Jim--- you mis-quote me. I didn't say the performers were 'drunken
Americans.' I said the fans were. Those who call for them the most.
Some performers do, however, choose to cater to that lowest common
denominator.

The songs do have valid historical value--- and there is no question
at least in my mind, that the cause of Irish Republicans prior to
and during the start of the 20th century was just. Those songs are,
as such, Irish patriotic songs.

But this thread is about 'Irish Troubles' songs, and that is
where the distinction comes in. 'Kevin Barry' and 'Roddy McCorley'
and even 'The Foggy Dew' are all well and good when sung in
remembrance of patriots who suffered in the cause of formation
of what is now the Republic of Ireland.

On the other hand, these songs have (or at least until fairly
recent memory, had) currency in relation NOT to the Irish fight
for independence in what is now the Republic, but rather in
relation to what's been come to be known as 'The Troubles' in
Ulster.

In North America in particular, these patriotic songs have been
used as a rallying point to whip up North American Irish Catholic
support for the part in The Troubles which has been played by the
Provisional arm of the IRA. Keep in mind that many of these 'Irish'
are third, fourth, and more in 'Amerikay' and have about as much
sense of the real issues in Ulster as they have of the animosity
between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq. On top of that, the degree to
which The Troubles put them and their children at personal peril
was about the same as the troubles between Sunnis and Shiites.

In spite of this, they've had great fun beating the drum (or
bodhran) for 'The Catholic Cause' in the North, even to the
extent of donating for munitions to arm the Provos. I have no
hard evidence, but I quite get the impression that a good portion
of the guns, bullets, and explosives in the hands of the Provos
over the past several decades were bought with Irish-American
money.

Some great singers have succeeded in making 'Roddy McCorley' about
today's Provos, rather than about the late Mr. McCorley.

Perhaps it's understandable; one can argue that it was the British
who set up the conditions in Ireland that drove Irish-Americans'
ancestors out of Ireland. So it's perhaps an 'old family feud.'
But when they cross the line and send money to murderous bastards
on either side of 'The Troubles' because they distantly identify
with the so-called 'Catholic' side, then some line has been crossed.

And I submit that, more than anything else, more than rhetoric or
news reports, that the disingenuous equation of songs about a
fight a century ago with the activities of the Provos and their ilk
in recent decades have led to some very ill-advised facilitation from
this side of the pond.

Make no mistake; I like 'rebel songs,' too. There are some real
rousers in there, great for getting people singing and bring a
tear to the eye and a tip to the jar in a pub that trades in
Guinness and Jameson's.

I'd like to hear a lot more Irish and pseudo-Irish performers
get up and say "I'm going to sing a song about an Irish patriot. Now,
contrary to what some people think, it hasn't a bloody thing to do
with some who came after who saw fit to foul their own nests or
bloody their neighbor's noses. It's about a patriot who did his
part to bring about the independence of the Republic of Ireland,
and that's it. It hasn't anything to do with bombs going of in
Harrods, the killing of Lord Mountbatten, knee-capping of young
men, nor the throwing of Molotov cocktails. None of those things
would have existed at the time, and I don't know that he would
have approved. Anyway, I don't approve of that stuff and I'm
asking you not to support it either."

It's a tough pill to swallow, the idea that folk music may have
contributed to things that enabled blood-shed in and around
the Irish troubles.

It's not usually how folk singers think of themselves.

But I'd say those who've made some coin in the singing of
rebel songs and swaggering about the more recent cause need
to examine their consciences rather carefully.