Green Fields

Author Eric Bogle says the song was ‘subtle reminder’ of Irish war dead. Singer-songwriter Eric Bogle said he wrote The Green Fields of France as a response to the anti-Irish sentiment in Britain during the IRA bombing campaign of the 1970s. Bogle told presenter Myles Dungan the song was a “subtle reminder” to British people that thousands of Irishmen had died in the first World War in the service of the British Empire. However, he conceded that the reference was so subtle that “most people missed it”. He added: “The Irish were not flavour of the month in the UK. A lot of Irishmen died preserving the British Empire during World War I. The reasons they fought and died was rarely to preserve the British Empire. It was a bit of fun, adventure and a way to making a living. Nonetheless, a lot of them died. It was a wee reminder that they weren’t all Tommy Atkins (the generic name for English soldiers at the time).” The best-known version of (No Man’s Land) The Green Fields of France was recorded by The Furey Brothers and Davey Arthur in 197