Bringin' Home the Oil is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

-themed sea shanty written in 1969 by

Tommy Makem Thomas Makem (4 November 1932 – 1 August 2007) was an internationally celebrated Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banj ...

and the

Clancy Brothers The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music group that developed initially as a part of the American folk music revival. Most popular during the 1960s, they were famed for their Aran jumper sweaters and are widely credited with popu ...

as the theme for a two-minute-long

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

for

Gulf Oil Gulf Oil was a major global oil company in operation from 1901 to 1985. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies. Prior to its merger ...

as part of their sponsorship of

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

coverage of the

US space program The space policy of the United States includes both the making of space policy through the legislative process, and the implementation of that policy in the United States' civilian and military space programs through regulatory agencies. The earl ...

and the national political conventions in celebration of Gulf Oil's then-new operations in

Bantry Bay Bantry Bay ( ga, Cuan Baoi / Inbhear na mBárc / Bádh Bheanntraighe) is a bay located in County Cork, Ireland. The bay runs approximately from northeast to southwest into the Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 3-to-4 km (1.8-to-2.5 mil ...

. Quite possibly the only song ever written about a modern-day

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cru ...

, the upbeat 6/8 melody is that of a traditional Scottish song, " The Gallant Forty Twa" which was also recorded by the Clancys. It tells the story of Gulf's 300,000 dwt ''Universe Ireland'', as well as mention of three other ships in the fleet: ''Universe Kuwait'', ''Universe Japan'', and ''Universe Portugal''. The song alludes to the construction of still more vessels; these would later be the vessels rounding out the six-vessel Universe-class fleet, namely the ''Universe Iran'' and ''Universe Korea''. Instrumentation in the song is simple, consisting of strummed banjo and

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, as well as a solo

tin whistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria ...

between verses. The song is told from the point of view of an "able-bodied sailor" who boasts of "sailin' all around the world" and "bringin' home the oil" to "keep all Europe movin' from our base in Bantry Bay." Gulf's operations from its

Whiddy Island Whiddy Island ( ga, Oileán Faoide) is an island near the head of Bantry Bay in Ireland. It is approximately long and wide. The topography comprises gently-rolling glacial till, with relatively fertile soil. As late as 1880 the island had a res ...

oil terminal in Bantry Bay ended on a night in January 1979 when the

Total Oil TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration an ...

tanker ''Betelgeuse'' exploded while unloading its cargo of Saudi crude oil. The commercial itself was simple, consisting of helicopter shots of the various vessels (beginning with the superstructure of the ''Universe Kuwait'') often in conjunction with

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

s to give the viewer a sense of scale regarding the size of the ships. One overhead shot shows five tugboats pushing on the port side of the ''Universe Ireland'' as part of a docking maneuver. The commercial, lasting more than two minutes, appeared during space flights, elections and political conventions on NBC television.

References

See also