Artist: Danny Doyle
Author: Pete St. John
Label: Release
Year: 1979
Not older than that. Athenry is a spot some 15 miles east of Galway town. You can't miss the 'low lying fields'.
Covers:
Barleycorn [top 10 IRE]
Paddy Reilly [top 5 IRE]
Century Steel Band [reggae; hit IRE]
Cox Crew [hit IRE]
Liverpool supporters [as The Fields Of Anfield Road]
Dance To Tipperary [hit IRE]
Foster & Allen [hit IRE]
Brian O'Donnell [in film Veronica Guerin as Bad News; the song was also heard in film Dead Poets Society with the action situated in 1959, twenty years before this song was written; it does sound traditional indeed]
Christine Noble & the Irish Rugby Team [hit IRE]
Charlie Haden [vocal: his daughter Petra]
Telling a sad forced deportation story from the potato famine era, when desperate farmers stole unused corn from the British, costing them a one way trip to Bantry Bay, Australia. Never to be able to see their native Athenry again struck a common Irish string, intensified since soccer supporters started using the tune as some alternative Irish national anthem. Obvious throughout the world since Spain-Ireland during the UEFA European Championship end round in 2012: 4-0 for Spain but only the losing supporters were singing.
If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors, please let us know by contacting us:
Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)