The Drums Were Beating), about, Up the Provos (About Commadante Francis Hughes), This page was last edited on 20 June 2020, at 12:41. Over the years, a number of bands have performed "crossover" music, that is, Irish rebel lyrics and instrumentation mixed with other, more pop styles. var opts = { clearly this song is about David Bowie's influences and relationships, specifically Lou Reed and Andy Warhol and the gender bending culture of Warhols' 'factory' which heavily influenced David and Angie's relationship and Bowie's own cross dressing and gender bending adventures. The 1983 U2 album War includes the song "Sunday Bloody Sunday", a lament for the Northern Ireland troubles whose title alludes to the 1972 Bloody Sunday shooting of Catholic demonstrators by British soldiers. It's about a drag queen groupy that follows a band...His mom hates that. Good for him. I suppose she would look like the black girl in Bowie's band. The 1988 concert film Rattle and Hum includes a performance hours after the 1987 Remembrance Day bombing in Enniskillen, which Bono condemns in a mid-song rant. "[13], Learn how and when to remove these template messages, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Wolfe Tones pulled from Aer Lingus flights", http://www.45cat.com/artist/the-wolfhounds-ireland, Down by the Glenside (The Bold Fenian Men), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Irish_rebel_song&oldid=963552491, Articles needing additional references from April 2011, All articles needing additional references, Articles that may contain original research from April 2011, All articles that may contain original research, Articles with multiple maintenance issues, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2011, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Connaught Rangers (a.k.a. [3] However, a central tenet of the justification for rebel music from its supporters is that it represents a long-standing tradition of freedom from tyranny.[4]. Just a song about a girl who is more like a guy, and he is saying he likes her even though other people find her strange. All lyrics are property and copyright of their owners. /* TFP - lyricinterpretations */ div_id: "cf_async_" + Math.floor((Math.random() * 999999999)) }; The Wolfe Tones' version of A Nation Once Again was voted the number one song in the world by BBC World Service listeners in 2002. That Fido who's now in ribbons will be an Alsatian once again! Songs about older rebellions were long popular with most Irish nationalists; more recent songs are associated with supporters of physical force Irish republicanism. a big part of the theme is how most people seem not to understand the subject— their mother is confused by them, and as Bowie says, “they put you down, they say i’m wrong”... but Bowie sings as a lover, and he loves the subject, calamity’s child, for all they are, as everything they are. around the … I hope that somewhere up there I hope he'll be an Alsatian once again! It's about a young boy and his girlfriend and him letting her know she's still special even though she is different than everyone else. This IS A Rebel Song - NME review. “you’ve got your mother in a whirl, she’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl” as well as “you wanna be there when they count up the dudes” and “you’ve torn your dress”. In Ireland, a rebel song is a folk song whose lyrics extol the deeds of factual events/participants in any of the various armed rebellions against English, and later British, of unwanted rule in Ireland. around the same time Lou Reed had a trans lover and Bowie admitted to being bisexual. [1] However, the subject matter is not confined to Irish history, and includes the exploits of the Irish Brigades who fought for the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War, and also those who fought during the American Civil War. Like her everyone around her is confused about her identity except the person who accepts her for who she is. Irish rebel music has occasionally gained international attention. I was a wild child tomboy. Sent to JITR by Gwenaelle Glotin Here's a brief but interesting review about "This IS A Rebel Song", written by Steven Wells and published in the NME this week ( for the completists, it also includes a small picture of Sinead! When Fido farts and the grenade explodes, the British comment: "Excuse me, mate, was there something your dog ate?!" In response, Sinéad O'Connor released a song with the title of 'This is a Rebel Song',[12] as she explains in her live album How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?. More recently, Derek Warfield's music was banned from Aer Lingus flights, after the Ulster Unionist politician Roy Beggs Jr compared his songs to the speeches of Osama bin Laden. [2] Many of the more popular acts recently such as Saoirse, Éire Óg, Athenrye, Shebeen,Mise Éire and Pádraig Mór are from Glasgow. It would seem that it is simply about goth girl, or similar counter-culture genre, who meets with the disapproval of her mother's desire for some modicum of normalcy. Song meanings ©2003-2020 lyricinterpretations.com. the song also makes a soft reference to Bowie’s bisexuality, with “you like me, and i like it all”, saying he likes the subject in all their non-traditional gender. She cut her hair. })(); (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); it seems to me like it’s about someone whose gender or gender presentation doesn’t line up with the typical binary. Now I get it lol. She got piercings all over her face. song: "Rebel Rebel", And so, a rebel. As well as a deep-rooted sense of tradition, rebel songs have nonetheless remained contemporary, and since 1922, the focus has moved onto the nationalist cause in Northern Ireland, including support for the IRA and Sinn Féin. Music of this genre has often courted controversy with some of this music effectively banned from the airwaves in the Republic of Ireland in the 1980s. An Alsatian once again! (function() { My husband always sang this song to me. adunit_id: 100001411, maybe they’re non-binary or gender fluid, tho i doubt Bowie would’ve had those words in mind when he wrote the song. In Ireland, a rebel song is a folk song whose lyrics extol the deeds of factual events/participants in any of the various armed rebellions against English, and later British, of unwanted rule in Ireland. In a parody of Thomas Osborne Davis' famous rebel song A Nation Once Again, Morgan climaxed by singing the words: "Another martyr for old Ireland, by Britannia cruelly slain! Damien Dempsey is known for his pop-influenced rebel ballads and bands like Seanchai and the Unity Squad and Beltaine's Fire combine Rebel music with Political hip hop and other genres. [11] These words are included in the version on Under a Blood Red Sky, the 1983 live album of the War Tour. "When they count up the dudes indicates she's not at all monogamous. Songs about older rebellions were long popular with most Irish nationalists; more recent songs are associated with supporters of physical force Irish republicanism. clearly this song is about David Bowie's influences and relationships, specifically Lou Reed and Andy Warhol and the gender bending culture of Warhols' 'factory' which heavily influenced David and Angie's relationship and Bowie's own cross dressing and gender bending adventures. During the 1970s, Irish comedian Dermot Morgan lampooned both the Wolfe Tones and the clichés of Irish rebel songs by singing about the martyrdom of Fido, a dog who saves his IRA master by eating a hand grenade during a search of the house by the Black and Tans during the Irish War of Independence. The fact that she's "torn her dress" indicates she started off with one prior to her personality change. In concert, Bono began introducing the song with the disclaimer "this song is not a rebel song". this is Bowies' response to Lou Reed's 'walk on the wild side' which shares the same origin and influences. Created: 08 July 2002. She cut her hair short and maybe colored it with a bizarre color. An Alsatian once again! [citation needed]. All lyrics provided for educational purposes only. document.write('');var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.clickfuse.com/showads/showad.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; There are also some songs that express sorrow over war (from a Republican perspective), such as Only our rivers run free, and some have been covered by bands that have tweaked lyrics to be explicitly anti-war, such as the cover of The Patriot Game by Scottish group The Bluebells. My interpretation of the song is its talking about a tomboy who is not sure about her identity. The Bog Savages of San Francisco are fronted by an escapee from Belfast's Long Kesh prison who made his break in the September 1983 "Great Escape" by the IRA. The tradition of rebel music in Ireland dates back many centuries, dealing with historical events such as uprisings, describing the hardships of living under oppressive British rule, but also strong sentiments of solidarity, loyalty, determination, as well as praise of valiant heroes. artist: "David Bowie", this is Bowies' response to Lou Reed's 'walk on the wild side' which shares the same origin and influences. ).