Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Songs of the Troubles

NAR1 For St. Patrick?s Day, there few things finer than green beer and Irish pub songs. But . . . Songs are more than just words and musical notes. They are a reflection of the people who sing them. And people in conflict create songs of conflict. Coming up is song of the Troubles a musical exploration of conflict in northern Ireland where the was sporadic violence between Catholic Nationalists who wanted their own country and the Protestant Unionists who wanted to remain loyal to England. As you?re about to hear, the songs that came from Ireland are soaked in pain and longing for freedom, or sometimes triumphant after a battle. Stay tuned for the folk songs from both sides of the conflict From rebel ditties rejoicing in a bloody shootout to Unionist's ballads nearly 400 years old. Coming up next, Songs of the Troubles. (t=:59)

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NAR2 Welcome to Songs of the Troubles, a musical tour of songs about the conflict in Northern Ireland. I?m your host Charles Lane. During our tour we'll go back and forth over the border listening to songs from both sides, those loyal to England and those who want Northern Ireland to be a sovereign nation. We'll take the opportunity to delve into the context of Irish folk music and the events that eventually found themselves immortalized in song. We'll begin with one of the most recognizable songs from the conflict. A song called Patriot Game by Domnic Behan. On the surface the song romanticizes the death of an IRA volunteer. But if you listen closely you might hear a bit of sly irony in the lyrics that suggests blind patriotism is in fact a terrible thing.

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NAR3 Patriot game is interesting in that, even though it was written with deep sympathies for the IRA and the nationalist cause the song has been taken up by many anti-nationalist for their cause. You might also recognize a similarity between Patriot Game and Bob Dylan's With God on Our Side

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NAR7 Though Dylan denies it, Behan claims his tune and lyrical structure were stolen and altered to fit Dylan?s anti-Vietnam ballad. To this day Dylan refuses to give credit to Behan or the Republican cause. Now, when we talk about the Republican cause we are talking about the ambition to make the northern tip of Ireland a separate nation, free from the United Kingdom. But not everyone in Ireland wants that, especially Protestants with Welsh and Scottish roots. They look back to the day the English King William of Orange soundly conquered the Irish Catholics. The next song is parody of the Irish reaction to news that the Irish had won their freedom. Listen for abusive naming calling like taige, which referred to native Irish Catholics. Also listen for the refrain and name of the song, lili burlero, a meaningless word meant to derided the Irish excitement of having a sovereign country

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NAR8 Some Gaelic Irish find Lili berleo insulting, so that the BBC used it several times a day for years was like rubbing salt in the wound. And still today, The first few bars of lili verlero precede the 3AM news bulletin.

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NAR6 Many Ulster songs refer back to the days when Protestant William of Orange conquered the Irish. The decisive battle took place at Boyne on the Eastern Coast of Ireland in the north. According to lore, King William wore into battle an Orange Lily which then became the symbol for English Loyalist in Ireland and the title of this song

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NAR7 England?s victory at Boyne ultimately cemented a protestant domination of Ireland that still exists today. But future rebellions were to come along with the folk songs used to remember them. We'll here those when our program continues. In the meantime, visit our website to download a podcast of this program as well as song lyrics, www dot 2ndwindow dot org.

NAR8 Welcome back to Songs of the Troubles, songs about and from the conflict in Northern Ireland. After the Williamite War Catholics were made subservient to the English and their Welsh and Scottish stand-ins. The situation resulted in a number of unsuccessful uprising, one in 1641 and then another in 1798. The latter was put to verse and then to song. It's called Rising of the Moon and describes the meeting of the doomed souls carrying out their failed rebellion. It was written by John Keegan Casey and here performed by the Clancy Brothers.

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NAR9 Here are two more that typify the sub genre Irish rebel music. The first is Off to Dublin in the Green by the Dubliners. That's followed up by the Wolf Tones singing Tri-Colored Ribbon

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NAR10 You just heard examples of one of the two major song types to emerge from the troubles. They were marching songs meant to excite men into joining the fight and to keep their spirits up. Another type of song is the ballad. Almost always they are written to preserve the memory of events, people, or as in the next case, both. Ulster Volunteers is a simple song sung by Carol Paris that commemorates the 36th Ulster Division from Ireland who volunteered for WWI.

