the copyright, most requests for publication were accepted, "although several of a purely commercial nature, such as its use in advertisements, were refused". As per EU copyright law, the English lyrics' copyright expired on 1 January 2013, following the 70th anniversary of Kearney's death. In 2016, three Fianna Fáil senators introduced a private member's bill intended to restore the state's copyright in the anthem. The ending of copyright also encourage the Seanad to announce a public consultation on the anthem.
Official salute Governor-General The Governor-General of the Irish Free State was the King's representative and, as such, unionists considered that the appropriate official salute to play was "God Save The King" rather than the Free State Anthem. At James McNeill's 1928 inauguration, the Army band played "The Soldier's Song", but that summer, at two events with unionist organisers, he was greeted by "God Save The King".Morris 1998 pp.78–79 The Executive Council advised him that in future the Free State anthem must be played.Morris 1998 p.79 McNeill declined a June 1929 invitation to the Trinity College sports when the college insisted that the British anthem was its tradition.Morris 1998 pp.79–80 Unionists and people in Great Britain took this as a snub, while for republican commentators it encapsulated the Free State's attempts to suppress the truth about its subservience to Britain.Morris 1998 pp.85–86 A compromise adopted in 1931 was that "The Soldier's Song" would mark the Governor General's arrival and he would leave before the end of the sports, when "God Save The King" would be played.Morris 1998 p.89 Following the 1932 general election, Éamon de Valera became President of the Executive Council; as part of his campaign to abolish the office of Governor-General, he forbade the Army band from playing "The Soldier's Song" in McNeill's presence.
President