The Fields of Athenry
Encyclopedia
"The Fields of Athenry" is an Irish folk ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

 set during the Great Irish Famine (1845-1850) about a fictional man named Michael from near Athenry
Athenry
Athenry is a town in County Galway, Ireland. It lies east of Galway city, and one of the attractions of the town is its medieval castle. The town is also well-known by virtue of the song "The Fields of Athenry".-History:...

 in County Galway
County Galway
County Galway is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the city of Galway. Galway County Council is the local authority for the county. There are several strongly Irish-speaking areas in the west of the county...

 who has been sentenced to transportation
Convictism in Australia
During the late 18th and 19th centuries, large numbers of convicts were transported to the various Australian penal colonies by the British government. One of the primary reasons for the British settlement of Australia was the establishment of a penal colony to alleviate pressure on their...

 to Botany Bay
Botany Bay
Botany Bay is a bay in Sydney, New South Wales, a few kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. The Cooks River and the Georges River are the two major tributaries that flow into the bay...

, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, for stealing food for his starving family. It is a widely known and popular anthem for Irish sports supporters.

History

"The Fields of Athenry" was written in the 1970s by Pete St. John
Pete St. John
Pete St. John is an Irish folk singer-songwriter, most notable for composing Fields of Athenry.St. John is a prolific composer of widely sung modern ballads; his other most famous song is "The Rare Ould Times"...

. A claim was made in 1996 that a broadsheet ballad published in the 1880s had similar words; however, the folklorist and researcher John Moulden found no basis to this claim, and Pete St. John has stated definitively that he wrote the words as well as the music.

The song was first recorded in 1979 by Danny Doyle
Danny Doyle
Danny Doyle is a solo Irish folk singer.- Background :Reportedly, the songs on which Doyle was raised came from his mother and great-grandmother and from the last of Dublin's street singers and from some of Dublin's contemporary writers, such as poet Patrick Kavanagh and playwright Brendan Behan,...

, reaching the top ten in the Irish Singles Chart
Irish Singles Chart
The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...

. The song charted again in 1982 for Barleycorn, reaching number seven in Ireland, but the most successful version was released by Paddy Reilly
Paddy Reilly
Patrick 'Paddy' Reilly is an Irish folk singer and guitarist. He is one of Ireland's most famous balladeers and is best known for his renditions of "The Fields of Athenry" and "The Town I Loved So Well"....

 in 1983: while peaking only at number four, it remained in the Irish charts for 72 weeks. Two further versions have since reached the Irish top ten: the Cox Crew getting to number five in 1999, while Dance to Tipperary peaked at number six in 2001.

The lyrics say the convict's crime is that he "stole Trevelyan's corn"; this is a reference to Charles Edward Trevelyan, a senior British civil servant in the administration of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was the British King's representative and head of the Irish executive during the Lordship of Ireland , the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

 in Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, was until 1922 the fortified seat of British rule in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland...

. Trevelyan believed that the starving Irish could subsist on maize, a grain that they had no knowledge of or experience in preparing.

Recordings

Other artists to have recorded versions include The Chancers, Portland, Frank Patterson
Frank Patterson
Frank Patterson was an internationally renowned Irish tenor following in the tradition of singers such as Count John McCormack and Josef Locke. He was known as "Ireland's Golden Tenor".- Early life :...

, Ronan Tynan
Ronan Tynan
Ronan Tynan is a singer in the classical Irish style. He is most famous for his renditions of "God Bless America" at Yankee Stadium during important New York Yankees games, such as Opening Day, nationally-televised games, the last game at the old Yankee Stadium, and playoff games...

, Brush Shiels
Brush Shiels
Brendan "Brush" Shiels is an Irish musician from County Dublin, best known for being the frontman of Gary Moore's first band, Skid Row. Brush Shiels had a TV show on RTÉ called Off yer Brush and was at one point managed by Louis Walsh...

, James Galway
James Galway
- External links : IMGArtists.com 15 September 2008. AllAboutJazz.com 5 August 2008.*...

, The Dubliners
The Dubliners
The Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...

, Charlie Haden
Charlie Haden
Charles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...

 with daughter Petra Haden
Petra Haden
Petra Haden is an American violinist and singer. She is or has been a member of several bands, including That Dog, Tito & Tarantula, and The Decemberists; has contributed to recordings by The Twilight Singers, Beck, Mike Watt, Luscious Jackson, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Queens of the Stone Age,...

