Music / The Wolfe Tones

We're on the one road, sharing the one load
We're on the road to God knows where
We're on the one road, it may be the wrong road,
But we're together, now who cares?

The Wolfe Tones are an Irish rebel/folk band. They formed in 1963 in a Dublin suburb when 3 kids named Noel Nagle, Liam Courtney, and Brian Warfield decided to start a band. They named themselves after Theobald Wolfe Tone, an 18th century Irish Nationalist. The next year they roped Brian’s older brother Derek into joining them and Courtney left, to be replaced with Tommy Byrne. This became the band’s lineup for almost four decades. They released their first album, The Foggy Dew, in 1965. Their albums contain a mix of traditional Irish folk music, more modern songs, and their own compositions.
Around the Turn of the Millennium they ran into some trouble. Derek Warfield pulled some legal shenanigans which left the other members of the band unable to legally record new material for over a decade. He eventually left to form his own band: Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfe Tones. The remaining three couldn’t even legally tour under the name "The Wolfe Tones" for a few years due to the contract Derek had suckered them into. Brian, Noel, and Tommy righted the ship eventually, and they are still touring.
Their effect on Irish folk and rebel music has been impressive, with many of their songs becoming standards, especially “We’re On The One Road”.

Discography:

Albums

• The Foggy Dew (1965)
• Up The Rebels! (1966)
• The Rights Of Man (1968)
• Rifles Of The IRA (1970)
• Let The People Sing (1972)
• Till Ireland A Nation (1974)
• Irish To The Core (1976)
• Across The Broad Atlantic (1976)
• Belt Of The Celts (1978)
• Live Alive-Oh (1980 - Live)
• Spirit Of The Nation (1981)
• Ás Gaeilge (1982)
• A Sense Of Freedom (1983)
• Profile (1985)
• The Wolfe Tones Greatest Hits (1986 - Compilation)
• Sing Out For Ireland (1987)
• The Wolfe Tones 25th Anniversary (1989 - Compilation)
• You'll Never Beat The Irish ‎(2001)
• The Very Best Of Wolfe Tones (2002 - Compilation)
• The Troubles (2004)
• The Wolfe Tones 40th Anniversary Live (2004 - Live)
• The Wolfe Tones Platinum (2005 - Compilation)
• Rebels and Heroes (2008)
• Child Of Destiny ‎(2012)
• The Wolfe Tones 50th Anniversary Concert Live Boxset (2014 - Live)
• The Wolfe Tones 1916 Commemoration Concert Live Boxset (2016 - Live)

This Band’s history and works contain examples of:

• Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: The instances of the word “rebel” in “James Connolly” have the stress placed upon the second syllable for the purpose of making rhymes.
• Anti-Police Song: They were decidedly not fans of the RUC.
  • "Impartial Police Force" uses heavy irony throughout to mock the RUC.
  • “Plastic Bullets” heavily criticized the RUC’s use of said bullets.
    So you shoot your plastic bullets to keep your plastic state.
• Artistic License – Religion: "Banna Strand" makes a mention of Good Friday being in May. Since the latest Easter can possibly occur is April 25^th, Good Friday cannot be in May. But then, April is more difficult to rhyme with ‘bay’.
• Ass Shove: Almost stated in the last verse of "Janey Mac, I'm Nearly Forty”. In concert Brian will sometimes make gestures so even the dimmest bulbs in the audience can get what they aren’t saying.
  So all you knockers and begrudgers, you will admit we have that touch of class
  If not, we'll send you our new record and you can stick it up your jumper.
• Audience Participation Song: in concert they expect the audience to sing along, especially with the more up-tempo songs. Live recordings of perennial favorite "We're On The One Road" contain numerous instances of the band letting the crowd sing part or all of the chorus.
• Awful Wedded Life: Discussed in the very first line of the chorus to “Paddle Me Own Canoe.”
  I have no wife to bother me life, no lover to prove I’m true
• Break-Up Song: "Boston Rose" is about a love separated from the singer, not by choice, but because she had to return to Boston while he stayed in Ireland.
• Charity Motivation Song: In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, they rewrote “Go On Home British Soldiers” to “Go On Home Russian Soldiers” (complete with lyrics in Russian) with the proceeds from the song going towards aid for Ukrainian refugees.
• Concept Album: As Gaeilge consists solely of songs in Irish.
• Curse of The Ancients: “Janey Mac” (from “Janey Mac, I’m Nearly Forty”) is some older Dublin slang used in place of “Jesus” or “Jesus Christ”. Its use just makes the song funnier.
• Death Song:
  • “Grace” is sung from the POV of Joseph Plunkett as he awaits his execution the next morning for his part in the Easter Rising.
  • "Joe McDonnell" is sung from the POV of the eponymous hunger striker as he awaits his turn to die of starvation.
• Face on the Cover: the cover of Profile shows the Irish flag, with the four lines from it outlining the faces of the four band members.
• Football Fight Song: “Celtic Symphony” was written for Celtic FC’s centennial.
• Four-Star Badass:
  • “Admiral William Brown” is about the father of the Argentine navy, who was born in County Mayo.
  • “Michael Collins” is about exactly who the title says, the man in charge of the military during the War for Independence.
• Funetik Aksent: “Quare Things In Dublin” has a phonetic spelling of ‘Queer’ in the title
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: “Janey Mac” (from “Janey Mac, I’m Nearly Forty”) is some older Dublin slang used in place of “Jesus” or “Jesus Christ”. The song wouldn’t be nearly as funny without the substitution.
• Great Escape: “The Helicopter Song” (a.k.a. “The Warder in the Joy”) is about a prison break from Mountjoy prison where the eponymous helicopter just set down in the prison yard and lifted off with several IRA prisoners.
• Greatest Hits Album: A couple of these, one in 1986 and the other in 2002. That doesn’t even count the Milestone Celebration albums.
• Grief Song: “Grace” is about the grief felt by Grace’s husband as they await the coming dawn and his execution^note Grace Plunkett was a real person, as was her husband, Joseph. They really were married the night before his execution..
• Historical Biography Song: Many of these.
  • “Admiral William Brown” is about the father of the Argentine navy, who was from Ireland.
  • “Banna Strand” is about Sir Roger Casement, specifically his attempt to get weapons to his countrymen for the Easter Rising. He got caught, tried, convicted, and hanged.
  • “Great Fenian Ram” is about John Holland and his invention, one of the first submarines^note The song claims it was the first, but this, strictly speaking, is debatable at best.
  • “James Connolly” is about Connolly’s execution in the aftermath of the Easter Rising.
• Homesickness Hymn: Many, many examples. Not surprising considering how many songs in their catalog deal with emigration.
  • "Flight of Earls" is about the longing for home of the wave of emigrants that left Ireland in the latter half of the 20^th century due to the lack of jobs.
  • “My Heart Is In Ireland” deals with the homesickness felt by members of The Irish Diaspora for a land they’ve never even seen.
    Though born here in this land
    My heart is in Ireland
    The land of the old folks is calling to me.
• I Am the Band: This was Derek's view. He was wrong.
