The importance of Irish music-making in England is the subject of Sean Campbell's 'Irish Blood English Heart: Second Generation Irish Musicians in England' (Cork University Press, May) which uses case studies of such musicians as John Lydon, Shane MacGowan and Morrissey to highlight the ways in which second-generation Irish have contributed to popular culture in the UK.

Amazon Product Description -
"This is the first full account of second-generation Irish music-making in England. Individual musicians covered include Shane MacGowan, Cait O'Riordan, Kevin Rowland, Morrissey and Johnny Marr. The book challenges the current invisibility of the second-generation Irish in accounts of ethnicity in England. It explores the complexity and diversity of second-generation Irish identities and experience. Previous accounts have tended to view this generation as an indistinguishable part of the host population. This book takes a more nuanced approach, locating the English-born offspring of Irish migrants in a hyphenated 'Irish-Englishness' that cannot be reduced to either dimension, and which facilitates a flexible identification with both. The book draws attention to the productivity of second-generation Irish creative figures, highlighting the diverse ways in which this generation has helped shaped popular music in England. Existing accounts have neglected to consider this generation's cultural agency, stressing only the impact of the host culture on the migrant group, and thereby overlooking the highly creative ways in which the second-generation have acted upon the host culture. The book explores the creative work of second-generation Irish musicians, drawing on original interviews that the author has conducted with Shane MacGowan, Cait O'Riordan, Kevin Rowland and Johnny Marr. A vast amount of literature has been published on these musicians. However, there has been scarcely any consideration of their work from a specifically second-generation Irish perspective. The book develops innovative analyses of these musicians, presenting their work as a set of interventions and negotiations within the Anglo-Irish interface."

From: www.true-to-you.net:

I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris is one of BBC 6 Music's Top 40 tracks of 2009
1 January 2010

Morrissey's recent single "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" is at #4 in the BBC 6 Music list of the 40 best tracks of 2009. Listeners voted for the Top 40 from a shortlist of 100. The full Top 40 list is available at www.bbc.co.uk/6music/events/top40/.

The readers of the German online music-magazine www.plattentests.de voted Morrissey onto #12 of the solo artists of the year (Solokünstler des Jahres)

Furthermore:
Albums of the year (Album des Jahres): "Years Of Refusal" on #58
Songs of the year (Song des Jahres): "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" on #59

http://www.plattentests.de/pollerg2009-1.php

According to German online music-magazine www.intro.de,
"Irish Blood, English Heart" is the 23rd best song of the decade,
"First Of The Gang To Die" is the 26th best song of the decade
and "You Are The Quarry" the 25th best album of the decade.