[3] Beatles biographer John Blaney felt that Lennon's need to express his disgust at the incident caused him to write a song that is "a piece of pro-Republican propaganda that ignored the historical facts in favour of emotional blackmail".
[2] Music critic Paul du Noyer similarly described the refrains as being too simplistic to address the complexity of the longstanding Irish-British problems, although he acknowledged that they were "heartfelt".
[3] Beatle historian Bruce Spizer describes the "heavy drums and percussion" as giving the song "a reggae-styled military march sound".
[6] The instrumental parts include "wailing" guitars and saxophones played, respectively, by Lennon and Elephant's Memory's Stan Bronstein, both of which Spizer finds "weak".
[3] Besides criticising the hyperbole of the later lyrics, they also feel that Lennon detracts from his message when without reason he uses Brooklyn pronunciations of "learn" as "loyn", "burn" as "boyn" and "turn" as "toyn" in one of the verses.
[3] Lewis also provides a mixed assessment, stating that even Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness "might blanche at some of the assertions," the song is "helped by a spirited funk rock jam, where Yoko's eerie banshee wail on the chorus conjures up curious similarities with The Specials' "Ghost Town".
[4] He also regrets that Lennon couldn't get together with former partner Paul McCartney, who wrote a "simplistic and sentimental" song about the same events, "Give Ireland Back to the Irish," so that the two could together write a "decent anthem".
[11] According to Carr and fellow NME writer Tony Tyler, Lennon's prestige in England nosedived as a result of the song's accusations of genocide.