The SAM Song

The SAM Song is one of the most powerful and openly rebellious songs featured in this archive.

Penned by Gerry O'Glacain & performed with his band The Irish Brigade, the song sits squarely situated within the context of The Troubles.

The Troubles were a result of the continuation of the British occupation of Northern Ireland. From 1969 onward, British troops patrolled the streets, enforcing a system that treated Irish Catholics as second-class citizens. Specifically, this meant denying Catholics equal housing, voting rights, and protection under the law.

In response, working-class republicans fought back with marches, hunger strikes, and armed resistance. Around this time, Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army split into the Official and Provisional factions. The Officials favored leftist politics and diplomacy, and the Provisionals (Provos) committed to armed struggle.

Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs) were sent by Libyan General Muammar Ghaddafi to the IRA in the early 1980s. The purpose of a SAM is to shoot down enemy aircraft -- in this context, that refers to British Police Helicopters. In the song, the SAM becomes more than just a weapon --it’s a metaphor for turning the balance of fear.

The song is structured in five verses. The first verse gives context to the here and now, with the narrator establishing himself as a member of the Provisional IRA, familiar with traditional weaponry like assault rifles and bombs. The verse finishes with hinting at the existence of a new weapon that has the occupying British worried about the future of the conflict.

The chorus is a rallying cry -- Tiocfaidh ár lá is Irish for "Our Day Will Come" (oft cited by Brits as a Terrorist slogan in a way that is eerily similar to Americans associating "Allahu Akbar" with Muslim terrorists). In fairness, the next line is "Sing Up the RA" which is literally expressing support for the Irish Republican Army. "SAM Missiles in the Sky" paints an image of the weapons in the air.

In verse two, the narrator steps back in time, explaining how he got involved in the IRA. He begins:

"I started out with petrol bombs and throwin' bricks and stones."

The lyrics are interesting in that the Narrator does not feel the need to explain why violent resistance (molotov cocktails) is justified -- it is understood given the context of the Troubles. It strikes me as similar to the journey of young Palestinians in the West Bank who see blatant injustice surrounding them and begin to resist by throwing stones at Israeli Tanks. By the end of the first verse, the narrator comes to the realization that lone acts of resistance would not be enough to drive out the British Occupation and joins the IRA.

Before the next verse, O'Glacain makes a joke, asking:

"Is it a bird? (No) Is it a plane? (No!) It's Super Sam!"

Verse three chronicles the events of 1971 in the North of Ireland, where Habeas Corpus was suspended & hundreds of Irishmen were imprisoned without trial on suspicions of IRA affiliation. However, the verse finishes on a *hopeful* note, with the narrator saying:

"For every man they took away, they missed 20 more."

In the fourth verse, the Narrator sings about his time in prison: how it hardened him and his resolve.

The Fifth Verse is indubitably the most powerful of the song. It references the 1981 Hunger Strike, where Bobby Sands (a Fenian and Elected member of British Parliament) and nine other men starved themselves to death in Protest of the loss of their status as Political Prisoners under the rule of Margaret Thatcher. There is a profound sadness in the narrator and the community, discussing the death of his comrades and the 1987 Loughgall Ambush where 8 IRA members were killed in an attack on an RUC base.

However, the verse ends triumphantly with the line:

"I salute my fallen comrades...

as I watch the choppers fall!"

bringing the song full circle back to the importance of the SAM missiles and the hope they brought to the resistance in the North of Ireland.

Funny enough, the SAM missiles were never successfully used by the IRA. Some think the Libyan weapons were of degraded quality, others think that the IRA did not have proper operations training with them.

Either way, the SAM song marks a pivotal moment in the late resistance during the Troubles. The song says that no matter what happens to the resistance, it will live on and fight back in ways that had not previously been imagined. Even though the SAMs never connected, the idea of them certainly did... and the song makes sure that idea never dies.