Irish rebel song

Music genre

"Rebel music" redirects here. For other uses, see Rebel Music.

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In the music of Ireland, Irish rebel songs are folk songs which are primarily about the various rebellions against 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 physical force Irish republicanism in the context of the Easter Rising, the Irish War of Independence, the Anti-Treaty IRA during the Irish Civil War, and, more recently, the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

## History

[edit]

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 among 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 Irish Civil War in 1923, the focus has moved onto the nationalist cause in Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State, including support for the Anti-Treaty IRA, the Provisional IRA, the INLA, and Sinn Féin.[1] However, the subject matter is not confined to Irish history, and includes the exploits of the Connolly Column, who fought for the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War, and also those who participated in the American Civil War. There are also some songs that express sorrow over war (from a Republican perspective), such as Only our rivers run free, and some have been covered by bands that have tweaked lyrics to be explicitly anti-war, such as the cover of The Patriot Game by Scottish band The Bluebells.

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

[edit]

Irish rebel music has occasionally gained international attention. The Wolfe Tones' version of A Nation Once Again was voted the number one song in the world by BBC World Service listeners in 2002.[2] Many of the more popular acts recently such as Saoirse, Éire Óg, Athenrye, Shebeen, Mise Éire and Pádraig Mór are from Glasgow. The Bog Savages of San Francisco are fronted by an escapee from Belfast's Long Kesh prison who made his break in the September 1983 "Great Escape" by the IRA.

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 the place; "Fergal O'Hanlon", about the man; "Northern Gaels"/"Crumlin Jail", about the prison; "The Ballad of Mairead Farrell", about the woman; "Seán Treacy", about the man; and "Pearse Jordan", about the man.

On the occasion of his being the first Irish actor to win the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in 2024 for Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy quipped "It means a lot to me to be Irish. I don't know what else to say – should I sing a rebel song?".[5][6]

## List of notable songs by era of subject

[edit]

### Nine Years War

[edit]

* Follow me up to Carlow
* Róisín Dubh

### Rapparee songs

[edit]

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

### Jacobite songs

[edit]

* Aisling
* Mo Ghile Mear

### Irish rising of 1798

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

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

### Easter Rising of 1916

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

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

### IRA Northern Campaign

[edit]

* Sean South
* The Patriot Game

### The Troubles

[edit]

* 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.[7]
* 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.
* There Were Roses, by Tommy Sands

## Sunday Bloody Sunday (U2 song)

[edit]

Main article: Sunday Bloody Sunday

The 1983 U2 album War includes the song "Sunday Bloody Sunday", a lament for the Northern Ireland troubles whose title alludes to the 1972 Bloody Sunday shooting of Catholic demonstrators by British soldiers. In concert, Bono began introducing the song with the disclaimer "this song is not a rebel song".[8] These words are included in the version on Under a Blood Red Sky, the 1983 live album of the War Tour. The 1988 concert film Rattle and Hum includes a performance hours after the 1987 Remembrance Day bombing in Enniskillen, which Bono condemns in a mid-song rant.

In response, Sinéad O'Connor released a song with the title "This is a Rebel Song",[9] as she explains in her live album How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?

## Satire

[edit]

* During the 1990s, Irish comedian Dermot Morgan lampooned both the Wolfe Tones and the clichés of Irish rebel songs by singing about the martyrdom of Fido, an Alsatian dog who saves his IRA master in the Irish War of Independence. During a search of the house by the Black and Tans, Fido hides his master's hand grenade by eating it. When Fido farts and the grenade explodes, the British comment: "Excuse me, mate, was there something your dog ate?!"[10][11] 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!"[12][13]
* Irish-American actor and comedian Denis Leary engaged in a similarly brutal mockery of rebel songs and their cliches in Traditional Irish Song.[14]

## See also

[edit]

* Charlie and the Bhoys
* The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem[15]
* The Dubliners
* Go Lucky Four
* David Kincaid
* Christy Moore[16]
* Dermot O'Brien
* Tuan

