"Andersonstown (acoustic)" genre: Acoustic
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	"Andersonstown is about friends of ours who live in W.Belfast. Loyalist death squads - as part of their military strategy to insure Britain retains control over the six counties of Ireland - have made a practice of murdering Catholics with no connection to the political or military aspects of the conflict."
	CD: Snipers In Derelict Houses -- a benefit album for The Pat Finucane Centre, Derry, Ireland   Label: © 1999 Triage Records Credits: Diane George on tin whistle, Will Holhouser on accordian, M.X. on guitar, vocals, produced by M.X., engineered by Ray Balconis at Studio Ray, Maspeth, Queens, N.Y.C.; ©1997 Scott M.X. Turner, BMI
	Story Behind the Song This is about friends of ours who live in Andersonstown, a nationalist enclave in West Belfast. It barley touches on what they've been through. The lyrcis about St. Nick being gunned down refers to loyalist death squads who, as part of their military strategy to insure Britain retains control over the six counties of Ireland, have made a practice of murdering Catholics with no connection to the political or military aspects of the conflict. Bombay Street, where our friends used to live, was burned to the ground by loyalist gangs in 1969. "Young McAuley" is Gerald McAuley, a fifteen-year-old who did in fact die in our friend Colum's arms. He was the first IRA volunteer to die in the current phase of the conflict. This is a remake of a song that appeared on The Wrong Kind Of Asshole For America. It's a full-band version there. Here, we broke it down to a semi-trad arrangement with acoustic guitar, tin whistle and the first of Will Holshouser's three terrific accordion parts on Snipers In Derelict Houses. The line about Joe (at the end of the song) is about Joe Doherty, a republican prisoner who fought several years in the U.S. to prevent his extradition to the UK to finish a jail term for an IRA offense. (The U.S. Department of Justice under first Reagan and then Bush violated a number of U.S. laws and regulations and flat-out ignored court rulings in Joe's favor to ship him back to Belfast.) The earlier version went "People like Joe are sent away, we may never see them again." But as part of the Good Friday Peace Accord in April '98, Joe was released from prison. "For Ella and Joe it's Freedom Day, but have they fought in vain?" goes the updated line. Ella O'Dwyer is free after serving thirteen years, also for actions connected with her membership in the IRA. Many in Ireland are thankful for the current (relative) peace, but wonder if too much of the republican movement's goals are being given away in a rush to seal the deal. Time will tell. Lyrics (M.X. Turner) At home with his saracen scars, no job for twenty years. Now and then Charlie takes a chance, he's almost past the point of fear. Roisin says "of course we're tired, tired of this bloody war. The wee ones know nothing else, 'spose it's them we've been fighting for." CHORUS You can see the sun from anywhere in Andersonstown but it don't see you. You can see the sun from anywhere in Andersonstown but it don't see you. Charlie plays Father Christmas, down at the old folks home. Or for any good cause you've got, all you gotta do is phone. But they'll kill Old St. Nick, they'll gun him down, as he leaves his house, in the snow in Andersonstown. CHORUS Roisin tells how it was, like it was yesterday. How the family watched the house burn down, as Bombay Street went up in flames. Colum knelt and held the boy, there were tears in his eyes. He cried "there's nothing more that I can do!" as young McAuley left this life. CHORUS The Starry Plough . . . it gathers dust, in the national museum. For Ella and Joe, it's Freedom Day, but have they fought in vain?

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