A Nation Once Again

"A Nation Once Again" is an Irish nationalist song published in 1844 with lyrics by Thomas Osborne Davis (1814–1845). It has been set to various tunes.

"A Nation Once Again"
Song
Written	1840s
Published	13 July 1844
Composers	Various, including Thomas Sherlock, Edward Comerford and James J. Johnson
Lyricist	Thomas Osborne Davis

Background

Davis, a Protestant nationalist from County Cork,^[1][2][3] was one of the three co-founders of Young Ireland, a movement whose aim was for Ireland to gain independence from Britain.^[4][5]

He had a Romantic conception of Irish identity.^[6] In his view, "Ireland was a spiritual reality based on historic cultural tradition, and anyone who adopted Ireland as his homeland, regardless of his religion or when he arrived, was Irish. Davis's editorials, patriotic verse, and enthusiastic support for reviving the Irish language made him the most respected and admired of the Young Irelanders... Davis also believed strongly that Irish national identity should be secular and disapproved of what he saw as undue clerical influence on Daniel O'Connell and the repeal movement."^[7]

Davis argued that songs could have a strong emotional impact on people and, in particular, on the Irish. He wrote, "Music is the first faculty of the Irish... we will endeavour to teach the people to sing the songs of their country that they may keep alive in their minds the love of the fatherland."^[8] He wrote that, "a song is worth a thousand harangues".^{[citation needed]}

Publication of the song

"A Nation Once Again" was first published in Young Ireland's newspaper, The Nation, (of which Davis was a co-foundedlr and the editor), on July 13th, 1844.^[9]

The song quickly became a rallying call for the growing Irish nationalist movement of that time.^[10]

Davis' lyrics use a simple ABABCDCD rhyme scheme, with verses of eight lines, and alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter.^{[citation needed]}

Lyrical themes and narrative

It is a prime example of an Irish rebel song.^{[citation needed]}

The song's narrator dreams of a time when Ireland will be, as the title suggests, a free land, with "our fetters rent in twain".^[11] The lyrics exhort Irish people to stand up and fight for their land: "And righteous men must make our land a nation once again".^{[citation needed]}

The narrator describes how he learned of ancient fighters for freedom as a boy — the three hundred Spartans who fought at the Battle of Thermopylae.^[12] The "three men" refers to the Horatii.^[13]

The narrator then declares his belief that only moral, religious men can set Ireland free, and states his own aim is to make himself worthy of such a task.^{[citation needed]} Davis himself, "never tired of inculcating that the high and holy service of Ireland would be profaned by passions vain or ignoble".^[14][15]

Lyrics

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!

A Nation once again,
A Nation once again,
And Ireland, long a province, be
A Nation once again!

And from that time, through wildest woe,
That hope has shone 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 fane,
Its angel voice sang round my bed,
A Nation once again!

A Nation once again,
A Nation once again,
And Ireland, long a province, be
A Nation once again!

It whisper'd too, that freedom's ark
And service high and holy,
Would be profaned by feelings 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!

A Nation once again,
A Nation once again,
And Ireland, long a province, be
A Nation once again!

So, as I grew from boy to man,
I bent me to that bidding
My spirit of each selfish plan
And cruel passion ridding;
For, thus I hoped some day to aid,
Oh, can such hope be vain?
When my dear country shall be made
A Nation once again!

Tunes

Davis copied the melody for "A Nation Once Again" from Mozart's Clarinet Concerto.^[16][17]

A different melody, by an anonymous composer, accompanied the text on its first publication, which occurred in a collection called The Spirit of the Nation. This tune was unsuccessful because it was too complex.^[18]

The next tune was written by Dublin-born journalist and part-time composer, Thomas Sherlock, in 1881.^[19] Sherlock "had strong Fenian sympathies and wrote for several nationalist papers – the Nation, Weekly News, Young Ireland and the Shamrock – editing the Weekly News and Young Ireland for a time... Throughout his career he retained his Fenian connections, being an active member of the Young Ireland Society in the 1880s..."^[20]

The next version was composed by Edward Comerford (died 1894), a music teacher and conductor^[21] from Dundalk. In the Dundalk Democrat of August 17th, 1898, he was posthumously described as "a highly gifted musician".^[22] He was the son of the Young Irelander, Patrick Comerford and, in later life, became the organist at Waterford Cathedral.^{[23][24][25][26]}

According to the Dundalk Democrat of March 6th, 1886, the first public performance of the tune had occurred on the previous Tuesday at the end of a concert conducted by Comerford in Dundalk Town Hall, held to aid the Dundalk Poor Relief Fund. The newspaper reported, "Mr Comerford has affected an improvement by giving a more martial air to the theme."^[27]

Comerford's sheet music was published in June 1886.^[28] The following month, the Irish Monthly described Comerford's version as "a very spirited setting" and opined that he "could not have chosen a more appropriate time" to release it.^[29][30] Comerford changed the word "boyhood" to "childhood" in the first line "in order that it may be sung by feminine voices also".^[31][32]

Despite its positive reviews, ballad historian Eugene Dunphy's research suggests that no recording of Edward Comerford's version has ever been made.^[33] The sheet music is preserved in the National Library of Ireland's collection.^[34]

The final tune was written by another Dubliner, James J. Johnson, in 1887. It was an immediate success and is the version most often performed today.^[35]

Recordings

The song has been recorded by many Irish performers and groups, notably John McCormack in 1906, Our Lady's Choral Society in 1965, and, following on from them, The Clancy Brothers, The Dubliners, the Poxy Boggards, The Irish Tenors and Sean Conway.^{[citation needed]} McCormack and The Dubliners both used the Johnson tune.^[36]

The Wolfe Tones' version

The Wolfe Tones are the group most associated with the song, having played it on tour around the world.^[37][38]

In 2002, after an orchestrated e-mail campaign,^[39][40] their version was voted the world's most popular song in a BBC World Service global listeners' poll.^[41][42]

Legacy

Churchill's use of the phrase

Winston Churchill, the British prime minister, used the title phrase in an attempt to pressure Ireland to join the Allied Forces during World War II. In a telegram sent to the Éamon de Valera, the taoiseach, on 8 December 1941, Churchill wrote: "Now is your chance. Now or never. 'A nation once again'. Am very ready to meet you at any time." This has been interpreted to propose that if Ireland joined forces with Britain in the war then a united Ireland would be the reward. However, on the following day, Lord Cranborne, the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, informed Lord Maffey, Britain's representative to Ireland, that Churchill's use of the phrase "certainly contemplated no deal over partition" and was actually intended to mean that "by coming into the war Ireland would regain her soul". In any case, de Valera did not respond to Churchill's telegram, and Ireland maintained a position of military neutrality for the entire duration of the war.^[43][44][45]

In popular culture

In The Beatles' film, A Hard Day's Night, Paul McCartney's Irish grandfather begins singing the song to Metropolitan Police officers after they arrest him for peddling autographed pictures of the band members.^[46]