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Millar, Stephen (2020). Sounding Dissent: Rebel Songs, Resistance, and Irish Republicanism. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. doi:10.3998/mpub.11393212. hdl:2027/fulcrum.9w0325104. ISBN 978-0-472-13194-5. S2CID 211582090.
2. ^ "The Worlds Top Ten". BBC World Service. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
3. ^ "Wolfe Tones pulled from Aer Lingus flights". BreakingNews.ie. 24 March 2003. Archived from the original on 10 March 2007. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
4. ^ "Irish Rebel Songs". Globerove. Archived from the original on 19 August 2010. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
5. ^ Patrick, Holly (19 February 2024). "'Should I sing a rebel song?': Cillian Murphy reacts after making history with Bafta best actor win". independent.co.uk. The Independent. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
6. ^ Blake Knox, Kirsty (20 February 2024). "Kirsty Blake Knox: Cillian's offer to sing a rebel song... and 10 other standout moments from the Baftas". independent.ie. The Irish Independent. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
7. ^ "Ballad Of Gerard Casey". Rebelchords.tripod.com. 4 April 1989. Archived from the original on 25 December 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
8. ^ Thrills, Adrian (26 February 1983). "War & Peace". NME. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 7 November 2007.
9. ^ Rolston, Bill (2011). "Political Song (Northern Ireland)". In Downing, John Derek Hall (ed.). Encyclopedia of Social Movement Media. SAGE Publications. p. 415\. ISBN 9780761926887. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
10. ^ Dermot Morgan performing "An Alsatian Once Again" in 1990
11. ^ An Alsatian Once Again
12. ^ Dermot Morgan performing "An Alsatian Once Again" in 1990
13. ^ An Alsatian Once Again
14. ^ Traditional Irish Song by Denis Leary.
15. ^ "The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem". Archived from the original on 25 December 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
16. ^ Christy Moore.com Back home in Derry Archived 16 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine

* v
* t
* e

Irish rebel songs

Gaelic Ireland|

* Óró sé do bheatha abhaile
* Follow Me up to Carlow
* O'Donnell Abú

United Irishmen|

* The Wind that Shakes the Barley
* The Rising of the Moon
* Kelly from Killanne
* Boolavogue
* The Wearing of the Green
* The Croppy Boy
* The Boys of Wexford
* Come All You Warriors
* Tone's Grave

Famine & Young Ireland|

* The Fields of Athenry
* Skibbereen
* Back Home in Derry
* God Save Ireland
* A Nation Once Again
* Join the British Army
* The Peeler and the Goat
* The Black Velvet Band

1916 & War of Independence|

* Amhrán na bhFiann
* Come Out, Ye Black and Tans
* The Foggy Dew
* Down by the Glenside (The Bold Fenian Men)
* The Boys of the Old Brigade
* The Valley of Knockanure
* Tri-Colored Ribbon
* The Broad Black Brimmer
* Rifles of the IRA
* Who Is Ireland's Enemy?
* Man from the Daily Mail
* Grand Old Dame Britannia
* Erin Go Bragh
* Kevin Barry
* Johnston's Motor Car
* Pat of Mullingar
* Banna Strand
* Dying Rebel

Civil War & Anti-Treaty|

* Take It Down from the Mast
* The Patriot Game
* Sean South from Garryowen

The Troubles|

* The Men Behind the Wire
* The Ballad of Joe McDonnell
* Only Our Rivers Run Free
* The People's Own MP
* Little Armalite
* Roll of Honour

Writers|

* Patrick Joseph McCall
* Timothy Daniel Sullivan
* Peadar Kearney
* Patrick Pearse
* Seán O'Casey
* Brian O'Higgins
* Bryan MacMahon
* Paddy McGuigan
* Dominic Behan
* Pete St. John
* Derek Warfield
* Mickey MacConnell

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