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Renowned Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen performed the Irish rebel classic “Kevin Barry” in unforgettable style at a 1972 concert.
In the song’s intro, Cohen talks about the horrors of war and how it kills men under the age of 20.
“I’m not trying to subject you here to another war or another worry, but there are struggles in different places and they all point to the same thing — 18- to 19-year-old men being killed,” Cohen told the audience.
He then went on to perform this memorable and famous song, which describes Kevin Barry, 18, walks In November 1920 he was hanged in Mountjoy Prison.
Shortly after Barry’s death, an unknown Irish writer penned a famous lyric that immortalized his execution in song.
The song describes Barry’s final moments as British soldiers try to turn him into an informant just hours before he faces the gallows.
It has become a signature track of Irish rebellious music and has been covered by many of Ireland’s leading artists, from The Dubliners to Wolfe Tones, from The Clancy Brothers to Christy Moore.
Cohen’s version is a marked departure from the traditional Irish incarnation, but the Canadian singer’s effort is still mesmerizing.
Although he had no ancestral ties to Ireland, Cohen Before his death in 2016, he developed a close connection with the country.
Between 2008 and 2013, Cohen played 12 shows in Dublin, Belfast and Sligo, in addition to numerous shows at Dublin’s National Stadium in the 1970s and 1980s.
The singer opened the European leg of his 1972 tour at the National Stadium and told the crowd he had been “waiting all his life to sing in Ireland”.
*Originally published February 2021. Updated August 2024.
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