Wouldn’t make the top 50 Neil Hannon lyric’s but it is a bit of harmless fun.

Thats great, I love it.

I think it’s super!

To be fair, anything is better than that dirge they spout before the egg-chasing.

Heard this on the radio this morning, thought it was a typically witty Neil Hannon tune, liked it alot.

Brilliant! Long overdue! So delightfully understated! It captures the essence of Oireland today so well – I hope they sing it on Saturday.

looking at those lyrics I think I’ll leave the link to the music well enough alone. It looks like the class of song ‘also-rans’ used to throw together just to fill the ‘Comortas Amhrain’ requirement at the gaeltacht. That said though, maybe I’ll write a tune meself. A lament to the loss of our ability to be genuinely witty,sharp, insightful and yet cynically upbeat … at least through the medium of high profile talent. I hear it on the streets everyday, and sometimes all in the one sentence. So why not demand it from ‘national bards’ the likes of Hannon, Tiernan, O’Brian etc. etc. etc.? …

Is that bit bleeped out on purpose or is it a joke referring to Ulster/the north an’ all that?

I can’t imagine a better national anthem for Ireland than “Peace in Erin”, by the Co. Antrim poet Hugh McWilliams. The words are below. It is sung to the same tune as Robbie Burns’ “Now Westlin’ Winds”. It also reads like one of Robbie Burns poems, but as a song it is hugely inspiring, even moreso than Nkosi Sikelele Africa (South African anthem). It is a hugely moving song that brings out the best in all of us, combining patriotism and tolerance. Have a listen to Áine Bean Uí Cheallaigh’s version on YouTube or on her CD “Idir Dhá Chomhairle”.

Were all mankind inclined like me,
To live in peace and unity,
No more contention there would be,
Among the men of Erin.
Originally we were all sprung,
From father Adam, old and young,
These words should fall from every tongue:
We will cherish peace in Erin.

We’re formed by one Deity,
To worship him, let’s all agree,
And live in peace and harmony
With every class in Erin.
On Sundays, if our paths should lie,
To Clough, or to the Glens* hard by,
Why should this weaken friendship’s tie,
Between the men of Erin!

What land can boast so pure an air;
Or men so fine, or maids so fair,
Or who was e’en renowned in war,
Above the men of Erin?
Their courage far abroad is known,
On the field of Mars their victory shone;
Then let us cultivate at home,
The laws of peace in Erin!

If fortune fair and commerce shine,
Upon my own, my native isle,
Not Egypt with her flowing Nile,
Could equal thee, dear Erin;
Your lapping lakes and flowing streams,
And verdant groves where music rings,
And health, with healing in her wings,
Would bless this land of Erin.

‘Tis principle that shows the man,
This is the one, the only plan,
And one that I have built upon,
When rambling through old Erin.
So let us, in this present day,
Cast prejudice and spleen away,
Far, far across the Atlantic Sea,
And all join hands in Erin!

As with all Irish trendy humour – i.e. the stuff which the media allows to be heard by the public – it avoids any satire at politics or corruption. The Duckworth Lewis method clearly is a safe one when it comes to comedy. Neil Hannon is a fine artist but this puerile drivel is not his finest moment, and I am surprised the Irish Times is bothering to give something a 15-year-old schoolboy could write in 10 minutes such platform. Or that I am bothering to write about it! If it’s intended to be fun it should be funny – which it’s not really.

How about this:

Knock,knock
Who’s there?
Ireland, where Knock is

(All sing chorus)
Everyone’s got more money than me
And nothing is my fault

i quite like “ireland’s call”… it’s suitably rousing… it’s better than flower of scotland…

All blokes, no girls…

“Joyce and Heaney, Beckett and Wilde.
Bill O’Herlihy, Dunphy and Giles
Evansm Hewson, Mullen and Clayton,
Westlife and Jedward, the pride of our nation!”

Maybe you should call it Amhrán na Man?

Loved it. I think the last verse says it all! Though reading the comments I think some people take things a little too seriously. Cheer up!

Brilliant! Love it! My Lovely Horse lives on.

Of course it’s an attempt at humour – albeit a weak one. But thank you for your reference to the only good choice to replace the poor, tired old Amhran … Ireland’s Call. This song is representative of all that is Irish today: pride, strength, unity, and beauty. I’m all for a change to a popular favorite, Ireland’s Call.

It is fekkin’ brilliant. I love it. I will learn the words and sing it at my next social gathering.

A terrible beauty is born.

I wallow in it’s beauty, and get carried forth in it’s rhythm, feck David Norris.. Neil Hannon for president, and when he gets to office I hope he wears a nice white with gold trim South American (or Croatian) style military junta uniform and develops Napoleonic tendencies.

Makes me proud, proud to hail from this fair isle.

I’d love to hear a new Irish National Anthem with a killer riff. Any chance Jack White’s “Seven Nation Army” could be re-appropriated for anthemic purposes? I think it’d be great to hear the whole of Croker “den-den-den-den-den-den (ing)” it. I’m defninitely not a soldier who’s life is pledged to Ireland Nor do i wish to be associated with the sounds of gun-shot ringing through the air. That said, if there was a competition for a new national anthem one could be sure that it’d result in a complete balls of a song as the X-Factor/Eurovision model would no doubt be employed and you’d have the likes of John Waters coining some kind of mawkish rubbish. Best left as it is i suppose then.

