Take It Down from the Mast
"Take it Down from the Mast"is the common name of anIrish republicansong written in 1923 byJames Ryan.Entitled "Lines Written by a Republican Soldier in 1923", it was first published in 1936 inGood-Bye Twilight: Songs of Struggle in Ireland,a collection of songs by Leslie Daiken.[1]
Its lyrics refer to theIrish Civil War(1922–23), while the flag in question is theIrish tricolour.The song tells supporters of theAnglo-Irish Treatyand theIrish Free Stateto take down and cease using it, as it is also the flag of theIrish Republic,which the "Free Staters" betrayed. At the time, theAnti-Treaty IRAregarded their Civil War opponents as traitors and therefore unworthy to use the Irish tricolour.
In 1959, a version written byDominic Behan[2]was published. It told of the execution of four members of the IRA Executive on 8 December 1922: DublinerRory O'Connor,who was spokesman for theFour Courtsgarrison at the outbreak of the Civil War; Galway manLiam Mellows;Cork volunteerDick Barrett;and IRA chief-of-staffJoe McKelveyfrom Tyrone. Their shooting in captivity was a reprisal for the IRA's assassination, the previous day, of TDSeán Hales.
Behan's also accused the Free State of abandoning the province ofUlster,much of which became the state ofNorthern Irelandafter partition in 1921.
Original lyrics[edit]
"Lines written by a Republican Soldier in 1923" by James Ryan
Take it down from the mast, Irish traitors,
'Tis the flag we republicans claim.
It can never be owned byFree Staters
Who shed nothing upon it but shame.
Then leave it to those who are willing,
To uphold it in war or in peace,
Those men who intend to do killing
Until England's tyranny cease.
Take it down from the mast to remember,
Your comrades who fell in the fight,
Those brave men who'd never surrender
ToJohn Bull,that big tyrant of might.
The flag which to those men spelled freedom
From a foe that is centuries old;
Looking back on the past we can see them
Defending the green, white and gold.
I saw it in all the bright glory
When first it was flung to the wind,
When of freedom they told us the story
That no other nation could find,
When of martyrs their blood often freed us
Till a traitor to England had sold
The land that sorely doth need us
To fight for the green, white and gold.
Take it down for its cause you have scornèd
To make permanent o'er us the Crown
You who linked yourselves up with the foemen
The tricolor then to pull down.
'Tis we and no other can claim it
For to-day joined as one we stand, bold,
To fight England combined with Free Staters
In defence of the green, white and gold.[3]
Behan version[edit]
You have murdered our braveLiamandRory
You have butchered youngRichardandJoe
And your hands with their blood are still gory
Fulfilling the work of the foe.
Refrain
So take it down from the mast, Irish traitors,
It's the flag we Republicans claim.
It can never belong to Free Staters,
For you've brought on it nothing but shame.
Then leave it to those who are willing
To uphold it in war and in peace,
To those men who intend to do killing
Until England's tyranny cease.
Refrain
We'll stand by Enright and Larkin
WithDalyand Sullivan the bold
And we'll break down the English connection
And bring back the nation you sold.
Refrain
You sold out theSix Countiesforyour freedom
When we have given youMcCrackenandWolfe Tone
And brave Ulstermen have fought for you in Dublin
Now you watch as we fight on alone.
Refrain
And up inUlsterwe're fighting on for freedom
For our people they yearn to be free
You executed those men who fought for us
With a hangman from over the sea.
Refrain
Repeat first stanza
Refrain
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Leslie H. Daiken,Good-bye Twilight: Songs of the Struggle in Ireland(Lawrence & Wishart, London, 1936), pp. 90–91
- ^Nick Guida."the Dominic Behan discography (1957-1961) at theBalladeers".Theballadeers. Archived fromthe originalon 6 December 2013.Retrieved27 March2014.
- ^Daiken, pp. 90‐91