I'm always amazed at the forebearance and tolerance of English audiences when listening to songs that hammer their history(of which they have had no part)and their race. I recall Lonnie Donegan having a top 10 hit British with "The battle of New Orleans" the chorus of which was; We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin'
But there was nigh as many as there was a while ago
We fired once more and they began a runnin
All down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico
We all sang it as teenagers and didn't bat an eyelid because it was history. It's when the history repeats itself that the historical ballad becomes a weapon again, ie when the IRA began bombing the mainland in the 70's the Rebel songs disappeared from the folk clubs overnight. It will be interesting to see which songs are re-discovered or discarded from the general repertoire in America in response to the new reality of Sept 11th.