To respond to your comments Lighter. The song Waxies Dargle had been in the bands repertoire for over 11 years and the lead singer on that particular song was a native born Dubliner - he sang it the way he had heard it from a very early age.

Why not change it you suggest - the thin end of the wedge and the top of a very slippery slope. As a band that performed at a number of festivals, we have never canvassed either festival organisers, or festival audiences on their likes and preferences in order to avoid offence - that is totally impracticable. We introduce our songs, tell the age of the song and where they are from. If the audience who turn up at folk festivals think that they might be offended by the lyrics of an old song then they are clearly not interested in folk music and are obviously at the wrong festival. Perhaps Jim Carroll could explain it better than I can.

Dublin street songs and such-like from all over the place represent little uncensored vignettes of social, cultural and political history. As such they should not be altered. Were there Jewish moneylenders in Capel Street in Dublin at the time the song was written? Yes there were. Did the poor of Dublin resort to these moneylenders when short of cash? Yes they did. To change the lyrics diminishes the song.