The value of a song as a social document must be considered with reference to when it was written.
There are many songs now about WW1 that aspire to speak for the soldiers of the day, but are modern songs that reflect modern values and mores and not the ethos of the time.

Many Irish rebel songs were written long after the events they portray, and are imbued with ideas that may not have been as prevalent as the revisionist authors would like to believe they were.