1969 Pop Goes Northern Ireland

# Call out the instigators

# Because there's something

# In the air

# We got to get together

# Sooner or later

# Because the revolution's here

# And you know it's right

# And you know that it's right

# We have got to get it together

# We have got to get it together now

# Block off the streets and houses

# Because there's something

# In the air

# We got to get together sooner or later

# Because the revolution's here

# And you know it's right

# And you know that it's right

# We have got to get it together... #

# We're caught in a trap

# I can't walk out... #

Ever since the partition of Ireland,

after the bloody struggles of half a century ago,

power in this little parliament at Stormont

has been monopolised by one party, the Unionist Party,

devoted to the British Crown and to the Protestant religion.

# When you don't believe a word I say

# We can't go on together

# With suspicious minds

# Suspicious minds... #

Well, it's not a question of my own position.

It is a question of the future sanity in Northern Ireland.

This battle is the old battle which our forefathers fought

at Derry, Aughrim, Enniskillen and the Boyne.

CHEERING

In the coming ten days,

you're going to hear the marching feet of Protestants on the march!

CHEERING

# Je t'aime, je t'aime

# Oui, je t'aime

# Moi non plus

# Oh, mon amour

# Comme la vague

# Irresolue... #

Major Bunting, how did you first become associated with Dr Paisley?

I became his...or he became my spiritual father as, er...

I was, er...converted

to Christ through his ministry about three years ago.

-What do you think of him as a man?

-He's a wonderful man.

Are you suggesting that the Roman Catholic Church is trying to undermine Ulster?

The Roman Catholic Church has never lost sight of its primary objective

of absorbing Ulster into a 32-county Republic of Ireland.

Well, we're crashing out of Belfast there

to go back almost as abruptly

to Northern Ireland,

because I gather declaration is just about due.

It's the one in which Major Bunting is standing,

who is the Reverend Ian Paisley's right-hand man,

so let's go back again to Northern Ireland for that declaration.

Here it comes now at long last. Sorry to be a bit Irish about that.

The result of election in the Belfast constituency of Victoria,

and I declare

that Robert Hamilton Bradford

has been duly elected to serve

as member for the constituency.

Mr Returning Officer,

I would like to second

the vote of thanks,

but not the audacious, insulting remarks to the Loyalists of Bannside

that have been offered by Dr Simpson here this evening.

I would remind Dr Simpson

that in the Bannside

there are 6,331 true-blue Protestants,

who will never bow their knee to the capitulation policy of Captain O'Neill.

# If paradise is half as nice

# As heaven that you take me to

# Who needs paradise?

# I'd rather have you

# La-la, la-la, la-la, la-la

# La-la, la-la, la-la-la

# La-la, la-la-la

# La-la-la, la-la

# If paradise is half as nice

# As heaven that you take me to

# Who needs paradise?

# I'd rather have you

# Oh, yes, I'd rather have you

# La-la, la-la, la-la, la-la

# La-la, la-la, la-la-la... #

She says the Northern Ireland government is corrupt,

bigoted and self-interested.

MUSIC: White Room by Cream

I would condemn violence on Saturday, particularly the violence

of an organised force of 1,000 supposedly impartial policemen

terrorising the inhabitants of the Bogside.

I'm interested to know where you get the figure of 1,000 policemen.

If there were 1,000 policemen in Londonderry on Saturday,

well, then, I'm a Dutchman, because I know how many there were.

You wouldn't be the only Dutchman, sir, who invaded Northern Ireland.

# This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius

# Age of Aquarius

# Aquarius!

# Aquarius!

# Harmony and understanding

# Sympathy and trust abounding

# No more falsehoods or derisions

# Golden living, dreams of visions

# Mystic crystal revelation

# And the mind's true liberation Aquarius... #

We wish to make it clear that one man, one vote will not satisfy us.

# Aquarius! #

I must warn...you

of the power of the irreconcilables

and extremists whose activities could yet lead to our total ruin.

While good men sleep

and honest men play their golf and their bridge...

..these other, with unwavering zeal, one might almost say Communistic zeal,

are chipping away at the foundations of our democracy.

The first is...Major the Right Honourable JD Chichester Clark.

The second is...

..the Right Honourable Brian Falconer.

# Ever since I was a young boy

# I played the silver ball... #

To Best! Oh, a beautiful goal!

# But I ain't seen nothing like him

# In any amusement hall

# The deaf, dumb and blind kid

# Sure plays a mean pinball

# He stands like a statue

# Becomes part of the machine

# Feeling all the bumpers... #

# Get your motor running Head out on the highway

# Looking for adventure

# And whatever comes our way

# Yeah, darling, gonna make it happen

# Take the world in a love embrace

# Fire all of the guns at once and

# Explode into space

# I like smoke and lightning

# Heavy metal thunder

# Racing with the wind

# And the feeling that I'm under

# Yeah, darling, gonna make it happen

# Take the world in a love embrace

# Fire all of the guns at once and Explode into space... #

We are not doing this for publicity, mate.