, Seanchai & The Unity Squad, Scottish band North Sea Gas, Newcastle upon Tyne band, Kelda with vocalist Jack Routledge, Yonkers-based group Shilelagh Law, California punk band No Use for a Name
No Use for a Name
No Use for a Name is a punk rock band from San Jose, California, United States formed in 1987 by Chris Dodge , Steve Papoutsis , Rory Koff and John Meyers...

, New Zealanders Hollie Smith
Hollie Smith
Hollie Smith is a New Zealand soul singer-songwriter. Her debut album Long Player reached number one on the RIANZ albums chart in 2007, and certified double platinum.-Early years:...

 and Steve McDonald, The Dropkick Murphys, The Durutti Column
The Durutti Column
The Durutti Column are an English post-punk band formed in 1978 in Manchester, England. The band is an ongoing project of guitarist Vini Reilly who is often accompanied by drummer Bruce Mitchell. Other current members are Keir Stewart and Reilly's girlfriend Poppy Morgan...

, by the Canadian group The Tartan Terrors, The High Kings
The High Kings
The High Kings are an Irish ballad group. They were formed on Carick on Suir by Fibarr Clancy and Martin Furey.Brian Dunphy , and Broadway/pop/country singer Darren Holden were later recruited having wowed the world with their own solo careers on broadway in musical reviews, such as Riverdance...

, and by Dr. Kieran Moriarty
Kieran Moriarty
Dr Kieran John Moriarty, CBE, MA , FRCP, FRCPI is a British physician. He attended St. Ambrose College, Altrincham and studied medicine at Trinity College, Cambridge and the London Hospital....

 and friends. Serbian bands
Music of Serbia
Serbs and Serbia has a variety of traditional music, which is part of the wider Balkan tradition, with its own distinctive sound and characteristics.-History:...

 who recorded the song include Orthodox Celts
Orthodox Celts
Orthodox Celts is a Serbian band which plays Irish folk music combined with rock elements. Despite their unusual sound the band is one of the top acts of the Serbian rock scene and has influenced several younger bands, most notably Tir na n'Og and Irish Stew of Sindidun.The band started their...

 and Tir na n'Og
Tir na n'Og
Alfapop is is a Serbian power pop band from Belgrade.The band was formed in 2000 under the name Tir na n'Og . Initially, the band performed Irish folk and Celtic rock, and released one Celtic rock-oriented album...

. It was also recorded by a Polish band called Carrantuohill and in 2005 by a Hungarian folk-rock band Sacra Arcana. US Celtic/Klezmer/folk band Scythian
Scythian (band)
Scythian is a Celtic/Celtic rock band based in the DC Metro Area that formed in 2002 and went full-time in 2004. Their latest studio album, "American Shanty," is the band's fourth album...

 recorded the song on their 2007 Immigrant Road Show album. It also featured in Irish Clubland with a dance beat.

A reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 version of this song was recorded by the Century Steel Band
Century Steel Band
Century Steel Band was a Reggae-band. Its members may have gone separate ways, but they are still making their own music.The band was formed in 1982 in Ireland. Charley Anderson, was asked by Pete St. John to record a version after hearing it...

 in the early 1990s.

Dropkick Murphys
Dropkick Murphys
Dropkick Murphys are an Irish-American punk rock band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. The band was initially signed to independent punk record label Hellcat Records, releasing five albums for the label, and making a name for themselves locally through constant playing and yearly St....

 recorded a punk-rock version of this song on their 2003 album Blackout
Blackout (Dropkick Murphys album)
Blackout is the fourth studio album from Dropkick Murphys, released in 2003. It was released with a DVD, which contained live videos for "Rocky Road to Dublin" and "Boys on the Dock", a music video for "Gonna Be a Blackout Tonight", and a trailer for their then upcoming untitled full-length DVD,...

, as well as a softer version they recorded specially for the family of Sergeant Andrew Farrar, a United States Marine from the 2nd Force Support Service Group killed in Fallujah
Fallujah
Fallujah is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly west of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important Jewish academies for many centuries....

, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

. Blaggards
Blaggards
Blaggards are a four-piece Celtic rock band from Houston, Texas. The Houston Press described them as "Houston's only Celtic metal band" and "H-town's heir to the emerald throne of Phil Lynott and Shane MacGowan".- History :...

 blended the song with Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

's Folsom Prison Blues
Folsom Prison Blues
"Folsom Prison Blues" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Johnny Cash. The song combines elements from two popular folk genres, the train song and the prison song, both of which Cash would continue to use for the rest of his career...

 in a medley called Prison Love Songs. Second-generation Irish London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

ers, Neck
Neck (Band)
Neck is a six-piece Celtic punk band from the North London neighbourhood of 'County Holloway' . Led by Leeson O'Keeffe, a former member of Shane MacGowan and the Popes, the band blends traditional Irish music with punk rock...

