Mury (song) - Solidarity's Anthem

Solidarity's Anthem

Despite its pessimistic conclusion (A mury rosły, rosły…, "And the walls grew, grew…") and ironically despite the intention of the poet to criticize social movements for 'stealing' the texts, the messages of struggling for independence and against oppressive authorities contained in it meant that Mury quickly gained the protest song status. It was sung by protesting workers and students and soon was accepted nationwide as the unofficial anthem of Solidarity. Its refrain (Wyrwij murom zęby krat!, "Pull the bars from the walls!") became the signal of underground Radio Solidarity and the most popular part of the song (while its last pessimistic part was often left out); a fact which Kaczmarski saw as amusing giant misunderstanding of the song's meaning. Nonetheless it became one of the most popular songs by Kaczmarski.

In 1987, after the period of severe repressions by the government managed to erode some support for Solidarity, and before the Polish Round Table Agreement of 1989, Kaczmarski, disappointed with disillusionment he saw in Polish society, wrote another song, 'Mury '87', which takes up the theme of 'Mury' and criticizes the apathy in the society. In that song, which he called an 'antonym' of 'Mury', he argued that instead of singing and hoping, people need to be acting.

In 2005, the song was performed by Jean Michel Jarre jointly with Gdańsk University Choir and the Polish Baltic Philharmonic during the concert Przestrzeń Wolności (Space of Freedom, 26 August 2005) on the occasion of the Solidarity creation's 25 anniversary.