| Morrissey – Irish Blood, English Heart Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| I can identify with Morrisey's dilemma here; although in my case it was my great grandparents who were Irish catholic immigrants, I still feel the connection with my heritage which sometimes puts me at odds with the country of my birth, England. But who exactly are the English? When the Romans came, it was populated by Ancient Britons (Celts), and was later overrun and controlled by Angles and Saxons from an area which is now North Germany. Then came the Vikings from Sweden, Norway and Denmark, who took their chunk of it and became part of the population. Then the Normans who came from Scandinavia by way of northern France having picked up some French blood on the way. So there you have it; Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France... my roots are actually closer to England than those of the people who are currently waving the Flag of St George. But Morrisey is talking about more recent events, i.e the subjugation and attempted genocide inflicted upon the native Irish by the English, embodied in Cromwell who was the single worst perpetrator of such crimes in Anglo-Irish history. I find comfort in the fact that my ancestor Hugh O'Neill was a superior general who inflicted a humiliating defeat upon Cromwell at Clonmel, and Cromwell's exhumed head displayed on a spike at Westminster for 25 years was a far more fitting monument than any pigeon-shit covered statue outside Parliament. | |
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