Being an outlaw doesn't mean you're a villain, and it doesn't mean you're a hero. Nor does being on the side of the law.

Either situation lands people in situations where they can act like villains, or act like heroes. Some people no doubt are consistently one mor the other. Others no doubt make different choices on different occasions. All kinds of people can find themselves in either situation, especially in a time of occupation and civil unrest. (Normal times, you could say, for the poor and the weak.)

If you're faced with an oppressive system, you need to believe there is someone standing up to it, someone who is on your side, and you tell stories and sing songs to tell about them as heroes.

So the songs are evidence of what people felt, and in that sense they tell the truth. Whether they are factual or not in any particular case is another story.

But I think there is little doubt that on occasion being seen as a hero can push people a little more in the direction of living as a hero, and dying as a hero.

As Ned Kelly put it when they hanged him ,"Such is Life!"