Interesting but I think there is one flaw in that statement from the newsgroup. Christy Moore did not write "Back Home In Derry" but it is true that it came out in the 80's. Bobby Sands wrote "Back Home In Derry" but I am not sure what year he wrote it. Bobby Sands wrote the lyrics and used Lightfoot's music. Finally, I found what I was looking for. Read below...
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Back Home In Derry
Music by Gordon Lightfoot and lyrics by B. Sands. First made popular by Christy Moore on his recording "Ride On" in 1984.
Notes from Kathleen: We first I heard this song in a little pub somewhere and the performer wrote the words down on a bar napkin. I remember that we gave him a couple of free pints to say thanks. Please read below background on this song and original words presented to us by James Precious.
Following is background on the song and original words by James Precious
I was just surfin' on through when I noticed you "never found the undisputed origin" of the marvelous "Back Home in Derry". Pens & paper at the ready, folks - here we go...
"Back Home in Derry" was written by Bobby Sands (who also used the pen name Marcella). Sands is an Irishman who is more famous (or one should say: notorious) for his involvement with the IRA & as a hunger striker than he is as a poet & songwriter.
As authority, may I cite the great Christy Moore? Christy includes this song in his repertoire and acknowledges Sands as the creator of the song. In his book "One Voice: My life in Song" Christy writes that he first came across the song when "I was staying in a house in Derry after an H-block concert and a young lad recently released sang this song..."
That this eloquent and poignant song of resistance and rebellion in Irish history was in fact created by a man involved with terrorism in the here-and-now adds a further level of meaning and a very unsettling edge to the ballad. It also made the song highly controversial & got it banned, but Christy goes on to note that "despite it being banned it has entered the national repertoire and has been recorded by a thousand ballad bands and will long outlive its detractors and severest critics."
I was struck by this extraordinary song when I first heard it (which is saying something as the album I heard it on (Christy Moore's "Ride On") is chockablock with fabulous songs). Glancing at the sleeve notes I saw that Christy himself hadn't written it, but that one "B. Sands" was the creator, but at the time, I didn't think much of this.
It took a while before I realised that B. Sands esq. - eloquent bard & poet - was the famous IRA man, & (like many people I suspect in the North or the mainland), my jaw hit the floor and I was quite shocked (though I knew Christy was famous for his pro-Republican sympathies). Christy himself said that he'd been lambasted by people for including a terrorist's song in his repertoire.
|t's also kind of surprising to discover that this great song has a modern provenance, rather than stemming from the period of Irish history it ostensibly depicts: the forced deportation of Irish rebels to Australia. The lyrics draws on history and tradition, yet was created in modern times. This, and also the creator's direct connection with terrorism/freedom fighting, does (I think) add another dimension to the song,. It makes the ballad and the sentiments of sorrow and fierce rebellion it expresses all the more vivid, immediate and controversial; even as I said - disturbing. It is however - at the end of the day - a beautiful piece of work & I'm sure both Bobby Sands & Christy Moore would be happy with the song spreading on napkins for a pint of the black stuff.
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With the above, I think that this issue can finally be laid to rest. "The Wreck" is a Lightfoot original and many others' have borrowed that haunting melody. A couple of months ago, I wrote a very long history about "Back Home In Derry" and even put in dates in which Bobby Sands was writing music, jail terms and even his hunger strike in prison that killed him. Although the dates I mentioned were chronologically correct, I could not find the date in which B. Sands wrote "Back Home In Derry" and therefore decided not to post all the info. With all that I read about this topic and the life of B. Sands, the only conclusion that I could logically come up with was that Lightfoot was the creator of "The Wreck", B. Sands heard it and wrote new lyrics for it. Sands life at the time would have put him smack dab into path of Lightfoot's music. I highly doubt that Sands could invent something as complex and original as the music of "The Wreck". Actually to be quite blunt, it would have been near impossible for Sands to come up with that.
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