• Instrumental: “Carolan’s Concerto” and “Carolan’s Favorite” are wordless songs for the harp^note Not written by any of the band members, but they do show up on a few records, since they are long since in the public domain. "The Princess Royal" is another wordless song.
• Irony: "Up The Border" is sung from the POV of a loyal Unionist^note until the last three lines, anyway, a viewpoint the band emphatically does not agree with.
• Landmark of Lore: “Newgrange (Brú na Bóinne)” is about one of these, the eponymous neolithic tomb (which is older than the pyramids).
• Last Wish Marriage: “Grace” deals with the Real Life example of Joseph and Grace Plunkett.
• Live Album: Several, starting with Live Alive-Oh in 1980.
• Location Song: Quite a few of these, Many of them are about Dublin or specific places within it.
  • “Bodenstown Churchyard” is about a graveyard. Specifically the one where Theobald Wolfe Tone is buried.
  • “Dingle Bay” is about Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
  • “Quare Things in Dublin” is about many strange things in Dublin, most prominently a church clock that displays different times on each of its four faces^note There’s a clock in Cork city called the Four-Faced Liar which earned its nickname for the exact same reason.
  • “Zoological Gardens” is about the zoo in Dublin’s Phoenix Park.
• Long Runner Lineup: From 1964 to 2000 the band lineup was the same: Derek & Brian Warfield, Noel Nagle, and Tommy Byrne.
• Love Nostalgia Song:
  • “Slievenamon”^{pronunciation} SHLEEV-nuh-mon is about a lost love whom the singer met near the eponymous mountain.
    But I never will forget
    The sweet maiden I met
    In the valley near Slievenamon
  • “Boston Rose” straddles the line between this and Break-Up Song.
• Motor Mouth:
  • In parts of "Radio Toor-i-li-ay", Tommy is singing so quickly it can be hard to understand him.
  • The last few lines of each verse in “Ode to Biddy McGee” are mostly spoken by Derek at such a pace that he almost stumbles over some of the words.
• Ode to Intoxication: They’re an Irish folk band. This comes up frequently.
• Parental Marriage Veto:
  • Played Straight in “Ode to Biddy McGee”, which leads the singer and Biddy to elope.
  • Sweetly inverted in “Treat Me Daughter Kindly”. The only real requirement the father sets for his daughter’s prospective suitor is to care for her.
• Perfectly Cromulent Word: "Traveling Doctor's Shop" is rife with these. Pretty much every mention of a body part or disease is replaced with a nonsense word.
• Protest Song: Quite a few of these, some to do with the plight of the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland, and some others to do with the ill treatment suffered by many political prisoners taken during The Troubles.
  • “Admiral William Brown”, which is almost entirely a Historical Biography Song, uses the last line of the chorus to protest continued British ownership of The Falkland Islands.
  • “Long Kesh” is about the desire to close said prison and get all the inmates there released.
• Radio Song: “Radio Toor-i-li-ay” is about how their songs pretty much all get banned from Irish and British radio for being “too political” while songs about sex and drugs are just fine to air.
• Refuge in Audacity: A Real Life example is mentioned in several verses and the chorus to "Catalpa", which tells the story of the Catalpa Rescue. The ship Catalpa, ostensibly a whaler, had just rescued six Fenian prisoners from Australia, and was challenged by a British gunboat. Catalpa's captain hoisted the American flag and the Brits, not wanting to risk a war with the U.S., let them go.
• Singer Namedrop: Played With in "Janey Mac, I'm Nearly 40". Brian mentions all the other members of the band by name.
• Song Style Shift: Later versions of “The Broad Black Brimmer” have an electric guitar start playing during the last verse. The whole rest of the song is acoustic.
• Sorry That I'm Dying: The singer in “Grace” apologizes repeatedly about them not getting to spend many more years together, because he’s going to be executed in the morning.
• Spoken Word in Music:
  • “James Connolly” sometimes starts with a poem recited from the POV of a member of the firing squad that executed Connolly, after which the singing starts.
  • The last few lines of each verse in “Ode to Biddy McGee” are spoken by Derek. Some of them quite quickly.
• Sound-Effect Bleep: Some earlier recordings of the song “Teddy Bear’s Head” blot out the one instance of the word “ass” with a humorous sound effect.
• Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: The last two lines of the last verse of "Janey Mac, I'm Nearly Forty":
  So all you knockers and begrudgers, you will admit we have that touch of class
  If not, we'll send you our new record and you can stick it up your jumper.
• The Quiet One: Noel doesn’t talk or sing much. Of course, he generally plays wind instruments, so it’s justified.
• Unreplaced Departed: The remaining three members have not replaced Derek Warfield.
• "When I'm Gone" Song: "Grace"
  There won't be time to share our love, for we must say goodbye