History Music

Context: The Foggy Dew is an Irish rebel song written around 1919 by Canon Charles O’Neill of County Antrim, using an older traditional melody. It was composed in the aftermath of the 1916 Easter Rising and reflects growing nationalist opposition to Irish participation in World War I under British command. The song contrasts dying for the British Empire abroad with dying for Irish independence at home, capturing a major shift in Irish public sentiment during the revolutionary period.