“Men Behind The Wire” was written in 1971 by Paddy McGuigan, a member of the Irish folk band Barleycorn. It became an anthem of resistance during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
On Monday, August 9, 1971, the British government enacted a
policy of mass arrests known as “internment”. Because of this, hundreds of men
suspected of being Irish Republican paramilitaries were arrested and detained
without trial or without an exact cause. They were to be interned for an
indefinite period of time.
2,000 Irishmen, most of whom were Catholics, were taken from
their homes at 4:30 in the morning the day the policy went into effect. They
were taken to Long Kesh Concentration Camp. Many of the men were still imprisoned 10 years after
internment. These men were known as the “men behind the wire,” which is how the
song got its name.
Even though the goal of the policy was to suppress the growing violence that was occurring in Northern Ireland, it
disproportionately targeted the community of Catholic nationalists. The policy
led to outrage that caused protests and increased support for the Irish
Republican Army (IRA). The internment policy also sparked the start of the
Civil Resistance Campaign.
While the people were imprisoned, prisoners were exposed to scientifically
sophisticated torture methods. This included sensory deprivation. The goal of
these torture methods was to paralyze any resistance and stop prisoners from
gaining an independent identity. However, prisoners left the prisons and
concentration camps stronger fighters than ever before.
“Men Behind the Wire” was written by McGuigan of Barleycorn and
recorded by the Wolfe Tones. McGuigan himself was interned for simply writing Irish songs in
Ireland, particularly about things that were happening.
Barleycorn’s single of the song has sold more copies than
any other single record in Ireland’s history. The Irish population, numbering
at slightly more than four million people, have bought 250,000 copies of the
song.
The song was banned from being played across the airwaves of
the BBC and RTÉ. However, this did not prevent it from gaining popularity. It
became an anthem of Irish resistance and was, and is, sung in pubs, at marches,
and by the prisoners inside Long Kesh.
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