Birds Eye View – The 4 of Us

There’s something special in the way The 4 of Us can casually turn a horrific series of events into nostalgia-drenched melodic memory. Much of their current record ‘Sugar Island’ touches on their experiences as children growing up in the Newry area of County Down close to the border with the Republic of Ireland and their current single ‘Birds Eye View’ is a classic example of a British Army operation at the aforementioned border witnessed through innocent and excited childhood eyes.

Baptism of fire. Smokey night in a northern town. See the sky crack open, blades come hovering down shooting lightning bolts down an empty street. Daddy shouts. Now, go to sleep.

For many children of the 1970s, the troubles proved an exciting time and for the Murphy brothers and many like them the armed tanks, jeeps, watchtowers, and helicopters were just an exciting diversion from the daily routine of school work and home life that somewhat sadly became an excepted normality.

It was only much later when some either wittingly or unwittingly got caught up in the Troubles that reality of what a harsh environment it really was hit them hard.

The 4 of Us are currently on tour throughout Ireland and thankfully the British Army ended their tour in 2007.