We're defending this area against the police slaughtering the people.

This is why we are not surrendering this time to the police, nor are we having any truces.

The police have come in here far too often, and we are holding this area against them.

If the police just walk in, we will just clobber every last one of them.

# Born to be wild

# Get your motor running

# Head out on the highway... #

The behaviour of the Dublin government has been deplorable,

and it has been tailor-made to inflame opinion on both sides.

The moving of army units, the calling up of reserves,

the absurd approaches for United Nations intervention

have all been moves of almost incredible clumsiness and ineptitude.

# Yes, I told you

# That the light goes up and down

# Don't you notice

# How the wheel goes round... #

We've come in to help the civil power restore order.

What we want to do is to give people time to settle down.

# Before they bring the curtain down Whoohoo... #

To ask for military help is an extreme step, and it involves troops in the most disagreeable of tasks.

Nevertheless, once the situation clearly deteriorated

to the point where the civil power required assistance,

we did not hesitate to seek it.

# Talkin' about a girl that looks quite like you

# She didn't have the time to wait in the queue

# She cried away her life since she fell off the cradle. #

What happened to your house?

It was completely demolished. I have absolutely nothing, not a thing,

and the same thing applies to every person in the street.

At the very least about 200 people, men, women and children,

lost everything, and if it hadn't been for this school,

I don't know where I would have come to.

It has been very rough indeed.

This has been worse than the Blitz ever was.

# Once I believed that when love came to me

# It would come with rockets, bells... #

A soldier killed. Thank God. Thank God they killed soldiers.

# But with me and you

# It just started quietly and grew

# And believe it or not

# Now there's something groovy and good

# About whatever we got And it's getting better

# Growing stronger, warm and wilder

# Getting better every day

# Better every day... #

SIREN BLARES

# I don't feel all turned on and starry-eyed... #

The Falls Road is closed.

If you wish to get to any side streets that run off Falls Road,

you must go through the back streets of the respective sides.

Thank you.

You can also help us by moving away from this barrier wire here.

I'm quite clear...that there are

real and deep-seated...

..feelings of injustice and grievance

and feelings of discrimination

held by a number of people in Northern Ireland.

The fear is genuine.

The feelings are genuine.

And no society can be stable unless those fears are examined

and, if they are found justified, removed

by action taken to ensure that there is fair play all the way round.

# Your love is lifting me higher

# Than I've ever been lifted before... #

That's a good one, isn't it?

That's good.

# So keep it up

# Quench my desire

# And I'll be at your side forever more

# You know your love

# Keep on lifting

# Higher

# Higher and higher

# I said your love

# Keep on... #

You're not permitted to go in.

-You were given a reason.

-What...

Oh, now, you heard it yourself.

There is no reason at all.

It was a bunch of lies.

He told us first of all that the press conference was being held outside,

then he admitted that it was being held inside but we weren't allowed in.

You and I, we haven't fought before.

Well, I would like to know whether you would arrest me

if I would attempt to go in.

No, please don't.

# That's why your love

# Keep on lifting me

# Higher

# Higher and higher... #

Will you all disperse, please?

Will you all disperse? Thank you!

Well, as far as I can see, it has been going on this months,

this years from Mr Paisley came into the picture.

He has stirred the Protestants up against the Catholics.

For years, they lived in peace,

but he couldn't have that, nor he wouldn't have it,

and he stirred the Protestant people up agin the Catholics.

And as regards the Catholic people being lazy,

the Catholic boys and men around this district or any Catholic district

can't pick and choose their jobs, as that woman has told you.

The Protestants gets the pick of the jobs.

They're out for civil rights

and they've no civil rights to be out for.

You take a man here of a Protestant who is working

and his basic wage is £12-£14 per week.

You take a man in a Roman Catholic side who has no call to work.

His wages of the government are £20-£25 a week.

Can you see any hatred in Northern Ireland?

Who is on the wrong end of the stick?

# The road is long

# With many a winding turn... #

How long do you think

that you can go on doing this job

without getting really fed up with it?

-We're fed up now.

-We'd like to...

-I'd like to go home now.

-And me.

I'm fed up with it.

# But I'm strong

# Strong enough to carry him... #

Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like now to introduce you

to the CO of the Paratroop Regiment

and also some of his members, his fellow officers of his mess.

I would like you now to give them a hearty welcome into the Shankill.

# His welfare is my concern... #

Ladies, I'm scared stiff tonight, I...

-LAUGHTER

-You should be!

One of the soldiers the other day was being called by the kids,

and had been again, I know this for a long time, a Fenian B.

