Irish rebel music
Encyclopedia
Irish rebel music is a subgenre of Irish folk music, with much the same instrumentation, but with lyrics predominantly concerned with Irish republicanism
.
The tradition of rebel music in Ireland dates back many centuries, dealing with historical events such as uprisings, describing the hardships of living under oppressive rule, but also strong sentiments of solidarity, loyalty, determination, as well as praise of valiant heroes.
As well as a deep-rooted sense of tradition, rebel songs have nonetheless remained contemporary, and since 1922, the focus has moved onto the nationalist cause in Northern Ireland, including support for the IRA and Sinn Féin. However, the subject matter is not confined to Irish history, and includes the exploits of the Irish Brigades who fought for both France and Spain, and also those who fought during the American Civil War.
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 Seanchai and the Unity Squad and Beltaine's Fire
combine Rebel music with Political hip hop
and other genres.
' version of A Nation Once Again
was voted the number one song in the world by BBC World Service
listeners in 2002. Many of the more popular groups 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 Jnr compared his songs to the speeches of Osama bin Laden
. However, a central tenet of the justification for rebel music from its supporters is that it represents a long-standing tradition of freedom of speech.
The Rising
's 1983 hit, "Sunday Bloody Sunday
", contrary to popular belief, is "not a rebel song" as lead singer Bono
would say during their War Tour
before they played the song. Its lyrics describe the horror felt by an observer of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, mainly focusing on the Bloody Sunday
incident in Derry where British troops shot at civil rights marchers. The song suggests, not that Northern Ireland should become its own state or that the British continue to rule, but that they should find a solution to the dispute without violence.
In response, Sinead O'Connor released a song with the title of 'This is a Rebel Song'.
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
.
History
As well as a deep-rooted sense of tradition, rebel songs have nonetheless remained contemporary, and since 1922, the focus has moved onto the nationalist cause in Northern Ireland, including support for the IRA and Sinn Féin. However, the subject matter is not confined to Irish history, and includes the exploits of the Irish Brigades who fought for both France and Spain, and also those who fought during the American Civil War.
Over the years, a number of bands have performed "crossover" music, that is, Irish rebel lyrics and instrumentation mixed with other, more pop
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
styles. Damien Dempsey
Damien Dempsey
Damien Dempsey is an Irish singer and songwriter who mixes traditional Irish folk with contemporary lyrics to deliver social comment on the positive and negative aspects arising from Ireland's Celtic Tiger society.-Early life:...
is known for his pop-influenced rebel ballads and bands like Seanchai and the Unity Squad and Beltaine's Fire
Beltaine's Fire
Beltaine's Fire is a five-member Hip Hop/Folk-Rock/Celtic Fusion collective from the San Francisco Bay Area in California fronted by Emcee Lynx. Their music has evolved considerably over the years...
combine Rebel music with Political hip hop
Political hip hop
Political hip hop is a sub-genre of hip hop music that developed in the 1980s. Inspired by 1970s political preachers such as The Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron, Public Enemy were the first political hip hop group...
and other genres.
Contemporary music
Irish rebel music has occasionally gained international attention. The Wolfe TonesWolfe Tones
The Wolfe Tones are an Irish rebel music band who incorporate elements of Irish traditional music in their songs. They are named after the Irish rebel and patriot Theobald Wolfe Tone, one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, with the double entendre that a wolf tone is a spurious sound...
' version of A Nation Once Again
A Nation Once Again
"A Nation Once Again" is a song, written in the early to mid-1840s by Thomas Osborne Davis . Davis was a founder of an Irish movement whose aim was the independence of Ireland....
was voted the number one song in the world by BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
listeners in 2002. Many of the more popular groups recently such as Saoirse , Éire Óg, Athenrye, Shebeen, Mise Éire and Pádraig Mór
Mór
Mór is a town in Fejér county, Hungary. Among the smaller towns in the middle Transdanubian region of Hungary, it lies between Vértes and Bakony Hills, in the northwestern corner of Fejér Country. The historic roots of the present town go back to the Celtic an Roman Period...
are from Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. 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"
Maze Prison escape
The Maze Prison escape took place on 25 September 1983 in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. HM Prison Maze was a maximum security prison considered to be one of the most escape-proof prisons in Europe, and held prisoners convicted of taking part in armed paramilitary campaigns during the Troubles...
