I teach history to secondary students in Dublin. When we are discussing some historical event, I often refer to a relevant song which might give more information or provide a different or unusual perspective. But, almost without exception, the young people in my classes do not know these songs.
When I ask them if they were taught any patriotic ballads in primary school, the usual answer is no. This surprises and disappoints me. When I went to primary school in the 1960s we learned many patriotic ballads. I remember well the kind lady who taught me those unforgettable songs that gave me my first insight into some of the events, people and movements in the history of my country.
Bold Fenian Men
'Twas down by the glenside I met an old woman,
A pluckin' young nettles and ne'er saw me coming. . .
It was in the lines of this ballad that I first heard about the "Bold Fenian Men". I have learned a reasonable amount about the Fenian movement since, but I would find little cause to disagree with the writer of that very fine song. I often recall the patriotic ballads: Roddy McCorley and The Croppy Boy from the 1798 Rising; Bold Robert Emmet and She is Far from the Land from 1803; A Nation Once Again from the Young Irelanders; Deep in Canadian Woods and God Save Ireland from the Fenians; Avondale, the beautiful tribute to Parnell. There are many more such songs, of course. Indeed, I remember that The Jolly Ploughboy, sung by Dermot O'Brien (a song associated with the 1916 Rising), and The Lonely Woods of Upton, sung by Sean Dunphy (about an incident in the War of Independence), were two chart "hits" in the late 1960s. Who fears to speak of Ninety-Eight?
Who blushes at the name?
Those lines from a patriotic ballad prompt the questions: why have these songs been forgotten; and why have they not been taught in primary schools for some time? (Perhaps they are still taught in some schools around the country but I am fairly certain that they are not in most Dublin primary schools.)
The violence we have witnessed in Northern Ireland since the late 1960s is probably one reason. The ballads I have mentioned are about events remote enough in time from us to have a romantic glow. The people involved in those events were selfless patriots who sacrificed their lives for their country. They died on the battlefield, in the cold prison yard or lonely cell, to translate Mairtin O Direain's words.
Heinous crimes
Such nobility is far distant from the foul deeds committed in Northern Ireland in the past 30 years: car bombs in crowded shopping areas; the massacre of workmen on their way home from their day's labour; people machinegunned to death having a drink in a pub; even the shooting of people in their place of worship.
Is it possible that patriotic ballads could encourage men to commit such heinous crimes? Because of those crimes, should such an important part of our heritage be forgotten or neglected?
By the way, was any worthwhile song composed about what happened in the North? I know that The Men Behind the Wire, a song about internment, was popular enough in the early 1970s, but if there was any other one, it does not spring immediately to mind. In contrast to this, from the Republican campaign of 1956 to 1961 comes one of best ballads that we have - The Patriot Game by Dominic Behan.
But there is another reason why the patriotic ballads are unknown to the young of today. We live in a sophisticated age that grows daily more sophisticated. This is the era of television, video, the computer and the Walkman or Discman. Simple patriotic ballads have probably little attraction for people who have such powerful influences luring them.
Gaelic custom
We have seen the disappearance of one of our oldest Gaelic customs, one that goes back to our Celtic ancestors themselves. I refer to the professional poet that every clan had to compose poems about the great events of the tribe.
Arthur Griffith, my biography of whom was published a few years ago, was born in the heart of Dublin city. When he was going to school, he used to encounter street ballad-singers. He gathered an extensive collection of ballads as he grew up. To the best of my knowledge, the first article he wrote was about patriotic ballads. He wrote a magnificent series of articles in his newspaper Sinn Fein over a two-year period under the title "A Ballad History of Ireland". He also composed patriotic ballads of his own, Twenty Men from Dublin Town being the most famous.
He recognised the power of such ballads when he stated: "A good song is worth a hundred pamphlets."