I can’t wait to hear the reaction from the Irish-American community when they wake up to this one.

Good ole larf that.

As for comment 15….your assertion that the lyrics quoted combine patriotism and tolerance has left me befuddled. Tolerant of those who believe in God. And the atheists can go to hell!

What does Kittser make it ?

just reading the lyrics, it didn’t seem that funny, but the delivery adds a lot to it (and the whole thing sounds pretty good). More Monty Python than Father Ted, to my ears.

as usual, some people will begrudge anything, even former Choice Music Prize winners/nominees! ‘twould be gas if the Irish-American community got onto this, though I reckon some of the references are too topical for them.

It’s no worse than Ireland’s Call. However, the ‘bleeping’ of the word ‘Ulster’ means that we would still be forced to sing an alternative song at rugby matches. So we’d have this, and Ireland’s Call. Sigh. I fear Ireland might never win another match.

Wow, some took this seriously? lol. For those confused by the bleep, it rhymes with sheep…not that complicated really, and it is meant to fit the rhythm of the line. I think the whole thing’s brilliant: clever, sarcastic, flip, and all in fun. As a Yank, I love it. It’s a great antidote to the over-green, schlocky stuff that passes for “Irish” here in the US this time of year.

*Shrugs.*

The song is decent but ultimately cheapened by yet another reference to Jedward.

This put a smile on my face. Some people take things way too seriously. Remove the shillelaghs from your arses, folks…

@46
“Hannon being a unionist s**te again?”

Any chance you could talk us through your reasoning there?

Not a patch on the great Ding Dong Denny O’Reilly and the Hairy Bowsies.

Clearly a rip-off of the Kazakhstan national anthem from the end of the Borat movie except about Ireland and about 2% as funny. Might get a laugh out of the ketamine-fuelled audience of simpletons on ‘Republic of Telly’, but for anyone who had built up their expectations on the IT’s endorsement, i think a disappointed sigh is about all it’s worth.

Kazakhstan greatest country in the world.
All other countries are run by little girls.
Kazakhstan number one exporter of potassium.
Other countries have inferior potassium.

Kazakhstan home of Tinshein swimming pool.
It’s length thirty meter and width six meter.
Filtration system a marvel to behold.
It remove 80 percent of human solid waste.

Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan you very nice place.
From Plains of Tarashek to Northern fence of Jewtown.
Kazakhstan friend of all except Uzbekistan.
They very nosey people with bone in their brain.

Kazakhstan industry best in the world.
We invented toffee and trouser belt.
Kazakhstan’s prostitutes cleanest in the region.
Except of course Turkmenistan’s

Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan you very nice place.
From Plains of Tarashek to Northern fence of Jewtown.
Come grasp the might **** of our leader.
From junction with the **** to tip of its face!

This is a wonderful bit of satire.

I second TVG @18.

Norris for Emperor of the [Un]known Universe.

And Hannon as his chief hornswaggler.

@62 ‘Modren’..kinda says it all really…

@30
How does that even make sense!?

I like it. A very accurate ditty. Pity there’s so many comments bemoaning someone making fun of Ireland. If you can’t laugh at yourself…

Jesus Christ !!! Lighten up people! Do you actually think the lads are proposing this bit of harmless fun as an actual anthem for Ireland?? Ive never read so much condescending crap in my life!! Im even sorry to have to respond but to say you missed the point would be an understatement. Humour is a wonderful thing people, why not try to embrace it?

That’s not funny. Yeah, I know it’s SUPPOSED to be a joke, but it’s not funny. Those two arseholes should stuck to writing second rate “pop” songs about cricket.

not a suggestion for a national anthem, but for the day thats in it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdi_lZOMMkQ

goes something like this:

the red haired girls on the rolling hills
the grey browed men on the winding roads
the misty skies and the pots of gold
its the hotel trade and the tourist board

i will chase the snakes for st patrick
and he will come like the next u2
the sounds will melt like butter in the sun
with the four leaf clover and the dew

came the mobile calls and the galway shawl
the morish girls on the highest streets
the franchised stores and the quaint antiques
and all that sells in a shade of green

and who would pay for your supper
for the scarlet wines and the uppers
i am waiting for the four leaf clover
any day now

and the bouquets will lie in the gutter
on the great great road to tara
where the ghosts of the four leaf clover
holiday

Can’t believe how many people are taking this seriously and not how it was intended. Reminded me of Finland from Spamalot. Good on ye for cheering up the day.

Fantasitic – if we could change the anthem to this we be the first country in the world to dispense with the ridiculousness of patriotism. Let’s have it played at David Norris’ inauguration and then we can be taken seriously as a country that is ‘creative and innovative’

Wonderful, just wonderful!!!

Some of these comments should be preserved for posterity, just to prove to future generations what a nation of gobshites we are!

Drivel