Paul McCartney's label told him song would be banned but he insisted on releasing it
The Beatles caused their fair share of controversy during their time together as a band. John Lennon famously declared the band was more popular than Jesus in 1966 and their 1968 track 'Back in the USSR' led to certain right wing people accusing The Beatles of being communist sympathisers
The band also had a number of songs banned by certain radio stations. Among them were 'A Day in the Life', which was banned by the BBC for its supposed references to drugs, and 'The Ballad of John and Yoko', which was banned by some radio stations in the United States due to its references to Christ.
That did not stop once John, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr went their separate ways in 1970 either. The ECHO recently looked at how the Paul McCartney & Wings track 'Hi, Hi, Hi' was banned by the BBC, which believed its lyrics made reference to sex and drugs.
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And it was not the only post-Beatles song of Paul's to get him in trouble with the national broadcaster. In fact, this happened pretty much from the get-go with Wings.
The band formed in 1971, after the release of Paul’s first two solo albums. As The Beatles had not properly played live since 1966, Paul formed the group because he wanted to start touring again.
Their first album 'Wild Life' hit shelves in December 1971 and their debut single followed in February 1972. That song was 'Give Ireland Back to the Irish', which was written by Paul in response to the events of Bloody Sunday in Derry on January 30 - 13 civil rights protesters were shot dead by British troops.
Paul wrote the song the next day. About that, he recalled: "I wasn't really into protest songs – John had done that – but this time I felt that I had to write something, to use my art to protest."
He called the band into the studio to record the song two days after Bloody Sunday. With strong Irish roots on his mum’s side, he was outraged at what happened in Derry.
He later added: "From our point of view, it was the first time people questioned what we were doing in Ireland. It was so shocking. I wrote 'Give Ireland Back to the Irish', we recorded it and I was promptly phoned by the Chairman of EMI, Sir Joseph Lockwood, explaining that they wouldn't release it.
"He thought it was too inflammatory. I told him that I felt strongly about it and they had to release it. He said, 'Well it'll be banned', and of course it was. I knew 'Give Ireland Back to the Irish' wasn't an easy route, but it just seemed to me to be the time (to say something)."
The song begins: "Give Ireland back to the Irish, don't make them have to take it away. Give Ireland back to the Irish, make Ireland Irish today. Great Britain, you are tremendous and nobody knows like me. But really, what are you doin' in the land across the sea?"
As Paul and EMI expected, the song was widely banned. The BBC and the Independent Television Authority refused to play it, but that didn’t bother Paul. He played it on Wings’ 1972 tour of UK universities and it charted at 16 in the British charts. It topped the Irish and Spanish charts.
Though Paul believed he had to write the song, he was not that pleased with the final product musically. In a 2020 interview, he said: "I’m not often specific, because it’s just not my way. I’m much more comfortable talking about it but veiling it somehow.
"I think that’s stronger. I mean, my biggest protest song was 'Give Ireland Back to the Irish'. There’s no metaphors there, that’s just dead straight. But I didn’t think it was a very successful song. I wouldn’t say it was one of my best. So to write overtly about a situation is a little more difficult for me."