The chorus of one of the most famous (and co, Dropkick Murphys, vered) Irish songs, with versions from the likes of The Dubliners Michael Jackson and many others.
The song tells the story of a young Irish man deported to Australia after stealing the corn belonging to Charles Edward Trevelyan, a senior English civil servant during the British occupation of Ireland and the devastating potato famine of the mid 19th century, a desolate period of starvation and disease that caused over a million deaths and the mass emigration of a million more Irish men, women and children.
It was this mass emigration that sent Irish people all over the world, but particularly across the Atlantic to Canada and the USA, as well as across the Irish Sea to the United Kingdom.
Particular areas of settlement were the east coast of the US and western Scotland, notably Glasgow, and it was here where the Irish culture and identity bled into the new environment over a number of decades, with the establishment of a diaspora that integrated itself into its new homelands whilst also guarding a strong sense of identity and patriotism towards the old country.
Here, in this environment, the foundations were laid for two world famous sports teams, Boston Celtics basketball team and football team Celtic FC. Over the years, they have come to embody cultural Irishness as beacons for those who descended from those fleeing oppression and who felt a sense of longing for the country of their ancestors, as well as for more recent generations of Irish people who identify with the struggle for independence that lasted throughout much of the 20th century.
