Paddy McGuigan

Paddy McGuigan ( born August 13, 1939 in Belfast, † March 17, 2014 ) was an Irish musician.

Life

McGuigan played several years in the folk group Barleycorn. He wrote the well-known political song The Men Behind the Wire, as well as The Boys of the Old Brigade and Irish Soldier Laddie. The ballad The Men Behind the Wire, who performed the band Barleycorn was to the beginning of 1972 a total of five weeks the number 1 in the charts of Ireland.

McGuigan wrote The Men Behind the Wire after surgery Demetrius. This operation marked the beginning of the Internment Policy in Northern Ireland when, on 9 August 1971 the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary 342 Ulsterman interned. The song describes the raid by British soldiers and turns endure to internees who have been detained without legal bases in the camps Long Kesh Magilligam and on board the prison ship HMS Maidstone. McGuigan himself was later interned in a further operation of the Internment policy, presumably in response of the British state to its political song.

The British singer -songwriter Dido, whose father, William Armstrong was a Northern Irishman, took in her song from the 2008 Let's Do the Things We Normally Do in her album Safe Trip Home text from the song The Men Behind The Wire on. This was the beginning of the song and the chorus: Armoured cars and tanks and guns, came to take away our sons. But every man must stand behind, the men behind the wire. ( German: Armoured cars and tanks and guns came to us to take our sons But everyone must stand behind them, the people behind the barbed wire.. ) Then it was Gregory Campbell, a member of the Northern Ireland Parliament for East Londonderry and Minister of Culture, Arts Leisure and the government in Belfast violently attacked: " She must know what it written about people who were murderers, arsonists and terrorists. She should clarify her position so did her fans and the resist public knows where she stands on thesis things " ( German: . You [ Dido ] should know, it was written about people who are murderers, arsonists and terrorists It should strengthen its position. clarified so that their fans and the general public to know where she stands on these things. ) Whereupon Dido replied that she had resorted to songs that sang her father in her youth.

Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, McGuigan later lived in Portrane in ( today's ) Fingal County in the Republic of Ireland.

Songs ( selection)

• The Boys of the Old Brigade
• The Men Behind the Wire
• My Country, My Songs and Me (Album 1975)
• Platform - The Brave Unitedmen
• The Brave Unitedmen (Album)
• Playing Danny Boy