{"id":558,"date":"2015-10-06T14:06:17","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T13:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/john-mitchel\/"},"modified":"2016-01-25T12:11:25","modified_gmt":"2016-01-25T12:11:25","slug":"john-mitchel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/john-mitchel\/","title":{"rendered":"John Mitchel"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 id=\"t:seinnteoirin1\">Play recording: John Mitchel<\/h2>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-558-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/john-mitchel.mp3?_=1\" \/><source type=\"audio\/ogg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/john-mitchel.ogg?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/john-mitchel.mp3\">https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/john-mitchel.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<div class=\"dmeite\">\n<p><span id=\"neasc-nocht-ceilth\" class=\"nmeite\">view \/ hide recording details [+\/-]<\/span><\/p>\n<ul id=\"clarMeiteashonrai\" class=\"meiteashonrai\">\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Teideal <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Title)<\/span>:<\/span> John Mitchel.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Chatal\u00f3ige Ollscoil Washington <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(University of Washington Catalogue Number)<\/span>:<\/span> 844003.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Chnuasach Bh\u00e9aloideas \u00c9ireann <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(National Folklore of Ireland Number)<\/span>:<\/span> none.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Roud <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Roud Number)<\/span>:<\/span> 5163.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Laws <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Laws Number)<\/span>:<\/span> none.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Child <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Child Number)<\/span>:<\/span> none.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Cnuasach <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Collection)<\/span>:<\/span> Joe Heaney Collection, University of Washington, Seattle.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Teanga na Cro\u00edmh\u00edre <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Core-Item Language)<\/span>:<\/span> English.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Catag\u00f3ir <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Category)<\/span>:<\/span> song.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Ainm an t\u00e9 a thug <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Name of Informant)<\/span>:<\/span> Joe Heaney.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Ainm an t\u00e9 a th\u00f3g <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Name of Collector)<\/span>:<\/span> Susan Auerbach.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">D\u00e1ta an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording Date)<\/span>:<\/span> 1982.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Su\u00edomh an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording Location)<\/span>:<\/span> unavailable.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Oc\u00e1id an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording Occasion)<\/span>:<\/span> private.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Daoine eile a bh\u00ed i l\u00e1thair <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Others present)<\/span>:<\/span> unavailable.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">St\u00e1das ch\u00f3ipcheart an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording copyright status)<\/span>:<\/span> unavailable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>I am a true-born Irishman, John Mitchel is my name<br \/>\nAnd for to join my country boys, from Newry town I came<br \/>\nI struggled hard both day and night to free my native land<br \/>\nFor which I was transported into Van Dieman&#8217;s land.<\/p>\n<p>When first to join my country boys, it was in &#8217;42<br \/>\nAnd what did follow after, I now will tell to you<br \/>\nWe raised the standard of Repeal, I gloried in the deed<br \/>\nI vowed to heaven I ne&#8217;er would rest, till old Ireland would be free.<\/p>\n<p>While in my prison cell I lay, before my trail began<br \/>\nMy darling wife came up to me; she said to me, &#8216;Dear John,<br \/>\nOh husband, dear, cheer up your heart, undaunted never be<br \/>\nIt&#8217;s better to die for Ireland than live in slavery.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Said I, &#8216;My darling girl, it grieves me to part from you<br \/>\nLikewise my young and tender babes, alas, what will they do?<br \/>\nLikewise my friends and relatives, who will mourn my sad downfall;<br \/>\nTo part from you, my native land, it grieves me more than all.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>I was placed aboard a convict ship, without the least delay<br \/>\nFrom Erin&#8217;s isle our barque was steered, I&#8217;ll never forget the day<br \/>\nAnd as I stood upon the deck to take a farewell view<br \/>\nI shed a tear, but not through fear &#8211; &#8216;Twas my native land, for you.<\/p>\n<div class=\"n\u00f3ta\u00ed-bun-leathanaigh\">\n<h2 id=\"t:notai\">Notes<\/h2>\n<p>John Mitchel (1815-1875) was an historical figure. Following a long career as a journalist with The Nation, he became a founder of The United Irishman in 1848. Later that same year, Mitchel was tried for sedition, convicted, and subsequently transported first to Bermuda and afterwards to Van Dieman&#8217;s Land (Tasmania), where he wrote his Jail Journal, one of the most influential writings of Irish nationalism.<\/p>\n<p>When interviewing Joe Heaney in London in 1963, Ewan Mac Coll asked him about this song. (The recordings Mac Coll made at that time subsequently provided the material for the double CD, The Road From Conamara, although &#8216;John Mitchel&#8217; was not included on that recording.) This transcription is taken from the electronically-published transcript of the Mac Coll-Seeger interviews.<\/p>\n<p>EM: Now, Joe, how about a Fenian song in English.<\/p>\n<p>JH: There&#8217;s a lot of them, but my favourite one is John Mitchel. He was a journalist on the United Irishman and incidentally he was a minister&#8217;s son and his father and mother wanted him to follow in his father&#8217;s footsteps and become a minister. But no, the call of Ireland went to his blood and, er, I don&#8217;t like people, there&#8217;s some people say that only Catholics died for Ireland, but that&#8217;s all wrong. So anybody who says that all the men who died for Ireland were Catholics is all wrong. Every creed and religion died for love of Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>EM: So this wasn&#8217;t a religious thing, this was a national thing?<\/p>\n<p>JH: It wasn&#8217;t a religious thing because the first president of the Republic of Ireland was a Protestant. So that killed that slogan and I don&#8217;t like people to say that. You can be a good Irishman whatever you are. A man dies for his country whatever belief he has. You can love your country before you love anything else.<\/p>\n<p>EM: Okay, then, let&#8217;s have John Mitchel.<\/p>\n<p>JH: And that was one of the men who was sent to Van Diemen&#8217;s Land, of course. And Van Diemen&#8217;s Land was &#8211; sure if you only stole a sheep you were sent to Van Diemen&#8217;s Land, at that time in Ireland. And if you loved your country, no persecution was good enough for you. So he was one man who defied them &#8211; he was a journalist at the United Irishman, that paper that was printed under the counter. And he gave it all up for the love of Ireland.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"templates\/template-full-width.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amhrain","category-amhrain-i-mbearla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1509,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions\/1509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}