The song, as "A Soldier's Song", was composed "early in 1910 or late in 1909",[n 1] with words by Peadar Kearney, and music by his childhood friend and neighbour Patrick Heeney, who had collaborated on songs since 1903.[4] Kearney assisted Heeney in setting the refrain.[5][6][7] Heeney composed it with his melodeon.[8] Seán Rogan, later of the Irish Citizen Army, may also have helped with the music, and first wrote it in musical notation.[6] Kearney wrote much of the text in the Swiss Café at the corner of O'Connell Street and North Earl Street.[2] The first draft of the text, handwritten on copybook paper, sold at auction in Dublin in 2006 for €760,000.[9] After being rejected by The United Irishman, Bulmer Hobson's magazine Irish Freedom published the text in 1912.[5][10] Whelan and Son of Ormond Quay, Dublin, published the lyrics for sale as a flysheet.[6][11] It was used as marching song by the Irish Volunteers and Seamus Hughes first sang it in public at a Volunteer fundraising concert.[12] It was sung by rebels in the General Post Office (GPO) during the Easter Rising of 1916.[5] Its popularity increased among rebels held in Frongoch internment camp after the Rising.[5][13]