songs wanted

Subject: songs wanted
From: GUEST,Ira O'Really
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 05:26 AM

Easter 1916. A band of Republicans seize the central mail office. They are determined to win home rule for Ireland or die in the struggle. Many are killed, in combat or by execution. Scores of fine songs are penned to celebrate their exploits.
Easter 2001.The death penalty is long abolished in Britain and Ireland. An Irish government sits in Dublin. In the North, both sides have compromised more than they would like to achieve an ongoing peace process. A band of Republicans approach an English suburban mail sorting office.They place a time bomb outside on the public sidewalk and run away. So far no songs written. Why not?
Slainte,
Ira

Subject: RE: songs wanted
From: The Walrus at work
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 08:38 AM

Ira,

Probably because the GPO in Easter 1916 could be seen (by some) as a "noble act of Rebellion" while the latest post office incident was merely a squalid act of terrorism.

Walrus

Subject: RE: songs wanted
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 08:50 AM

Ira: I suspect Walrus has hit the nail on the head. far too much killing going on to put to music I guess. Kindest reguards and hopes that the bombs become a thing of the past. Neil

Subject: RE: songs wanted
From: GUEST,Willie-O
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 09:35 AM

The context of the 1916 Easter Rebellion was that it was a precursor to the somewhat inevitable recognition of Ireland as an independent nation, and enjoyed popular support there despite the disastrous immediate outcome. (And didn't seek to achieve its objectives by killing innocent English civilians going about their business at home.) Its strategic effect was that the "David and Goliath" nature of the action was likely to inspire the mythmakers, poets and songwriters which would galvanize the nation; this indeed occurred, and although it was at the cost of a lot of blood spilled, Ireland had its independent stature within a decade.

Compare this to a splinter group of fanatics who "place a time bomb outside on the public sidewalk and run away", apparently because they don't want the history of terrible conflict in Northern Ireland to be brought to a peceful negotiated conclusion. There's not a lot of poetic potential in that.

Willie-O

Subject: RE: songs wanted
From: Chicken Charlie
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 07:36 PM

On the other hand--look at the music context. In 1916 the state of the art recording was an Edison cylinder. Commercial radio, if it existed, would have been slim. No TV. You want music, play it. You get tired of that song, write one. Now, you can't even get away from music in elevators. Plus, if you can see the boom on TV, there's not as much incentive to sing about it, like they had to do to make sure the next generation remembered the Easter Rising. I think there are a lot of social reasons why the change came about, without getting into the merits of the IRA's target selection in each particular case. (I'm with Stan Rogers, "House of Orange" on that one.)

Chicken O'Charlie

Subject: RE: songs wanted
From: GUEST,past that
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 11:48 PM

People were a lot more naive back then, that's the main reason they glorified a bunch of disorganized bullies who gunned down unarmed civilians and called it rebellion.