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
Derek Warfield
Derek Warfield is an Irish singer, songwriter, historian, and a founding member of the musical group Wolfe Tones.-Personal life:Warfield was born the eldest of four in Inchicore, Dublin in 1943 and he was educated at Synge Street CBS. He was apprenticed as a tailor until becoming a folk musician....
's music was banned from Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus Group Plc is the flag carrier of Ireland. It operates a fleet of Airbus aircraft serving Europe and North America. It is Ireland's oldest extant airline, and its second largest after low-cost rival Ryanair...
flights, after the Ulster Unionist politician Roy Beggs Jnr compared his songs to the speeches of Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
. However, a central tenet of the justification for rebel music from its supporters is that it represents a long-standing tradition of freedom of speech.
List of notable artists
- Athenrye
- Alistair HulettAlistair HulettAlistair Hulett, was a Scottish acoustic folk singer and revolutionary socialist, best known as the singer of the folk punk band, Roaring Jack.-Early life:...
- Barleycorn
- Battering Ram
- Bible Code Sundays
- Bik mcFarlaneBrendan McFarlaneBrendan "Bik" McFarlane is an Irish republican activist. Born into a Roman Catholic family, he was brought up in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast, Northern Ireland. At 16, he left Belfast to train as a priest in a north Wales seminary...
- Billy BriggsBilly BriggsBilly Worth Briggs III is an American independent musician and songwriter residing in McKinney, Texas. He has written numeroussongs.-Career:...
- Black 47
- The Bleeding Irish: Friotaíocht The Bleeding Irish
- The Spirit of Sixty 7
- No Irish Need Apply Bluestack
- The Bog Savages: Playing Irish rebel music in the San Francisco Bay area The Bog Savages
- Tommy Dempsey
- David kincaidDave KincaidDave Kincaid co-founded the New York band The Brandos with Ernie Mendillo in 1985. Besides playing with The Brandos, Kincaid has also released two albums of Irish music under the name David Kincaid....
- Dan HannonDan HannonDan Hannon is a Producer, engineer, mixer, songwriter, and musician. Dan just recently finished production of the "Simple Math" LP, to be released May 10, 2011, for Sony/Favorite Gentlemen artist Manchester Orchestra...
- Declan Hunt
- Blackstairs Rebel
- Ciaran Murphy
- Boston's Erin Og
- Erins Rogues
- Charlie and The BhoysCharlie and The BhoysCharlie and the Bhoys are a Celtic/Irish band from Scotland and Ireland. The band played their first concert at the Squirrel Bar near the Gallowgate, Glasgow in 1989...
- Christy MooreChristy MooreChristopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts...
- The Clancy BrothersThe Clancy BrothersThe Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music singing group, most popular in the 1960s, they were famed for their woolly Aran jumpers and are widely credited with popularizing Irish traditional music in the United States. The brothers were Patrick "Paddy" Clancy, Tom Clancy, Bobby Clancy...
- Derek WarfieldDerek WarfieldDerek Warfield is an Irish singer, songwriter, historian, and a founding member of the musical group Wolfe Tones.-Personal life:Warfield was born the eldest of four in Inchicore, Dublin in 1943 and he was educated at Synge Street CBS. He was apprenticed as a tailor until becoming a folk musician....
- Fianna
- Gary Óg
- Hair Of The Dog
- InnisfáilInnisfailInnisfail may refer to:*Innisfail, Queensland, town in Australia*Innisfail, Alberta, town in Canada*Inisfail, poetic name for Ireland...
- Irish Brigade
- Mise ÉireMise ÉireMise Éire is a 1912 Irish-language poem by the Irish poet and Republican revolutionary leader Patrick Pearse. In the poem, Pearse personifies Ireland as an old woman whose glory is past and who has been sold by her children. The poem inspired a 1959 film of the same name by George Morrison and a...
- Liam Byrne
- The Paddywagon Band
- Paddy Rooney
- Padraig Mór
- Pangur Bán
- Pat Chessell
- Rebel Hearts
- Saoirse
- Seanchai
- ShebeenShebeenA shebeen was originally an illicit bar or club where excisable alcoholic beverages were sold without a licence.The term has spread far from its origins in Ireland, to Scotland, Canada, the United States, England,...
- Sinéad O'ConnorSinéad O'ConnorSinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
- Slievenamon
- Music of Mark O'Neill
- Spirit of Freedom
- Seanchai & the Unity Squad
- Summerfly
- Ten Second March
- The Galtee Mountain Bhoys
The Rising
- Ray Collins
- The DublinersThe DublinersThe Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...
- The Foggy Dew
- The Wakes
- Young DublinersYoung DublinersThe Young Dubliners is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1988. Their style of music has come to be called Celtic Rock, for the fusion of Irish traditional instruments and music with modern rock...
- Wilderness 1916
- Wolfhound
- Wolfe TonesWolfe TonesThe Wolfe Tones are an Irish rebel music band who incorporate elements of Irish traditional music in their songs. They are named after the Irish rebel and patriot Theobald Wolfe Tone, one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, with the double entendre that a wolf tone is a spurious sound...
- The Young Wolfe Tones
- The Village Folk
- Mike Fox AKA FoxyBhoy
List of notable songs
- Belfast BrigadeBelfast Brigade"Belfast Brigade" is an Irish folk song, to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic".-Context:The song is about the Belfast Brigade of the Irish Republican Army , and in particular the 1st, or West Belfast battalion, during the Irish War of Independence in the 1920s...
- Back Home in Derry
- Come All You WarriorsCome All You WarriorsCome All You Warriors is a ballad concerning the rebellion against British rule that took place largely in Wexford, Ireland in 1798...
- Come Out Ye Black And TansCome out Ye Black and Tans"Come Out, Ye Black and Tans" is an Irish rebel song referring to the Black and Tans, the British paramilitary police auxiliary force in Ireland during the 1920s. The song was written by Dominic Behan as a tribute to his father Stephen; often authorship of the song is attributed to Stephen...
- Connaught Rangers (aka The Drums Were Beating)
- The Decommission Song / Stuff Your Decommission
- Erin Go BraghErin Go BraghErin go Bragh , sometimes Erin go Braugh, is the anglicisation of a Gaelic phrase, and is used to express allegiance to Ireland. It is most often translated as "Ireland Forever."-Origin:...
- Follow me up to CarlowFollow Me up to Carlow"Follow Me Up to Carlow" is an Irish folk song celebrating the defeat of an army of 3,000 English soldiers by Fiach Mac Aodh Ó Broin at the Battle of Glenmalure, during the Second Desmond Rebellion in 1580.-Composition:...
- Peter Crowley
- Connolly Was There
- Fighting Men from Crossmaglen
- Join the British ArmyJoin the British ArmyAt the beginning of the First World War John Redmond appealed to Irish Volunteers to join the British army. As this song shows, not everyone was enthusiast about this idea and a conflict was inevitable...
- Give Ireland Back To The IrishGive Ireland Back to the Irish"Give Ireland Back to the Irish" is a Paul and Linda McCartney song written in response to the events of Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland on 30 January 1972...
- Go On Home British Soldiers
- God Save IrelandGod Save Ireland"God Save Ireland" is an Irish rebel song. It served as an unofficial Irish national anthem for Irish nationalists from the 1870s to the 1910s. During the Parnellite split it was the anthem of the anti-Parnellite Irish National Federation....
- Green, White and Gold
- Irish Citizen ArmyIrish Citizen ArmyThe Irish Citizen Army , or ICA, was a small group of trained trade union volunteers established in Dublin for the defence of worker’s demonstrations from the police. It was formed by James Larkin and Jack White. Other prominent members included James Connolly, Seán O'Casey, Constance Markievicz,...
- Johnston's Motor CarJohnston's Motor CarJohnston's Motor Car is an Irish rebel song written by Willy Gillespie based on the commandeering of a motor car belonging to a Doctor Johnston by the Irish Republican Army....
- Let the People SingBrian WarfieldBrian Warfield is the vocalist, banjo, harp and bodhrán player, as well as the lead songwriter with long-standing Irish band The Wolfe Tones. He also introduces many of the songs on stage, after the departure of his brother Derek Warfield from the band....
- My Fathers Gun
- My Little ArmaliteLittle Armalite"Little Armalite", "My Little Armalite" or "Me Little Armalite" is an Irish Republican song that praises the Armalite rifle which was used by republican paramilitaries against the British security forces in Northern Ireland....
- Northern Gaels/Crumlin Jail
- Oró Sé do Bheatha 'BhaileOró Sé do Bheatha 'BhaileÓró, Sé do Bheatha 'Bhaile is a traditional Irish song, that came to be known as an Irish rebel song in the early 20th century.-History:...
- Say Hello To The Provos
- Some Say the Devil is Dead
- Roll Of Honour
- The Bold Fenian Men
- Tiocfaidh ár láTiocfaidh ár láTiocfaidh ár lá is an Irish language phrase which translates as "our day will come", the hoped-for day being that of a united Ireland. It became a popular slogan with militant Irish republicans in the 1980s.-Origins:...
- The Great Fenian RamFenian RamFenian Ram is a submarine designed by John Philip Holland for use by the Fenian Brotherhood, American counterpart to the Irish Republican Brotherhood, against the British...
- The Broad Black BrimmerThe Broad Black BrimmerThe Broad Black Brimmer is an Irish Republican folk song written by Noel Nagle of the Wolfe Tones.The song narrates the story of a boy whose father died before he was born, fighting in the Irish Republican Army. The narrator is asked by his mother to try on his father's old uniform and as he does...
- The Eyes Of The IRA
- The Helicopter SongThe Helicopter Song"The Helicopter Song" is a Number 1 single by the Irish traditional band the Wolfe Tones.-Background:The song tells the story of the 1973 escape of three Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoners from Dublin's Mountjoy Prison...
- The Men Behind the WireThe Men Behind the Wire"The Men Behind The Wire" is a song written and composed by Paddy McGuigan of the Barleycorn folk group in the aftermath of internment.The song was recorded by the Barleycorn in Belfast and pressed in Dublin by Release Records in December 1971...
- The Minstrel BoyThe Minstrel Boy"The Minstrel Boy" is an Irish patriotic song written by Thomas Moore who set it to the melody of The Moreen, an old Irish air. It is widely believed that Moore composed the song in remembrance of a number of his friends, whom he met while studying at Trinity College, Dublin and who had...
- Old Fenian Gun
- The Peeler and the GoatThe Peeler and the Goat"The Peeler and the Goat" is an old Irish ditty that continues to be sung in taverns and pubs throughout the world.- History :Originally written by Darby Ryan of Bansha, Tipperary, over a century and a half ago, The Peeler and the Goat was inspired by a number of factors affecting 19th century...
- The Rifles of the IRA
- The Sam Song
- You'll Never Beat the Irish
- My Old Mans A Provo
Ballads
- Ambush At DrumnakillyAmbush at DrumnakillyAmbush at Drumnakilly is an Irish rebel song about an event in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland which occurred on August 30, 1988: three volunteers of the Provisional IRA , brothers Martin and Gerard Harte and Brian Mullin , were ambushed and killed by the Special Air Service .The IRA members were...
- Amhrán na bhFiannAmhrán na bhFiannis the national anthem of Ireland. The music was composed by Peadar Kearney and Patrick Heeney, and the original English lyrics were authored by Kearney. It is sung in the Irish language translation made by Liam Ó Rinn. The song has three verses, but the national anthem consists of the chorus only...
(aka The Soldier's Song) - The Irish National Anthem - A Nation Once AgainA Nation Once Again"A Nation Once Again" is a song, written in the early to mid-1840s by Thomas Osborne Davis . Davis was a founder of an Irish movement whose aim was the independence of Ireland....
- Banna StrandBanna Strand (song)Banna Strand is an Irish rebel song about the failed transport of arms into Ireland for use in the Easter Rising. Authorship of the song is unknown...
(aka Lonely Banna Strand) - BoolavogueBoolavogue (song)"Boolavogue" is a famous Irish ballad commemorating the Irish Rebellion of 1798. It was composed by Patrick Joseph McCall in 1898, for the centenary of the Rebellion issued Irish Noíníns ....
- Death Before Revenge
- Down by the Glenside (The Bold Fenian Men)Down by the Glenside (The Bold Fenian Men)"Down by the Glenside " is an Irish rebel song written by Peadar Kearney, an Irish Republican and composer of numerous rebel songs, including "The Soldier's Song" , now the Irish National Anthem....
- Dunlavin GreenDunlavin GreenDunlavin Green is an Irish ballad referring to the Dunlavin Green massacre which occurred in Dunlavin in Ireland in 1798 and resulted in the execution of 36 suspected rebel prisoners. The song is written from the perspective of a witness to the massacre. The song is one of the most popular Irish...
- Dying RebelDying RebelThe Dying Rebel is an Irish rebel song about a man finding a dying Irish rebel from County Cork in Dublin during the 1916 Easter Rising. A popular version of the song was recorded by Éire Óg, although the song was written decades before the band formed....
- Éamonn an ChnoicÉamonn an Chnoic"Éamonn an Chnoic" is a popular song in traditional Irish music. It is a slow, mournful ballad with a somber theme and no chorus.-Overview:...
(aka Ned of the Hill) - Foggy DewFoggy Dew-Foggy, Foggy Dew:The first song of this title was of English origin, sometimes called “Foggy, Foggy Dew”, and is a lamentful ballad of a young lover. It was published on a broadside around 1815, though there are very many versions: Cecil Sharp collected eight versions. Burl Ives, who popularized...
- Four Green FieldsFour Green FieldsFour Green Fields is a 1967 folk song by Irish musician Tommy Makem, described in the New York Times as a "hallowed Irish leave-us-alone-with-our-beauty ballad." Of Makem's many compositions, it has become the most familiar, and is part of the common repertoire of Irish folk musicians.-Content and...
- Gerard CaseyGerard Casey (Irish republican)Gerard Casey was a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, 1st North Antrim Brigade.In October 1988 Gerard Casey's home in Rasharkin was raided by the Royal Ulster Constabulary....
- Ireland Unfree
- Kevin BarryKevin Barry (song)"Kevin Barry" is a popular Irish rebel song recounting the death of Kevin Barry, a member of the Irish Republican Army who was hanged on 1st November 1920. He was 18 years old at the time. He is one of a group of IRA members executed in 1920-21 collectively known as The Forgotten Ten.The ballad...
- Only Our Rivers Run Free
- Pearse JordanPearse JordanPearse Jordan was a Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer killed whilst unarmed, by a Royal Ulster Constabulary officer...
- Sean South
- Seán TreacySeán Treacy (Irish Republican)Seán Treacy was one of the leaders of the Third Tipperary Brigade of the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence. He helped to start the conflict in 1919 and was killed in a shootout with British troops in Talbot Street, Dublin during an aborted British Secret Service...
- SkibbereenSkibbereen (song)Skibbereen, also known as Dear Old Skibbereen, is an Irish folk song, in the form of a dialogue wherein a father tells his son about the Irish famine, being evicted from their home, and the need to flee as a result of the Young Ireland rebellion of 1848.-History:The first known publication of the...
- Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham SixStreets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six"Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six" is a political song by the Irish folk punk band The Pogues, written by Terry Woods and Shane MacGowan and included on the band's 1988 album If I Should Fall from Grace with God....
- The Ballad of Mairead FarrellMairéad FarrellMairéad Farrell was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army . She was killed by SAS soldiers during Operation Flavius, a British Army operation to prevent a bombing in Gibraltar.-Early life:...
- Take It Down from the MastTake It Down from the MastTake it Down from the Mast is an Irish Republican song written by Dominic Behan during the 1950s. Although it officially refers to the period of the Irish Civil War , it was written as a direct attack on those who acknowledged the Government of Ireland at the time of its writing.The flag in...
- The Ballad of Ballinamore
- Ballad of Mairead FarrellMairéad FarrellMairéad Farrell was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army . She was killed by SAS soldiers during Operation Flavius, a British Army operation to prevent a bombing in Gibraltar.-Early life:...
- The Boys of the Old BrigadeThe Boys of the Old BrigadeFor the English slow march, see The Old BrigadeThe Boys of the Old Brigade is an Irish republican folk song written by Paddy McGuigan about the Irish Republican Army of the Irish War of Independence , and the anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising.-Lyrics:The song describes a veteran of the Easter...
- The Boys of WexfordThe Boys of Wexford"The Boys of Wexford" is a famous Irish ballad commemorating the Irish Rebellion of 1798. The ballad was lyrics were composed by Patrick Joseph McCall and music by Arthur Warren Darley, who also composed other wexford ballads "Boolavogue", "Kelly the Boy from Killanne".-Lyrics::We are the boys of...
- The Croppy BoyThe Croppy Boy"The Croppy Boy" is an Irish ballad set in 1798 rising and is one of the saddest ballads of the rebellion, relating the despair of a doomed young "croppy" or rebel.-Broadside versions:...
- The Fields of AthenryThe Fields of Athenry"The Fields of Athenry" is an Irish folk ballad set during the Great Irish Famine about a fictional man named Michael from near Athenry in County Galway who has been sentenced to transportation to Botany Bay, Australia, for stealing food for his starving family...