, also recorded a "psycho-ceilidh
Céilidh
In modern usage, a céilidh or ceilidh is a traditional Gaelic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic folk music and dancing. It originated in Ireland, but is now common throughout the Irish and Scottish diasporas...

" version of the song. Other punk versions of the song have been recorded by the bands No Use for a Name
No Use for a Name
No Use for a Name is a punk rock band from San Jose, California, United States formed in 1987 by Chris Dodge , Steve Papoutsis , Rory Koff and John Meyers...

, The Tossers
The Tossers
The Tossers are a six-piece Celtic punk band from Chicago, Illinois. They formed in July 1993. They have toured with Murphy's Law, Streetlight Manifesto, Catch 22, Dropkick Murphys, The Reverend Horton Heat, Flogging Molly, Street Dogs, Clutch, Sick of it All & Mastodon. They opened for The Pogues...

, and the Broken O'Briens. The Greenland Whalefishers
Greenland Whalefishers
Greenland Whalefishers is a Norwegian folk punk band established in 1994, playing music influenced by celtic traditional music combined with British punk...

, a Celtic-punk band from Norway, also recorded a version on their Streets Of Salvation CD.

The song was also recorded by Canadian celtic rock band the Mudmen
Mudmen
Mudmen are a Canadian rock band that formed in Toronto, Ontario in 2000. Initially comprising vocalist Zoy Nicoles, guitarist Lonny Knapp, bassist Tommy Skilton, drummer Ryan McCaffrey and bagpipe-playing brothers Robby and Sandy Campbell...

 on their album "Another Day" released in 2010. The Mudmen
Mudmen
Mudmen are a Canadian rock band that formed in Toronto, Ontario in 2000. Initially comprising vocalist Zoy Nicoles, guitarist Lonny Knapp, bassist Tommy Skilton, drummer Ryan McCaffrey and bagpipe-playing brothers Robby and Sandy Campbell...

 feature bagpipers Rob and Sandy Campbell who perform on the Hockey Night In Canada theme song on CBC television.

One notable recent recording is on Charlie Haden
Charlie Haden
Charles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...

's Rambling Boy (Decca, 2008). It's sung by Charlie's daughter Petra Haden
Petra Haden
Petra Haden is an American violinist and singer. She is or has been a member of several bands, including That Dog, Tito & Tarantula, and The Decemberists; has contributed to recordings by The Twilight Singers, Beck, Mike Watt, Luscious Jackson, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Queens of the Stone Age,...

, with instrumental breaks from Bruce Hornsby
Bruce Hornsby
Bruce Randall Hornsby is an American singer, pianist, accordion player, and songwriter. Known for the spontaneity and creativity of his live performances, Hornsby draws frequently from classical, jazz, bluegrass, folk, Motown, rock, blues, and jam band musical traditions with his songwriting and...

 (piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

), Jerry Douglas
Jerry Douglas
Jerry Douglas may refer to:*Jerry Douglas , actor, who was on The Young and the Restless for 25 years*Jerry Douglas, country/bluegrass musician*Jerry Douglas , director and writer of adult films such as, Score...

 (dobro
Dobro
Dobro is a registered trademark, now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...

) and Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...

 (guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

), who also wrote the arrangement in contemporary harmonies.

Sporting anthem

The song was adopted by Republic of Ireland national football team
Republic of Ireland national football team
The Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in association football. It is run by the Football Association of Ireland and currently plays home fixtures at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, which opened in May 2010....

 supporters during the 1990 World Cup
1990 FIFA World Cup
The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice. Teams representing 116 national football associations from all six populated...

 and subsequently by Celtic
Celtic F.C.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...

 supporters in the early 1990s. The song is also associated with the Connacht
Connacht Rugby
Connacht Rugby is an Irish professional rugby union team based in Connacht that competes in the RaboDirect Pro12 comprising teams from the Celtic nations plus Italy. Normally, it also competes in the second-tier pan-European club competition, the European Challenge Cup...

, Munster
Munster Rugby
Munster Rugby is an Irish professional rugby union team based in Munster, that competes in the RaboDirect Pro12 and Heineken Cup.The team represents the Irish Rugby Football Union Munster Branch which is one of four primary branches of the IRFU, and is responsible for rugby union in the Irish...

