 "Creem" critic Dave Marsh preferred "Sunday Bloody Sunday" to "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" due to its more exciting music, but felt that Ringo Starr's "Back Off Boogaloo" was "a better statement on the subject than either".Besides being over simplistic, Blaney felt that the lyrics supporting the Irish Republican movement were hypocritical given the movement's own history of violence and Lennon's prior expressed commitment to pacifism.Du Noyer commented that Lennon's "topical punditry was not the equal of lasting art" and noted that the song has been largely forgotten in light of U2's "more thoughtful" song with the same title.