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The most famous Lennon of all time, John Lennon, was very proud of his Irish heritage. "My name is Lennon, and you can guess the rest", he told a cheering crowd of Irish Americans on a February morning in 1972. Lennon was one of 5,000 people in New York protesting the massacre of 13 unarmed civil rights marchers in Derry on Bloody Sunday the week before.
Brian Dooley, who wrote about Lennon for Irish America, noted that it was bright and cold outside the British airline offices where the rally was gathered, and John and Yoko sang their new song, "The Luck of the Irish", to the demonstrators. Two days after the protest Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono invited Irish American political activists to their home to explore ways they could help the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland.
Lennon, born in Liverpool, was obviously very much in touch with his Irish roots, despite being named John Winston Lennon in a tribute to the British Prime Minister Churchill. His grandfather Jack Lennon had been born in Dublin but spent most of his life working as a professional singer in the U.S. (he was an original member of the Kentucky Minstrels).
"The Luck of the Irish" was included on the "Some Time in New York City" album, released in June 1972, along with "Sunday Bloody Sunday", proceeds from which went to the Northern Ireland civil rights movement. Lennon was disappointed by negative reaction from disc jockeys to "Luck of the Irish", which he'd hoped to release as a single.
My grandmother was a Lennon (apparently distantly related to John), and believe you me, she wasn't English.
Oh, and Johnny Rotten and Elvis Costello are Irish, too.
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