Tuesday, March 15, 2016

This Is a Rebel Song

Back in the early 80's an obscure singer used to open of his live performances of a particular song with the statement, "This song is not a rebel song." In some of the iterations of his introduction, he'd add, "This is a song of disgust." Of course, there is a long tradition of rebel songs, a folk history of resistance versus foreign occupation. One of the finest examples of the genre is The Rising of the Moon, which describes the mustering of a rebel force during the Rebellion of 1798. Perhaps the finest rendition of the song was performed by the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem:





The song exhorts the pike-armed rebels to assemble by the rising of the moon. Of course, the pike-armed rebels faced a professional army armed with muskets... Ya know, come to think of it, that Boner guy was right after all, the songs of disgust are preferable to the rebel songs.

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