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NAR11 The 36th division was a major source of pride for loyalist who believed it was England's laws and armed forces that civilized the world--and Ireland. The next song is a little different. It's a ballad but it memorializes a loyalist paramilitary who was killed by his own bomb while trying to blow up a bar frequented by the IRA. It written and sung by Ken Kerr.

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NAR12 For a loyalists to suppose that it was England who brought laws and civilization to Ireland, that's a very derogatory statement that naturally recoils most Gaelic Irish. And here in you have the crux of the conflict in northern Ireland. The next song is by far the most popular song for Irish republicans dreaming of a free country that's no longer a part of the United Kingdom. Indeed, in 2002 BBC listeners voted it the most popular song in the world. It's called A Nation Once Again written by Thomas Osborne Davis and performed here by the Jolly Beggermen

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NAR13 Returning to the color orange, the next song tells the story of a flute that can only play the popular Unionist ditty, the protestant boys. If you need help following along the story goes. A Weaver and flute player named Bob Williamson shocks his town and decides to marry a catholic. He's kicked out and moves north, flute in hand. Eventually Bob joins a catholic choir but his unionist flute doesn't make many friends and is soon burned at the stake to the end playing "protestant boys." Listen.

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NAR14 We?ll be right back with more of Songs from Troubles . . . Welcome back to Songs of the Troubles. There were several uprising scattered through the history of Ireland, but it wasn't until the Easter Uprising in 1916 that paramilitary groups became the dominate instrument of force. Chiefly republicans had the IRA and the British used the Royal Irish Constabulary, also know as the black and tans. The black and tans were a hastily trained reserve force recruited from the rowdy ranks of Englishmen returning from the first world war. They quickly earn a reputation of ruthlessness that was rarely ever disciplined. And by 1920 the black and tans actually sacked the city of Cork and burned to the ground nearly 300 buildings. The next song also written by Dominic Behan describes how his irascible and drunk father tried goading the black and tans into a fight

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NAR15 The black and tans were a tuff bunch of soliders who naturally were armed with guns. To fight them, Irish republicans relied on arms smuggled in from Europe and the US. The next song, Banna Strand is an ode to one of those smuggles who was captured and sentenced to death. His name was Rodger Casement.

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NAR16 So far we've heard all folk songs. The other major kind of music to come from the troubles was marching music. Here are two often used by Ulster?s to parade with. The first is from the East Belfast Protestant Boys. After that is the Ulster Scotts Folk Orchestra.

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NAR17 For Loyalist, the day for marching is July 12, Orangemen?s day. Ostensibly it celebrates the day William of orange defeated the catholic James 2nd at the battle of Boyne. But the day has since evolved into a day of Ulster pride as the next song explains.

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NAR18 For the most part the songs we've been hearing, we take the lyrics at face value. That?s not so for this next song called Nell Flarty's Drake. If we take it literally, the song is about a man wishing ruin on the person who killed his, well the person who killed his duck. A drake is of course a male duck, but in the 19 century it was also the word for cannon. Manny believe the song you are about to hear is not about a duck but rather code for the loss of a weapon's cache that ultimately foiled the 1803 uprising. The rebellion was orchestrated by Robert Emmet who later hanged by the British. His final request was that no epitaph be written about him until Ireland became a free country. So instead we have this song about Nell Flarty's drake.

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NAR19 The history of Ireland is also the history of many doomed rebellions. once such is remembered here in a song performed by the Clancy brothers called the wind that shakes the barley. The references to barley in the song derive from the fact that the rebels often carried barley oats in their pockets as provisions for when they were on the march. This gave rise to the post-rebellion phenomenon of barley growing and marking the mass unmarked graves dead rebels were buried in.

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NAR20 Also born out of the 1798 rebellion was the next song, called minstrel boy. But over the years the song as evolved beyond that and weaved it's way into to modern culture as a song to play for fallen comrades. You can hear it on Star trek you can also hear it on the movie Black Hawk down.

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