"Irish Blood, English Heart" is a song by British singer

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...

, released as the lead single to his seventh studio album ''

You Are the Quarry ''You Are the Quarry'' is the seventh studio album by English alternative rock singer Morrissey. It was released on 17 May 2004 by record label Attack, and was his first album in seven years following 1997's ''Maladjusted''. The album was a hug ...

.'' His first new song in seven years, it was released on 12 April 2004 in the United States and on 10 May 2004 in the United Kingdom. The song, described as "the most unambiguously political of his career to date", touches upon Morrissey's identity as the son of Irish immigrants living in England. Driven by the hype of Morrissey's comeback, it became his highest-charting single in the United Kingdom (alongside 2006's "

You Have Killed Me "You Have Killed Me" is the first single from English alternative rock singer Morrissey's eighth studio album, ''Ringleader of the Tormentors'' (2006). The single, written by Morrissey and Jesse Tobias, was released on 27 March 2006. Morrissey s ...

"), reaching number three on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. It is also his highest-charting single in Sweden, peaking at number four, and it reached number seven in Canada and the top 20 in Ireland and Norway.

Background and composition

"Irish Blood, English Heart" is one of the oldest-written songs on ''You Are the Quarry''. Morrissey first revealed its existence in a 1999 interview with ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'', introducing it as the likely title track to his next album. He first performed the song live in 2002, referring to the title as "the components that make up my tubby little body." The song discusses Morrissey's identity as the son of Irish immigrants growing up in Thatcher-era England, and explores the themes of contention between the two nations. It is one of Morrissey's more political songs, with him denouncing

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

Toryism A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

, the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, the Labour Party, and the British royal family. "

he lyrics He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

touch upon the disgust I feel for the British political system," Morrissey said. The song has drawn a particular following from

Mexican Americans Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

and

Hispanic and Latino Americans Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spanish and/or Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include all Americans who identify as ...

in the United States, who resonate with its themes of "split identity."

Release

In the United Kingdom, the song was first played by

Steve Lamacq Stephen Paul Lamacq (born 16 October 1964), sometimes known by his nickname Lammo (given to him by John Peel), is an English disc jockey, currently working with the BBC radio station BBC Radio 6 Music. Early life He attended The Ramsey Academy ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

on 29 March 2004. However, Radio 1 did not playlist the single. Only

XFM Radio X is a British National commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. Radio X launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station, a licensed London-wide station in 1997 and nationally in 2015 ...

, which playlisted it, provided much exposure for the single in the UK. Despite the lack of exposure on mainstream stations, "Irish Blood, English Heart" debuted at number three on the

, making it Morrissey's joint highest-charting single with or without

The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to emerg ...

, alongside "

" when it was released in 2006. Early predictions had the song reaching the number one spot, and after only debuting at number three, Morrissey criticised

for not playing the song enough despite being "the only British single in the top five." The single's world premiere occurred on the

KROQ-FM KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The stat ...

Kevin and Bean ''Kevin and Bean'' was the morning show on KROQ-FM, an alternative rock-format radio station in Los Angeles, California. It was hosted by Kevin Ryder and Gene "Bean" Baxter. The show was on the air from 1990 to 2019 and interspersed music and n ...

'' show on 22 March 2004. The song received consistent airplay throughout April and May on such

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

stations as WFNX (

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

), WWCD (

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

CIMX CIMX-FM (88.7 MHz, ''Pure Country 89'') is a commercial radio station in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It primarily serves Essex County, but has a signal that reaches the entire Detroit-Windsor metropolitan area. It is owned by Bell Media and airs a ...

(

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

), KMBY (

Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under both ...

/ Salinas),

XTRA Extra or Xtra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper * '' Extra!'', an American m ...

(

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

), and of course KROQ-FM (Los Angeles), as well as

CFNY CFNY-FM (''102.1 the Edge'') is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 102.1 Hertz, MHz in the Greater Toronto Area, licensed to the suburb of Brampton, Ontario, Brampton. CFNY plays an alternative rock format. Owned by Corus Entertainment, it ...

(

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

). The single's airplay increased over the next few months and upon its release it reached number 36 on the

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart, Morrissey's first single to chart there since "

The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get "The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get" is a song by English singer-songwriter Morrissey, co-written by Boz Boorer released as a single on 28 February 1994. It was taken from the then-unreleased '' Vauxhall and I'' album and was the first Mor ...

" in 1994.

Live performances

The song was performed live by Morrissey on his 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2014 tours. From the 2004 tour it was recorded and put on the DVD, ''

Who Put the M in Manchester? ''Who Put the M in Manchester?'' is a DVD documenting a live performance by Morrissey. The homecoming concert took place at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, on 22 May 2004, Morrissey's 45th birthday. The DVD was certified Gold by th ...

''. In December 2013, Morrissey played "Irish Blood, English Heart" as the last of his three-song set during the

Nobel Peace Prize Concert The Nobel Peace Prize Concert (Norwegian and Swedish: '')'' has been held annually since 1994 on 11 December, to honour the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The award ceremony on 10 December takes place in Oslo City Hall, while the concert has been ...

in Oslo.

Track listings

UK 7-inch single and CD1 # "Irish Blood, English Heart" # "It's Hard to Walk Tall When You're Small" UK CD2 # "Irish Blood, English Heart" # "Munich Air Disaster 1958" # "The Never Played Symphonies" UK 12-inch single, US 7-inch and CD single # "Irish Blood, English Heart" # "It's Hard to Walk Tall When You're Small" # "Munich Air Disaster 1958" # "The Never Played Symphonies"

Personnel

: vocals *

Alain Whyte Alain Gordon Whyte (pronounced Alan) (born 3 July 1967) is an English musician, songwriter, composer and singer. He was Morrissey's main songwriting partner and guitarist between 1991 and 2007. Prior to 1991, Whyte previously been in the bands ...

: guitar *

Boz Boorer Martin James "Boz" Boorer (born 19 May 1962 in Edgware, Middlesex, England) is an English guitarist and producer most known for his work founding the new wave rockabilly group the Polecats; and later for his work as a co-writer, guitarist and m ...

: guitar * Gary Day: bass * Dean Butterworth: drums *

Roger Manning Roger Manning is a New York City based singer-songwriter who plays an aggressive acoustic style of music. Manning, along with a small handful of other artists, composed the original New York City anti-folk scene. On February 6, 1985, Manning w ...

: keyboard

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

Media usage

An edited version eventually became one of the songs on the

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...

videogame ''

FIFA Football 2005 ''FIFA Football 2005'', also known as ''FIFA Soccer 2005'' in North America or simply ''FIFA 2005'', is a football simulation video game released in 2004. It was developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for the Pl ...

''s soundtrack. The game's version does not include the line "And spit upon the name

/And denounce this royal line that still salutes him. And will salute him, forever"; instead, after the verse "I've been dreaming of a time when/The English are sick to death of Labour and Tories", the song reverts to the line that begins "To be standing by the flag not feeling shameful/Racist or partial". The song has also been released as

downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enablin ...

for the console versions of the main games in the ''Rock Band'' series.

References

{{Authority control Morrissey songs 2004 singles Songs written by Morrissey Songs written by Alain Whyte Irish patriotic songs British patriotic songs Political songs 2004 songs UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles