Diane's quick and rather dismissive statement about "Arthur McBride" is a prime example of what I was saying when I first joined this thread. The political meanings of a song are largely a matter of interpretation by the hearer. Diane says that "Arthur McBride is similarly a profound condemnation British imperialism and colonialism in Ireland," and assumes anyone who disagrees has not listened to the lyrics. In fact, because Arthur McBride is a folksong, there is no standard set of lyrics, which is one problem with approaching it as though it has a single, monolithic meaning. Someone can be listening to different lyrics and therefore hearing different meanings! However, even listening to the same lyrics one may come to different interpretations.

Diane's comment would be a more appropriate statement to make about the similar ditty "the recruiting sergeant," with its line "let Englishmen fight English wars, it's nearly time ye started, o." "Arthur McBride" is more ambiguous. Martin Carthy sang a fine version of "Arthur McBride" in the 60s despite the fact that he was unaware of Diane's interpretation, and believed the song to be from East Anglia.   According to Bert Lloyd, the earliest claim for a version of this song comes from Devon in the 1830s, and the earliest collected versions come from England as well (1892, Baring-Gould collection). The preponderance of versions come from Scotland, according to Roud's database, and the preponderance of broadsides from England, with some from both Ireland and Scotland. In the archive where I work we have a field recording from one of my favorite, little-known singers, Mrs. Carrie Grover, from Maine—her ancestors were from Glamorganshire, Wales and from Scotland, via Nova Scotia. According to a previous Mudcat thread, it was this American version (sorry, Diane!) that Paul Brady learned, while on a visit to my neighbor Lisa Null.

In short, Arthur McBride may have had nothing to do with Ireland in its origins. It may be English, or Scottish. The lyrics of most versions never mention Britain, Ireland, colonialism, or imperialism. The British military presence in Ireland is not mentioned. Although most versions mention a shillelagh, as Malcolm Douglas has pointed out on another thread, that's no guarantee of an Irish origin. Where protest is involved, it's protest about the liberties taken by the army against the civilian population.

Most versions of "Arthur McBride" are about two men who come across a recruiting party and do not want to sign up. The recruiters appear to be as Irish or as English as the civilians in most versions. Paul Brady has the sergeant saying things like "I'll have no such chat, for I neither will take it from Spailpin or brat." (As an aside, most broadsides do not have this wording, and I haven't listened to Mrs. Grover's version lately...I wonder if Paul B. changed this to make it sound more Irish....)

The civilians are not politically revolutionary. When the sergeant says "good morning," they do not say, "Piss off, you bloody tool of English imperialism." The exchange goes like this:

"Good morning ! Good morning!" the sergeant did cry
"And the same to you gentlemen! " we did reply,
Intending no harm but meant to pass by
For it being on Christmas morning.

There they are, "intending no harm," calling the soldiers "gentlemen," one might say politely accepting the military's presence. In many versions, too, the civilians and the military men know each other; the civilians identify the captain and corporal by name, although the latter two do not introduce themselves.

Even when the sergeant tries to recruit them, they do not tell the man off as a colonial oppressor, they politely point out that the enticements of a military life (decent food, decent clothes, and hence a good chance to woo "a charming young wife") are hollow when put next to the loss of freedom and the likelihood of being killed that go along with life in the army. (Other versions refer to the low pay in the army, and may have reflected protest of soldiers against their wages).

Everything to this point is cordial. Next, however, the sergeant takes offense, or at least pretends offense as a thin excuse for attempting to conscript Arthur and his cousin. In any case, it is only when the sergeant insults the civilians, and then threatens to hurt them, that the civilians are mobilized to action.

While it is possible to read Arthur's actions as a political response to oppression, it is equally possible to look at it as an angry response to rudeness. The fact that rudeness on the part of the sergeant is at least one of the issues is suggested in the ending of the song, where the victors, Arthur and his cousin, adopt a parody of politeness in addressing the now-unconscious recruiting party:

"And so to conclude and to finish disputes
We obligingly asked if they wanted recruits."

So, where there is protest in the song, it can be interpreted to be about the British presence in Ireland, but is more explicitly about the specific practice of conscription, and the arrogant behavior of recruiting parties, and sometimes the falseness of the recruiters' promises, in a context that may be Irish or British.

Which is all to say...one can listen to the lyrics, and still not agree with a particular interpretation about British colonialism in Ireland.

By the way, speaking of rudeness, while it's a bit rude that Diane persists in claiming I said things I never did say, about Ashley Hutchings "owing everything" to America, about Americans "handing" music to English people, etc., it is far more rude to refer to the late Alistair Cooke as an "old git." She's just lucky Arthur McBride's not here!