Folk Battle: Ulster Unionists vs. Irish Nationalists

What do you listen to?

The fate of Northern Ireland is in your hands: which is the better folk song?

The Sash (My Father Wore)
0
No votes
The Broad Black Brimmer
2
100%
 
Total votes : 2

Folk Battle: Ulster Unionists vs. Irish Nationalists

Postby cmsellers » Sun Oct 20, 2019 3:11 am

I like listening to Irish rebel songs, which is a bit of a problem when many of them advocate physical force republicanism post 1922. So, for balance, I decided I should try to find some good Ulster Unionist songs too. Unfortunately, most of the Ulster Unionist songs suck; I think it may just be hard to write good music defending the status quo, which is why the communists have so many good songs and capitalists have none. However, I've found one which I really like: "The Sash."

It reminds me a lot of an Irish rebel song: "The Broad Black Brimmer," which has much the same theme. I also think it's about as good a song, so I'm not forcing "The Sash" to compete with "The Rising of the Moon" or "Foggy Dew" or "The Men Behind the Wire." As with the gerrymandered creation of Northern Ireland, I'm giving the unionists an unfair advantage.

And with that in mind: let's have an epic folk battle of (literal) history. Who won? Who's next? You decide!

The Sash (My Father Wore)


The Broad Black Brimmer
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Re: Folk Battle: Ulster Unionists vs. Irish Nationalists

Postby Pedgerow » Mon Oct 21, 2019 9:08 pm

I'm not usually one for song lyrics, so I judged those entirely on the music, and The Broad Black Brimmer wins hands-down. It's just more fun. I think it's something to do with Catholicism; Shakira's more fun than Celine Dion too. And even though I am Protestant-leaning and English, the IRA are still just a whole lot cooler than the Orangemen. The IRA literally want to slaughter me, my friends and my family, and bribe their way into Heaven once they've killed us, but the Orangemen never seem to be opposing those elements; they're marching for abortion bans and creationism. They don't exactly put the "protest" in "Protestant". And that's before we even get to the discussion about whether a balaclava is cooler than a bowler hat.

By the way, do you know much about the Horslips? They're an Irish folk-rock band from the 1970s, and while they don't seem too political themselves, their music is the only reason I'd ever watch a video of Irish terrorists killing Brits, and there are plenty such videos out there. Here's Dearg Doom:

Its phenomenally badass guitar riff was subsequently sampled in the greatest World Cup song of all time, for Ireland's participation in Italia 90:

(Before anyone jumps in: Three Lions is not a World Cup song; it was written for Euro 96)

And here is King of the Fairies, a folkier instrumental which promotes the Horslips's other claim to fame, as the band with the world's pimpingest bass guitarist:
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Re: Folk Battle: Ulster Unionists vs. Irish Nationalists

Postby cmsellers » Tue Oct 22, 2019 12:52 am

To be fair, I don't think that physical force republicans actually want to slaughter you and your family; they just see you (and all British people, and all people visiting Britain) as potentially acceptable casualties in their quest to achieve a united Ireland.

This might seem a distinction without a difference if you'd end up dead either way, but it's the difference between visiting Israel as a goyisch tourist and being a Jew anywhere with substantial activity by Islamist militants. Or it's the difference between living in areas where the Pakistani Taliban operate, and being an Ahmadi in Pakistan. People who are willing to kill you to achieve political ends can be reasoned with, people who want you dead because they hate you are a lot scarier, IMO.

Celine Dion is also Catholic, btw. Like I said, I think it has more to do with tearing down the status quo than defending it. But also, yeah, it's hard to make a good song about keeping gays from getting married and teaching Genesis as science, though I associate that stuff with the DUP, who have recently taken over unionism, than unionism per se.

I haven't heard of the Horslips, though I had heard other versions of Queen of the Fairies, most notably the Irish Rovers' version, which has lyrics, though it looks like that's not traditional.



When I think of militant Irish groups, I think of the Wolfe Tones, whose music the unionists got banned from Aer Lingus for supporting Provo terrorism and whose version of "The Broad Black Brimmer" I used. Though, fun fact: they recorded a cover of "The Sash," as did Liam Clancy, though Clancy's version is rewritten to support Scottish independence.

Wolfe Tones cover:


Clancy's version:
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