“Harry's Game” by Clannad

"Theme from Harry's Game" was written for Harry's Game, a 1982 Yorkshire Television miniseries adapted from a novel set during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Pól and Ciarán Brennan are credited with writing it, reportedly in a couple of hours. Author Gerald Seymour had wanted a Scottish Gaelic song from Clannad's album Fuaim, but the band argued that Irish-language words would fit better.

The verse adapts a Connacht Irish proverb that Máire Brennan translated as everything that exists will pass away, a fitting line for a drama about the futility of political violence, while the chorus is traditional Irish mouth-music. Richard Dodd produced it with the band. Released in October 1982, it caught everyone off guard by climbing to number 5 on the UK chart and number 2 on the Irish one, and it remains the only British hit single sung entirely in Irish.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.