- The Patriot GameThe Patriot Game"The Patriot Game" is an Irish ballad about an incident during the Border Campaign launched by the Irish Republican Army during the 1950s to bring about the reunification of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland. It was written by Dominic Behan, younger brother of playwright Brendan...
- The People's Own MPThe People's Own MPThe People's Own MP is an Irish rebel song about Bobby Sands, one of the Irish hunger strikers.The song was written by Bruce Scott for Christy Moore's 1986 album, The Spirit of Freedom. It has been described as an example of the "hero-martyr" genre of rebel music in which the "intellectual,...
- The Rising of the MoonThe Rising of the Moon"The Rising of the Moon" is an Irish ballad recounting a battle between the United Irishmen and the British Army during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.-Description:...
- The Town I Loved So WellThe Town I Loved So Well"The Town I Loved So Well" is a song written by Phil Coulter about his childhood in Derry, Northern Ireland. The first three verses are about the simple lifestyle he grew up with in Derry, while the final two deal with the Troubles, and lament how his placid hometown had become a major military...
- The Valley of KnockanureThe Valley of KnockanureThe Valley of Knockanure is the name of several ballads commemorating an atrocity that occurred during the War of Independence at Gortaglanna near Knockanure, County Kerry, Ireland. The best-known of these was written by teacher and poet Bryan MacMahon The Valley of Knockanure is the name of...
- The Wearing of the GreenThe Wearing of the Green"The Wearing of the Green" is an anonymously-penned Irish street ballad dating to 1798. The context of the song is the repression around the time of the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Wearing a shamrock in the "caubeen" was a sign of rebellion and green was the colour of the Society of the United...
- The Wind that Shakes the BarleyThe Wind That Shakes the Barley (song)"The Wind That Shakes the Barley" is an Irish ballad written by Robert Dwyer Joyce , a Limerick-born poet and professor of English literature. The song is written from the perspective of a doomed young Wexford rebel who is about to sacrifice his relationship with his loved one and plunge into the...
- There Were Roses
- Tom Williams
- Tone's GraveTone's GraveTone's Grave, often referred to as Bodenstown churchyard, was written by Thomas Davis , the Young Ireland leader, and published first in their newspaper "The Nation". It was written following his visit to the grave of Wolfe Tone in Bodenstown, co. Kildare c...
(aka Bodenstown Churchyard) - Women of IrelandWomen of Ireland"Women of Ireland", or "Mná na hÉireann" in Irish, is a song composed by Seán Ó Riada . The poem, on which the music is based, was written by Peadar Ó Dornín . Usually it falls under the category of Irish rebel music...
(aka Mná na h-Éireann) - Pat of MullingarPat of MullingarPat of Mullingar is an Irish rebel song has been sung and recorded by many different folk artists, including the Irish Rovers, Derek Warfield and The Wolfe Tones-Lyrics :You may talk and sing and boast about your Fenians and your clans,...
- James Connolly
- Arthur McBrideArthur McBride"Arthur McBride" is an Irish folk song. It was first collected around 1840 in Limerick, Ireland by Patrick Weston Joyce; also in Donegal by George Petrie. Several versions are found in Scotland, Suffolk and Devon - the tunes differing slightly...
Sunday Bloody Sunday
U2U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
's 1983 hit, "Sunday Bloody Sunday
Sunday Bloody Sunday
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" is a song by U2.It may also refer to:*Sunday Bloody Sunday , a 1971 film*"Sunday, Bloody Sunday"...
", contrary to popular belief, is "not a rebel song" as lead singer Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
would say during their War Tour
War Tour
The War Tour was a concert tour by the Irish rock band U2, which took place in 1982 and 1983 in support of the group's third album War. It was their first tour as full-time headlining acts....
before they played the song. Its lyrics describe the horror felt by an observer of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, mainly focusing on the Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday (1972)
Bloody Sunday —sometimes called the Bogside Massacre—was an incident on 30 January 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, in which twenty-six unarmed civil rights protesters and bystanders were shot by soldiers of the British Army...
incident in Derry where British troops shot at civil rights marchers. The song suggests, not that Northern Ireland should become its own state or that the British continue to rule, but that they should find a solution to the dispute without violence.
In response, Sinead O'Connor released a song with the title of 'This is a Rebel Song'.