LAUGHTER

As you know well enough, because I've watched you clip them around the ear during the day.

He stepped out of line and battered him around the ear.

He shouldn't have done that.

The little boy went in and told his dad that this had happened,

and immediately his dad came whistling down the road with a hammer.

-SURPRISED LAUGHTER

-That soldier was in England the next morning.

I think if we look upon this

rather like, er...Cyprus,

there we had

communal trouble between two peoples who were easily recognisable.

You had your...your Turkish Cypriot and you had your Greek Cypriot.

They were quite easily definable.

But here in Ulster,

the British soldier is dealing with his own countrymen,

who all look alike and all speak alike,

and it's very confusing for him.

# Ooh-ooh, I bet you're wondering how I knew

# About your plans to make me blue... #

-Ulster is not for sale!

-CHEERING

# Between the two of us guys

# You know I love you more

# It took me by surprise, I'm afraid

# When I found out yesterday

# Don't you know that

# I heard it through the grapevine?

# Not much longer would you be mine

# Oh, I heard it through the grapevine

# Oh, I'm just about to lose my mind

# Honey, honey, yeah

# Heard it through the grapevine

# Not much longer would you be my baby

# Ooh-ooh-ooh

# I know a man ain't supposed to cry

# But these tears

# I can't hold inside... #

The coffin was carried by members of the dead man's platoon,

policemen who had been with him in the Shankill Road

on the night that he was shot.

There were also men present from the country districts.

His widow followed the coffin out of the chapel.

The dead constable's cap and belt were placed on the coffin as it was lifted into the hearse.

What happened exactly?

Well, me and the husband were sitting in the house on Sunday evening,

and it all happened about a quarter to four.

A knock came to the window, and there was about 50 of them, Protestants,

and I answered the door, and said I was to take...

they ordered us out inside of an hour.

And they told us if we didn't get out, they were going to burn us out.

-When did you move out of Hooker St?

-Sunday.

-Sunday, Sunday night.

And why did you move out?

Well, there were saying to get out or they would burn us out,

and there was a couple of people passing, they said,

"Them orange Bs should every one be burned out,

"and we will have them burned out before tonight's out."

We were frightened, and I went up to my daughter's,

and when I came back in, everything was sitting in the street.

# As the snow flies

# On a cold and grey Chicago morn

# And a poor little baby child

# Is born in the ghetto

# In the ghetto

# And his mama cries... #

And I have here in my hand a petition which was signed last night

by the residents of Disraeli Street, Leopold Street, Ottawa Street and the surrounding district.

-What does the petition say?

-The petition says, "We the people wish it to be known

"that in the cause of peace we think that at this time

"we should be better if the people of other faiths would stay out."

How do you feel about the idea of having this peace line?

Oh, certainly, as long as both sides agree.

Do you think they will?

Well, up here, you can assure they will,

up here because we didn't want trouble,

because we were the ones who was attacked.

# And the hungry little boy with the runny nose

# Plays in the street

# As a cold wind blows

# In the ghetto

# In the ghetto

# And his hunger burns

# So he starts to roam the streets at night

# And he learns how to steal

# And he learns how to fight in the ghetto... #

Pirate radio stations

have exacerbated the tension

with their own peculiar blend

of politics and provocation.

Up until a few days ago, three stations were on the air -

Radio Free Belfast on the Catholic side, Radio Ulster and Radio Orange on the Protestant.

-How have your relations been with your neighbours here?

-Oh, very good.

-How long have you been living here?

-Over a year. Two years in February.

-Did you live in this area before these flats were built?

-No, no.

-So you've moved into the area?

-I've moved in.

And if you were ill, how would you expect your neighbours to behave?

I don't want my photo taken.

Well, they're very good neighbours to me.

I would say nothing about them.

They told me to stay on, and nothing's ever happened to me.

-Are you worried at all about living here?

-No, no, no. No.

# I see a bad moon rising

# I see trouble on the way

# I see earthquakes and lightning

# I see bad times today... #

I believe that the IRA have masterminded this whole operation.

They have infiltrated and used organisations

such as the civil rights movement, the people's democracy.

# I hear hurricanes a-blowing

# I know the end is coming soon

# I fear rivers overflowing... #

MUSIC: Living In The Past by Jethro Tull

Here on the peace line is a recreational centre

for the troops occupying this part of the peace line,

but the purpose of it is so they can come together with their friends,

who will, I hope, come from all parts of the community.

You think Christmas will be a really special occasion for this?

I think it's very important that it should be,

because I should like to feel that it would set the tone for 1970.

# Happy and I'm smiling

# Walking miles to drink your water

# You know I'd love to love you

# And above you there's no other

# We'll go walking out

# While others shout of war's disaster

# Oh, we won't give in

# Let's go living in the past... #