Irish rebel song

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In the music of Ireland, Irish rebel songs are folk songs which are primarily about the various rebellions against English (and later British) Crown rule. Songs about prior rebellions are a popular topic of choice among musicians which supported Irish nationalism and republicanism.

When they discuss events during the 20th and 21st centuries, Irish rebel songs focus on

The tradition of rebel music in Ireland date back to the period of English (and later British) Crown rule, and describe historical events in Irish history such as rebellions against the Crown and reinforcing a desire for self-determination amongst the Irish people and the Irish diaspora.^{[citation needed]}

As well as a deep-rooted sense of tradition, rebel songs have nonetheless remained contemporary, and since the end of the

Over the years, a number of bands have performed "crossover" music, that is, Irish rebel lyrics and instrumentation mixed with other, more pop styles. Damien Dempsey is known for his pop-influenced rebel ballads and bands like Beltaine's Fire and Kneecap combine Rebel music with Political hip hop and other genres.^{[citation needed]}

Contemporary music

Irish rebel music has occasionally gained international attention.

Music of this genre has often courted controversy with some of this music effectively banned from the airwaves in the Republic of Ireland in the 1980s. More recently, Derek Warfield's music was banned from Aer Lingus flights, after the Ulster Unionist politician Roy Beggs Jr compared his songs to the speeches of Osama bin Laden.^[3] However, a central tenet of the justification for rebel music from its supporters is that it represents a long-standing tradition of freedom from tyranny.^[4]

Themes include "Arbour Hill", about

Nine Years War

• Follow me up to Carlow
• Róisín Dubh

Rapparee songs

• Éamonn an Chnoic (a.k.a. Ned of the Hill)
• Mná na h-Éireann

Jacobite songs

• Aisling
• Mo Ghile Mear

Irish rising of 1798

• Boolavogue
• The Boys of Wexford
• The Bold Fenian Men
  a.k.a. Down by the Glenside
• Come All You Warriors
• The Croppy Boy
• Dunlavin Green
• The Minstrel Boy
• The Rising of the Moon
• The Wearing of the Green
• Tone's Grave (a.k.a. Bodenstown Churchyard)
• The Wind that Shakes the Barley

19th-century

• A Nation Once Again
• The Fields of Athenry
• God Save Ireland
• The Peeler and the Goat
• Skibbereen

Easter Rising of 1916

• Amhrán na bhFiann, (a.k.a. The Soldier's Song) – officially adopted as the Irish National Anthem on 12 July 1926
• Banna Strand (a.k.a. Lonely Banna Strand)
• The Broad Black Brimmer
• Erin Go Bragh
• The Foggy Dew (Irish ballad)
• James Connolly; about
  the man
• Oró Sé do Bheatha 'Bhaile

Irish War of Independence

• The Boys of the Old Brigade
• Come Out, Ye Black and Tans
• Johnston's Motor Car
• Kevin Barry
• Mise Éire
• The Valley of Knockanure

Irish Civil War

• Soldiers of '22
• Take It Down from the Mast

IRA Northern Campaign

• Sean South
• The Patriot Game

The Troubles

• Alternative Ulster, 1978
• Belfast Brigade
• Back Home in Derry, by Bobby Sands; to the tune of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
• Connaught Rangers (a.k.a. The Drums Were Beating), about the regiment
• Four Green Fields by Tommy Makem
• Give Ireland Back To The Irish
• Go on home, British soldiers
• The Helicopter Song
• Irish Citizen Army; about the organisation
• Irish Volunteers; about the organisation
• Join the British Army
• My Little Armalite
• The Men Behind the Wire
• Roll of Honour
• Sunday Bloody Sunday (by John Lennon and Yoko Ono — the U2 song of the same name is "not a rebel song")
• Tiocfaidh ár lá (a.k.a. SAM song))
• You'll Never Beat the Irish
• Ambush At Drumnakilly
• Arthur McBride
• The Boy from Tamlaghtduff
• Dying Rebel
• Four Green Fields
• Gerard Casey; about the man.^[5]
• Ireland Unfree; named for the oration
• Joe McDonnell; about the man
• Martin Hurson; about the man
• Men of the West;
• Only Our Rivers Run Free; by Mickey MacConnell
• Pat of Mullingar
• The People's Own MP
• Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six
• Tom Williams; about
  the man
  .
• Tommy Sands

Sunday Bloody Sunday (U2 song)

The 1983

• During the
  hand grenade by eating it. When Fido farts and the grenade explodes, the British comment: "Excuse me, mate, was there something your dog ate?!"^[8][9] In a parody of Thomas Osborne Davis' famous rebel song "A Nation Once Again", the song climaxes with the words: "Another martyr for old Ireland, by Britannia cruelly slain! I hope that somewhere up there I hope he'll be an Alsatian once again! An Alsatian once again! An Alsatian once again! That Fido who's now in ribbons will be an Alsatian once again!"^[10][11]
• Traditional Irish Song.^[12]

• Charlie and the Bhoys
• The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem^[13]
• The Dubliners
• Go Lucky Four
• David Kincaid
• Christy Moore^[14]
• Dermot O'Brien
• Tuan

References