More (Mostly) Folk Music

The People of No Property   •   Brits Out! — Irish Revolutionary Songs

image
image image image
  • Brits Out! — Irish Revolutionary Songs
    • 1978 - Resistance Records RES 1004 LP (UK)
  • Side One
    1. 2001 Carnhill
    2. The Brandywell
    3. Home You Go
    4. A Reel - Gravel Walk
    5. The Angry Brigade
    6. Hull Jail Riot
    7. Seán O'Halloran
  • Side Two
    1. The Blanket Men
    2. Troops Out Song
    3. Have you got a penny, Mister
    4. Two Reels: Jackson's and the Oak Tree
    5. Bread and Roses
    6. Grand Oul' Dame Dame Brittania
    7. Two Reels: Master Crowley's and The Roscommon
    8. Song for Rose

Sleeve Notes

2001 Carnhill
After generations of no public housing and bad slum private housing, Derry welcomed 'Carnhill', a vast new public housing estate outside the city. It didn't take long, however, until people discovered the universal urban problems of non- existent bus services, with shops and other facilities a hard day's march away. A plea to the town planners to remember that people have to live in 'the cartoons they create'.

The Brandywell
Go down Rossville Street, by 'Free Derry Corner' and the gasworks and you're into the Brandywell. Small houses, a dog track, a few remaining pubs and people who have fought Brit oppression for the last ten years and can still smile. A look at what's been, and what is, through their eyes, and you might get an idea what it's all about.

Home You Go
An appeal to working class people not to join the British Army. A few good reasons why the squaddies who heeded the lies of the expensive recruiting advertisements should pack it in while they can and go home. Instead of the travel and adventure promised, they end up terrified, fighting a war they don't understand in a place they don't belong.

The Angry Brigade
The revolutionary group known as 'The Angry Brigade' emerged in England in the late sixties. Their direct action against Brit imperialism included attacks on Army recruiting offices, and Scotland Yard's computer bank, and they also raided the banks and embassies of many fascist and racist regimes.

Hull Jail Riot
A song vividly recalling the events in Hull Prison when prisoners seized the jail for three days and nights following the severe beating of a prisoner by four screws. The prisoners were systematically beaten up afterwards by the screws. Some screws were finally found guilty of assault, but suspended sentences were the worst they got. Similar beatings by screws occurred in Wormwood Scrubs Prison at the end of August 1979 after a protest by prisoners in the maximum security wing, including Irish political prisoners. The song is based on a letter smuggled out of Hull Prison at the time, and was composed by a friend and comrade in England.

Seán O'Halloran
A poignant and bitter ballad of Paddy's experiences working the roads in England. 'Far from Tralee town, lay my body down, in this Godforsaken land.' A somewhat rare ballad on a theme that has produced some of the best Irish songs in the last fifty years.

The Blanket Men
The story of the men in the infamous H- Blocks of Long Kesh, England's concentration camp in Ulster. Denied political status, the men, some for over three years, have remained naked in their cells, 24 hours a day, refusing to wash or 'slop out' in accordance with British prison rules. A recent letter smuggled from the Kesh reads: 'I can see my bones through my chalk white skin and dirt, my hair and beard hang down greasy, filthy and matted over my body which is tortured with rashes, sores and parasites. I am always cold, sick and hungry and coughing. All medical attention has been refused. Tell the world of the concentration camps England maintains in Ireland in the name of peace and justice.'

Troops Out Song
A funny but barbed little piece we composed for the Troops Out Movement. We smile when we see the Daily Mirror polls stating that a majority of English people are in favour of taking the troops out; and they're not even raided, shot, searched or harrassed every day.

Have You Got A Penny, Mister?
A new Belfast ballad demonstrating how the only people who gain from the conflict between Orange and Green are the politicians — in fact they invented it.

Bread and Roses
How many Irish rebel or political songs mention the part that women played in the struggle? It always seems to be 'the Men of the West', or The Boys of Wexford' that did all the fighting, not to mention the 'Bold Fenian Men', and the 'Boys of the Old Brigade'. Women have always played a vital role in the Irish struggle, and never more so than today. This song's in case men ever forget that, especially when the Brits are gone and we have a chance to shape our own destiny. It was composed by an American socialist poet, after he saw women textile workers during the famous Lawrence, Mass. strike of 1912 marching .with a banner which said 'We Want Bread and Roses Too'.

Grand Oul' Dame Brittania
A sixty- year old 'Troops Out' ( or anti- recruitment) song. After all the movement has been going for 800 years or so.

Song For Rose
A ballad dedicated to Rose Dugdale, now serving 8 years in Limerick Jail for her part in the Irish struggle. Limerick, Portlaoise, the Curragh, Mountjoy — all grand monuments to the Free State Government's part in the struggle for independence.