When I first decided to go back to school and study law, I was being interviewed for a job as a paralegal in a small firm that did a huge amount of political work. One of the two partners asked if I thought I was going to change the world in a court room. I told him, I more saw it as damage control on a sinking ship. He hired me. No song, or as Billy Bragg says in the Great Leap Forward, the revolution is just a t=shirt away, no t-shirt is going to change the world. But, as you see, cronicaling the age, either in a brief or a song, gets some talk going, as in the twelth century, when, the less powerful O Boyles, sand about the murder of their chieftain by the Norman MalMuirrins, (Tarlarch og O Boyle) Songs create the conversation which challenge us to think while we enjoy or beer (Och that I could still enjoy a beer!). The funny thing about all this, is that the supposition on the part of most posters is that there is resistance from the audience, actually, I have not had a bad comment from listeners, quite the opposite, but there is a fear among young Americans and Irish people to sing about wrongs, and I believe it is not because of the kind of burn out some of the folkies of my generation feel, but because of a social programing that began with Nixon and Regan and right wing republicans declairing war on social studdies in US schools, and the Conor Cruse O Brian-izm of Irish history in Irish school. (For Americans, the Cruser believes Ireland became a nation, not by war but by statesmans efforts in Ireland and England, amazing the view of the world when your head is up your - well never mind...)
As always this has been more than helpful, thanks to all, and I will check out Mr. Lincoln.
All the best
Larry