To a certain extent, singing a song is like acting in a play. When one sings a song one assumes the character of the person who is telling the story of the song. That person may be an outright narrator as in, say, "The Long Black Veil", but doesn't have to be.   Since what's happening in a song most often didn't actually happen to the person singing the song, the singer is not speaking from his own experience and, thus, is assuming a role. I won't sing any song that is presented from the viewpoint of a character with whom I don't feel an affinity.

For example, I live on the Gulf Coast where native-son Jimmy Buffett is extremely popular. Gigs at bars, and particularly beach bars, are always replete with audience requests for Buffett songs. Now, I like quite a bit of Buffett's music when he does it, but the laid-back, beer-drinking, joint-toking, beach bum persona that Buffett has assigned to the characters telling many of his songs just isn't me. I don't feel genuine when I try to sing them. I can't sell that lifestyle when I don't live it and, to put it bluntly, don't like the people who do live it.

I won't do Irish Republican songs for the same reason. Even in my imagination, I can find no common ground with the characters telling the stories of Republican songs. In my magination, I can be a railroad hobo, even though I've certainly never been one in real life, but I can't imagine myself as an Irish rebel/patriot.

Bruce