caraig | Guilty Pleasures

This is a bit long, so please bear with me!

So I had the sudden urge to write about "guilty pleasures." So without preamble, let me get into mine. It's -- no, not that, I don't feel particularly guilty about that. Or that, either.

It... okay, one of them is this: Irish rebel songs.

My uncle was a staunch supporter of Irish unity, and he had a vast collection of mostly folk-style Irish rebel songs. Most of them have a cheery, dynamic tempo, and a kick-ass-take-names tone. I came to like a great many of them. But it's a guilty pleasure for a good reason. I don't want to paint a rosy, folksy-tune tint onto the Troubles -- and even just calling them the 'Troubles' is whitewashing it to a rotten degree. For hundreds of years Ireland has known sectarian violence for several reasons, most of which by now have become moot.

And while I like a lot of Irish rebel songs, I still cringe a little hearing some of the verses, and the vitriol that is buried within them, which inspired generation after generation of, at first, guerilla, then later terrorists. One song in particular, with a rather upbeat nostalgic tone, Broad Black Brimmer, actually gets a bit creepy. It's about the IRA uniform worn by a dead father, now hanging in a closet, and how every so often the mother asks the son to wear it, and how the son is looking forward to joining the IRA himself. Yeah, I'm not sure which part is creepier, either.

Others, if you know the story behind them, are utterly hilarious and yet it's sobering that they're taken so seriously. Rock On Rockall is a song about how the island of Rockall is Irish territory and how Britain should keep it's "greedy hands" off of it. First off, Rockall is a dust speck. Calling it an 'island' is an honorific at best. The only thing Rockall has going for it is that it sits atop a reserve of natural gas. Great Britain claims it by the expedient of having stationed a couple of soldiers there for a few months. Greenpeace later claimed it as neutral territory by having a bunch of people stay there for a few months longer. The Republic of Ireland has officially said they want no part of the fracas. The UK politely doesn't mention Rockall much (kind of like how they politely don't mention SeaLand much.) And yet here is this rambunctious rebel song, imploring:

Oh rock on Rockall, you'll never fall
to Britain's greedy hands
Or you'll meet the same resistance that you did in many lands
May the seagulls rise and pluck your eyes
and the water crush your shell,
And the natural gas will burn your ass and blow you all to hell.

Honest, it's pretty funny.

I personally like the idea of a united Ireland -- but only because it was that way many hundreds of years ago. (And even then, it wasn't exactly the most happenin' place for brotherly love in the world. "Cattle raids" is a nice way of putting, 'Let's go to the other tribal lands over the hill and bust some heads.' And don't forget that the legend of Cu Chullainn came about during the massive Cattle Raid of Cooley, where Ulster basically invaded Mayo.) I've a lot of fondness for Ireland seeing as how all four of my grandparents were born there (and how the family history has some keen legends about it, but don't ask about them unless you have a free hour!) The people of Ulster made their decision and continue to make their decision to remain a part of the United Kingdom, and it's somewhat conceited to want something that they, who live, work, play, and die there, don't want. This isn't to say that many in Northern Ireland are justified in their tit-for-tat terrorism, or the harrasment and sometimes hamr and murder done to Catholics there. There would be no Orange if the Emerald didn't run Red with so much blood. I think this is why I like Flogging Molly so much, who have some real kickass anti-rebel songs, like:

Must it take a life for hateful eyes
To glisten once again
Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess
Singin' drunken lullabies

And now Sinn Fein is apparently attempting to pull in the reins, and seem to be calling for an end to the violence. This is good; if there is ever to be unity then it has to come in peace. There was a time and a place for the IRA (and the many divisive factions of same) but as the years wore on and we came into the modern years that time and place passed and the descent from freedom fighters to terrorists was... well. You know the answer to that.

Must move on, now, things to do to prepare for gamage tonight. Pax!