For some reason I started thinking about a song I once heard that had stuck in my mind, and I was going to start a thread to search it out; only before I did so I thought I'd try the "Lyrics and Knowledge search", and up came this post in a thread from 1999 about Irish children's songs with the words in passing.

And here is the song:

Are you ready for a war, for we are the English
Are you ready for a war, for we are the English soldiers

O yes we're ready for a war for we are the Irish
Yes we're ready for a war for we are the Irish soldiers.

Now we only have one arm.....English

Now we have no arms at all...Irish

Now we only have one leg...English

Now we have no legs at all...Irish

Now we are all dead and gone...English

Now we're all alive again ...Irish.

So I thought I'd start the thread anyway, because 1999 is a fair time ago, and it's an odd song and I wonder if anyone knows more about it. I heard it on a bus from a couple of students from Queens on the bus back from the Burntollet march back in 1969, the one that was ambushed on the road to Derry, and it's always struck me as sort of symbolically marking the start to the Troubles.