Seen by most as a fun-filled 1960s romp, *A Hard Day’s Night* is in fact a Beatles movie with an anti-British undercurrent filled with pro-Fenian rhetoric.
I have found the Fountain of Youth. It’s called watching The Beatles in *A Hard Day’s Night*. Not only do you get to hear several of their early ’60s hits, but you also get to laugh at the absurdities of the world through the eyes of youth.
The film is a comedy in the spirit of the Marx Brothers and, with a wink of the eye, casts a cold stare against the Cold War, future stupid wars, austerity, and the general political bulls–t of the time—which, ironically, we are still living through today.
This is a subversive film, very dangerous in its own way.
Ironically, it came out in 1964—the same year that gave us *Dr. Strangelove*, the ultimate subversive film and perhaps the best statement of the century on the stupid politics of the century. It’s like the kids of the time—and I was one of them—are telling the world through this Beatles flick that they are sick and tired of listening to politicians and all their fearmongering about nuclear bombs, communism, and the everlasting Cold War.
There is a memorable scene on the train at the beginning where the band members are trapped in a compartment with a regular commuter—armed with a bowler hat and ubiquitous umbrella—the symbolic backbone of Britain. First, he closes the window. The boys protest. Then they turn on their radio loud and clear, and he turns it off. “I fought the war for your sort!” he finally says. And Ringo has the perfect reply: “I bet you’re sorry you won!”
**Fenians Unite!**
There is also something else that delighted me about *A Hard Day’s Night*: its wonderful anti-British, pro-Fenian rhetoric. This is most evident in Paul McCartney’s supposed grandfather, John McCartney, played by Dublin-born actor Wilfrid Brambell—perhaps best known for his appearances on *Steptoe and Son* on British television.
He’s a disruptive, scheming, lecherous old bastard capable of anything. People often say what a clean old man he is—but actually, he is the opposite: a dirty old man. Wanting to go to a casino where sin is sure to be on duty, he swaps his clothes for the tuxedo of the room service waiter and soon finds himself bending over a gaming table. He spies a well-endowed young woman and comments, “I bet you’re a great swimmer!”
He is known in the casino as Lord John McCartney, a millionaire Irish peer—filthy rich, of course! After losing nearly 200 pounds, he is rescued by the boys.
Grandfather McCartney is eventually rounded up by the police for selling forged Beatle autographs. He then goes right after the poor police desk sergeant:
“Ya ugly great brute, ya got sad-ism stamped all over your bloated British kisser!”
Not to be outdone, he invokes an Irish weapon of war:
“I’ll go on hunger strike. I’m a soldier of the Republic!”
He then sings several choruses of *A Nation Once Again*.
The boys do some anti-British mocking of their own, led mostly by John Lennon. While Lennon is being measured by a tailor, he turns around, scissors in hand, and cuts the measuring tape, declaring regally, “I now declare this bridge open”—a clear mockery of the Royal Family and their civic contributions of the day, such as ribbon cuttings.
Lennon also recreates the sea battles of World War II in the bathtub with a toy submarine, alternately singing *Rule Britannia* and *Deutschland Über Alles*. This is a far cry from the heroic British naval films of the day such as *Pursuit of the Graf Spee* and *Sink the Bismarck*.
Then there’s Lennon dressed as a disheveled Abraham Lincoln, admonishing:
“This older generation is leading this country to galloping ruin! The younger generation will be heard!”
A tip of the hat should go to screenwriter Alun Owen, who received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Owen was from Wales, but his mother was of Irish descent, perhaps explaining the many nationalist proclamations in the production.
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### How Irish Were The Beatles?
“Were all Irish,” John Lennon famously declared when The Beatles toured Ireland in the fall of 1963. Indeed, there was a lot of Irish blood in The Beatles.
Paul McCartney, with the most Irish name, was the product of a union between Jim McCartney and his wife Mary Patricia (née Mahon). McCartney’s maternal grandfather was born in Ireland and was Catholic, while his great-grandfather—also born in Ireland—was Protestant.
John Lennon’s father was a merchant seaman of Irish descent. Lennon declared in 1971:
“I’m a quarter Irish or half Irish or something,” and, long before The Troubles started, he told Yoko Ono that’s where they were going to retire. “We went around Ireland a bit and stayed there and had a sort of second honeymoon. So, I was completely involved in Ireland.” In fact, he bought an island off the west coast of Ireland for his retirement plans.
Even Ringo Starr, born Richard Starkey, had some Irish blood traceable to County Mayo. Perhaps the most Irish of all The Beatles was George Harrison. His mother was an Irish Catholic, and he often visited Ireland to see family who lived on the Northside of Dublin.
So, it seems the infamous British Invasion was led by a quartet of Irish Wild Geese musicians!
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### The Troubles Bring Out The Irish in The Beatles
When The Troubles broke out in Northern Ireland in 1969, two of The Beatles actively protested British occupation of Ireland.
John Lennon, collaborating with Yoko Ono, wrote **Sunday, Bloody Sunday** in response to the British killing 14 Irishmen in Derry on January 30, 1972.
*Sunday, Bloody Sunday* features bitter, virulent, and devastating lyrics:
> You Anglo pigs and Scotties
> Sent to colonise the North
> You wave your bloody Union Jacks
> And you know what it’s worth
> How dare you hold to ransom
> A people proud and free
> Keep Ireland for the Irish
> Put the English back to sea.
It continues:
> Well, it’s always Bloody Sunday
> In the concentration camps
> Keep Falls Road free forever
> From the bloody English hands
> Repatriate to Britain
> All of you who call it
https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/genealogy/beatles-irish-heritage