Stephanie Iken, Attorney at Law

“Give Ireland Back to the Irish” was Wings’ debut single, released in February 1972, and it marked a rare moment where Paul McCartney stepped directly into politics.

Most Wings songs feel like they belong in a warm kitchen, but this one feels like it was written with the radio turned up and somebody yelling back at it.

And that was deliberate.

What happened that made Paul and Wings write it

The song was written in direct response to Bloody Sunday, which took place on January 30, 1972, in Derry, Northern Ireland. That day, British Army soldiers opened fire on a civil rights march protesting internment without trial. The demonstrators were unarmed. Thirteen people were killed at the scene, and a fourteenth later died from injuries sustained during the shootings. The killings became a defining moment in the Northern Ireland conflict and triggered international outrage, particularly in Ireland and Britain, where the legitimacy of the British Army’s actions was immediately questioned (History.com).

Paul McCartney has been explicit about why he wrote the song and how quickly it came together. In later interviews, he explained that he and Linda were deeply disturbed by the news from Northern Ireland and felt personally shaken that the killings had been carried out by British soldiers. He said that after reading the newspapers the morning after Bloody Sunday, his reaction was immediate and emotional.

The repetition, the blunt phrasing, and the confrontational title were deliberate choices, reflecting McCartney’s decision to respond emotionally and publicly rather than soften his message for radio or political comfort.

“I just thought it was wrong,” McCartney said, adding that he felt compelled to speak out instead of staying quiet (Beatles Bible, quoting contemporary interviews).

McCartney described the song as a direct response, not a political strategy. According to his own account, he wrote it the day after Bloody Sunday because he believed that remaining silent would have felt like complicity.

“I didn’t want to be one of those people who just lets it go by,” he said, explaining that writing a song was the fastest way he knew to put his opinion into the public sphere (The Paul McCartney Project).

That urgency shaped the song itself. McCartney has acknowledged that the lyrics were intentionally straightforward, without metaphor or narrative distance. He later reflected that he was not trying to be subtle or poetic, but to make his position unmistakably clear, even if that meant provoking backlash. As he put it, the song was simply him saying what he thought, as plainly as possible, at a moment when he felt something had to be said (Beatles Bible).

Paul McCartney later reflected that “Give Ireland Back to the Irish” marked a turning point for him personally, especially after years of watching John Lennon engage openly with political causes while he stayed comparatively quiet. Looking back, McCartney acknowledged that he had once believed there was a kind of safety, even wisdom, in not commenting publicly on political events, partly because protest songs were seen as commercially risky and easy to dismiss.

“Before I did that, I always used to think, God, John’s crackers, doing all these political songs,” McCartney said. “I understand he really feels deeply, you know. So do I. I hate all that Nixon bit, all that Ireland bit, and oppression anywhere” (quoted in Beatles Bible).

What changed, McCartney explained, was the immediacy of Bloody Sunday. He compared the killings in Derry to Kent State, describing both as moments when state violence was no longer abstract or distant, but impossible to ignore.

“Up until the actual time when the paratroopers went in and killed a few people,” he said, “the moment when it is actually there on the doorstep, I always used to think it’s still cool to not say anything about it, because it’s not going to sell anyway and no one’s gonna be interested” (The Paul McCartney Project).

Writing the song was, for McCartney, an experiment in breaking that silence. He later noted the irony that the record proved more resonant than he had expected, reaching number one in Ireland and charting strongly elsewhere.

“So I tried it,” he said, “it was number one in Ireland and, funnily enough, it was number one in Spain, of all places. I don’t think Franco could have understood” (Beatles Bible).

The Instrumental B-side

The single’s most consequential decision was the B-side. Wings paired Give Ireland Back to the Irish with an instrumental version of the same track, with the same name.

Broadcasters responded by tightening their restrictions. The BBC refused to play the song and instructed DJs to avoid saying its title on air. In some cases, presenters referred to it only as an unnamed Wings release in order to comply with broadcast rules (The Paul McCartney Project).

The instrumental version was disruptive because without lyrics to censor, the record was still required to be identified. Chart listings, airplay reports, and on-air references were forced to use the song’s name. As The Guardian later observed, the instrumental version of the song ensured the title continued to circulate even as broadcasters attempted to suppress the message itself.

The message remained present, even when the lyrics were kept off the air.

Release and the BBC ban

The single was scheduled for release in late February 1972 on Apple Records, but the BBC banned it on February 10, 1972, before it could receive meaningful airplay.

The BBC cited its policy against broadcasting songs that expressed overt political viewpoints on contemporary conflicts. The ban was significant because BBC Radio still functioned as the primary gatekeeper for popular music in the UK at the time.

The ban did not stop there. Radio Luxembourg and the Independent Television Authority also refused to play or promote the song, effectively shutting it out of the UK’s major broadcast platforms.

BBC officials framed the ban as neutral enforcement of broadcasting rules, but the ban quickly became part of the public debate. BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel publicly criticized the decision, arguing that banning the song was itself a political act and gave the record more power than it otherwise would have had.

The Independent Television Authority similarly blocked television advertising for the record, citing political impartiality requirements under the ITA Act.

Wings’ response to the backlash

Paul McCartney did not retreat. In interviews at the time, he responded sarcastically to the ban, remarking that the BBC should be “praised” for preventing young people from hearing his opinions, a comment widely reported in the British press (Beatles Bible).

Wings continued to perform the song live during their 1972 university tour across England and Wales, even as the controversy intensified.

The band’s position was clear: if broadcasters refused to play it, they would take it directly to audiences.

Protests, accusations, and real consequences

Because the song took such a clear stance, McCartney was accused by sections of the British press of supporting the IRA, a claim he consistently rejected. He maintained that the song was a protest against violence and British policy, not an endorsement of paramilitary groups.

Wings guitarist Henry McCullough, who was from Northern Ireland, reportedly faced threats and personal backlash connected to the song’s release.

Chart performance and irony

Despite the bans, the single charted in multiple countries. It reached the UK Top 20, charted in the United States, and went to number one in Ireland and Spain (Beatles Bible).

The irony is hard to miss. The attempts to suppress the song amplified interest in it, especially at a time when Wings was still establishing itself outside the shadow of the Beatles.

“Give Ireland Back to the Irish” is not remembered as Wings’ most polished or musically adventurous track. It matters because of the message.