, London Irish
London Irish
London Irish RFC is an English rugby union club based in Sunbury, Surrey, where the senior squad train, the youth teams and senior academy play home games, and the club maintain their administrative offices. The senior squad play home games at the Madejski Stadium in Reading and compete in the top...

 and Ireland
Ireland national rugby union team
The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...

 rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 teams.

"The Fields of Anfield Road
The Fields of Anfield Road
The Fields of Anfield Road is a football song sung by supporters of Liverpool Football Club. It proceeds to the tune of The Fields of Athenry; composed by singer-songwriter Pete St. John in 1979...

" is sung by Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...

 supporters to the same tune, but with suitably adapted lyrics referencing their history and stadium
Anfield
Anfield is an association football stadium in the district of Anfield, Liverpool, England, with a seating capacity of 45,522. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 and was originally the home of Everton F.C. from 1884 to 1892, before they moved to Goodison Park...

.

At the Beijing Olympics Boxing Final
Boxing at the 2008 Summer Olympics
The boxing program of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China was held at the Workers Indoor Arena.Medals were awarded in eleven events, with each event corresponding to a recognized weight division of male boxers...

 featuring Irish boxer Kenny Egan, Tom Humphries
Tom Humphries
Tom Humphries is a sportswriter and columnist who writes for The Irish Times. He lives in Dublin with Mary and his two children, Molly and Caitlín....

 of the Irish Times noted, "By the time Egan and Zhang emerged the great rhythmic roars of "Zhang! Zhang! Zhang!" competed to drown out the lusty warblings of a large Irish contingent who returned to singing of the problems of social isolation in rural Athenry.

In film

The song is sung in the movie Veronica Guerin
Veronica Guerin (film)
Veronica Guerin is a 2003 Irish biographical film directed by Joel Schumacher. The screenplay by Carol Doyle and Mary Agnes Donoghue focuses on Irish journalist Veronica Guerin, whose investigation into the drug trade in Dublin led to her murder in 1996....

, by Brian O'Donnell, then aged 11, a street singer in Dublin. It is also sung a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...

 by a female character at a wake in the 1994 film Priest. It also appears in Dead Poets Society
Dead Poets Society
Dead Poets Society is a 1989 American drama film directed by Peter Weir and starring Robin Williams. Set at the conservative and aristocratic Welton Academy in Vermont in 1959, it tells the story of an English teacher who inspires his students through his teaching of poetry.The script was written...

, an anachronism, as the film is set in 1959, before the song was written, and 16 Years of Alcohol
16 Years of Alcohol
16 Years of Alcohol is a 2003 drama film written and directed by Richard Jobson, based on his 1987 novel. The film is Jobson's first directorial effort, following a career as a television presenter on BSkyB and VH-1, and as the vocalist for the 1970s punk rock band The Skids. The cover of the DVD...

. An a cappella version of the first verse and chorus can be found during a singing contest judged by Janeane Garofalo
Janeane Garofalo
Janeane Garofalo is an American stand-up comedian, actress, political activist and writer. She is the former co-host on the now defunct Air America Radio's The Majority Report. Garofalo continues to circulate regularly within New York City's local comedy and performance art scene.-Early...

 in the film ' 'The Matchmaker
The MatchMaker (1997 film)
The MatchMaker is a 1997 film comedy film set in Ireland.-Plot:Marcy Tizzard is assistant to Senator John McGlory from Boston, Massachusetts...

.

See also

  • List of Irish ballads
  • Irish rebel music
    Irish rebel music
    Irish rebel music is a subgenre of Irish folk music, with much the same instrumentation, but with lyrics predominantly concerned with Irish republicanism.-History:...

  • Other rugby anthems:
    • Flower of Scotland
      Flower of Scotland
      Flower of Scotland is a Scottish song, used frequently at special occasions and sporting events. Although there is no official national anthem of Scotland, Flower of Scotland is one of a number of songs which unofficially fulfil this role, along with the older Scots Wha Hae, Scotland the Brave...

    • Ireland's Call
      Ireland's Call
      Ireland's Call is a song commissioned by the Irish Rugby Football Union for use at international Rugby Union fixtures.It has since also been adopted by the Irish Hockey, Cricket, Rugby League and A1GP teams.- Overview :...

    • Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
      Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
      "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" is a historic African-American spiritual. The first recording was in 1909, by the Fisk Jubilee Singers of Fisk University....

      (sung by England fans)
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