The lyrics of "Back Home in Derry" were written by Bobby Sands, an Irish republican who died after 66 days of a hunger strike while being imprisoned in Long Kesh (Maze Prison) in Northern Ireland. Sands led the hunger strike in protest of the British government's refusal to grant political prisoner status to IRA inmates. His death on May 5, 1981 became a symbol of Irish resistance to British rule.
“Back Home in Derry” describes the aftermath for many Irish involved in the nationalist movements such as the Irish Rebellion of 1798 when they were forcibly taken from their homeland and transported to the penal colonies of Australia. The conditions aboard these transport ships were horrendous—overcrowded, disease-ridden, and with little chance of return. Though Bobby Sands himself never faced exile in a literal sense, the song serves as an allegory for his and his fellow prisoners' plight—trapped, oppressed, and longing for home.
Interestingly, "Back Home in Derry" is often performed to the tune of Gordon Lightfoot’s "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," a song that recounts the tragic sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior in 1975. The two songs share a common theme of hardship at sea—one dealing with the loss of a ship and crew, the other with the forced exile of Irish prisoners. The pairing of the two has helped "Back Home in Derry" resonate with folk musicians and audiences worldwide, adding to its emotional weight.