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A Nation Once Again

  • (Trad)
  • Chorus:
    A nation once again,
    A nation once again,
    And Ireland, long a province, be
    A Nation once again!

    When boyhood's fire was in my blood
    I read of ancient freemen,
    For Greece and Rome who bravely stood,
    Three hundred men and three men;
    And then I prayed I yet might see
    Our fetters rent in twain,
    And Ireland. long a province, be
    A Nation once again!

    Chorus ...

    And from that time, through wildest woe,
    That hope has shown a far light,
    Nor could love's brightest summer glow
    Outshine that solemn starlight;
    It seemed to watch above my head
    In forum, field and fame,
    Its angel voice sang round my bed,
    A Nation once again.

    Chorus ...

    It whisper'd too, that freedom's ark,
    And service high and holy,
    Would be profaned by feeling dark
    And passions vain or lowly;
    For, Freedom comes from God's right hand,
    And needs a godly train;
    And righteous men must make our land
    A nation once again!

    Chorus ...

SusannesFolksong-Notizen

  • english  [1979:] Written by Thomas Davis, a gifted Dublin barrister, who with Daniel O'Connell, John Mitchell and others founded the Young Ireland movement in 1842. The weekly paper published by them was called 'The Nation'. (Loesberg I, 57)

  • english  [2002:] Notes: The irony of this song is that Ireland was NEVER a nation; before the English came, it had been a land of many petty chiefs who never united. The closest it came was the period from 1782-1800, when it had a truly independent parliament under the British crown. It proceeded to shoot itself in the foot, with a government so bad that it induced the 1798 rebellion and in turn caused Britain to create a parliamentary union. Thomas Davis (1814-1845) was an Irish poet and patriot. A member of Daniel O'Connell's National Repeal Association from 1841, he started the Nation newspaper in 1842 and was a leader of the "Young Ireland" movement that sought a more modern approach to independence. Davis died of scarlet fever in 1845, and it never really became clear whether he supported violent revolution or agreed with O'Connell in espousing peaceful reform. (Robert B. Waltz, Traditional Ballad Index)

  • english  [2002:] An Irish republican song, A Nation Once Again, has been voted the world's top tune according to a BBC World Service poll. The song, originally recorded in 1964, was written in the 1840s by Thomas Osbourne Davis to support the fight for an end to British rule. The winning song was recorded by The Wolfe Tones and includes the refrain: "And Ireland, long a province, be a nation once again". Following a late surge in votes, the Irish sing along crossed the finishing line ahead of a patriotic Hindi song, Vande Mataram. (BBC Online: Irish song voted world's favourite 20 Dec)

See also
DT study: A Nation Once Again for a discussion of the Ballad Index view of Irish history
Horatius Cocles for the Roman who was the last to defend the Sublician Bridge

Quelle: Ireland

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aktualisiert am 02.04.2010, 21.04.2009