Give Ireland Back To The Irish Lyrics

"Give Ireland Back To The Irish" is a Paul and Linda McCartney song written in response to the events of Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland on 30 January 1972. The song was released on 25 February 1972 as the debut single by McCartney's new band Wings. "From our point of view," said Paul McCartney, "it was the first time people questioned what we were doing in Ireland. It was so shocking. I wrote "Give Ireland Back To The Irish", we recorded it and I was promptly 'phoned by the Chairman of EMI, Sir Joseph Lockwood, explaining that they wouldn't release it. He thought it was too inflammatory. I told him that I felt strongly about it and they had to release it. He said, 'Well it'll be banned', and of course it was. I knew 'Give Ireland Back to the Irish' wasn't an easy route, but it just seemed to me to be the time. All of us in Wings felt the same about it. But Henry McCullough's brother who lived in Northern Ireland was beaten up because of it. The thugs found out that Henry was in Wings."