My notes on Lillibulero from a talk Pat and I once gave to our local History Group on songs and History
Jim

Probably the most spectacular example of a ballad influencing the course of history is to be found in the song Lillibulero,
The song is said to have first appeared in Ulster in 1641. Richard Talbot, a Catholic and Royalist, had been made Earl of Tyrconnel after the Restoration, and King James II later appointed him Lord Lieutenant of Ireland where he pursued strong pro-Catholic policies. Even after James was deposed in England, Tyrconnel governed Ireland in James' name. The Irish Catholic forces were eventually defeated by William at the Battle of the Boyne.
The song represents two Irish Catholics gloating over Tyrconnell’s appointment as Lord Lieutenant and goes;

Ho brother Teague, come hear the decree
Lilli burlero, bullen a la;
Ireland’s to have a new deputie,
Lilli burlero, bullen a la.

Ho, by my soul, it is a Talbot;
Lilli burlero, bullen a la
And he will cut every Protestant throat
Lilli burlero, bullen a la

Jonathan Swift, in 1712, named the Whig leader Thomas Wharton as the author, quoting him as claiming to have “whistled a king out of three kingdoms”.

Bishop Burnet’s History of His Own Time, 1724 - 1734, gives a contemporary account of public response to the original song:

A foolish ballad was made at that time, treating the papists, and chiefly the Irish, in a very ridiculous manner, which had a burden, said to be Irish words, lero, lero, lilibulero, that made an impression on the army that cannot be well imagined by those who saw it not. The whole army, and at last all people both in city and country, were singing it perpetually. And perhaps never had so slight a thing so great an effect.