The Fields of Athenry
1979 song written by Pete St. John
"The Fields of Athenry" is an Irish folk ballad written in 1979 by Pete St John. Set during the Great Famine of the 1840s, the song's lyrics feature a fictional man from near Athenry in County Galway, who stole food for his starving family and has been sentenced to transportation to the Australian penal colony at Botany Bay. It has become a popular anthem for Irish sports supporters.
History
"The Fields of Athenry" was written in 1979 by Pete St John, who stated he heard a story about a young man from the Athenry area who had been caught stealing grain to feed his family during the Irish famine years, and was deported to Australia. A claim was made in 1996 that a broadsheet ballad published in the 1880s had similar words; however, the folklorist and researcher John Moulden found no basis to this claim, and Pete St. John stated that he wrote the words as well as the music.
In 1979, the song was recorded by Danny Doyle, reaching the top ten in the Irish Singles Chart. The song charted again in 1982 for Barleycorn, reaching number seven in Ireland, but the most successful version was released by Paddy Reilly in 1982. While peaking only at number four, it remained in the Irish charts for 72 weeks. Two further versions have since reached the Irish top ten: the Cox Crew getting to number five in 1999, while Dance to Tipperary peaked at number six in 2001.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “The Fields of Athenry” is 1979 song written by Pete St. John. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Fields, Athenry and song, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “1979 song written by Pete St. John” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q153274. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1979, 1996, 1982 and 1999.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “The Fields of Athenry” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.