Oh no, Here comes a green tory

I have four more songs. I've sort of upped my standards as far as the quality of what I post and what I don't. At this point I've got something like three songs I'm not posting because I'm just not happy with them. So, these are all a bit better than the average I post- they're not my favorites, but they're pretty good.

For the rest of the poems click on the "lyrics" label at the bottom (there are at least two pages worth of posts, so click on the "older posts" at the bottom of the first page).

1. Never Again. Republican struggle in N. Ireland.
2. Oh, No, Here Comes a Republican. The GOP in America.
3. Blanketmen. The struggle of republican POWs in British prisons to be treated as POWs.
4. Green Tories. Moderate or conservative Irish Nationalists.

With the exception of the last one, they're all "Those Lyrics," see this for an explanation. There's not much difference, but the higher quality ones are towards the bottom.

“Never Again” based on “Tomorrow Is Always Too Late” by Skrewdriver, original lyrics are here.

1. Stoops are the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Sinn Fein’s moderate rival in the nationalist community. For what’s wrong with them, see this.
2. The no-go areas were parts of Belfast and one huge part of Derry where the security forces were kept out by barricades and armed IRA members. They were in existence most of the time between Aug. 1969 and July 1972 and acted as safe areas for Catholics being targeted for harrassment by the security forces and murder by the loyalist paramilitaries.
3. Since this takes place during the period Jan. 1970 to Jan. 1972, the people had started marching about 2-3 years earlier, but it sort of works anyway (it doesn't say when they awoke, so it could be 2-3 years earlier, and the statement that they're marching right now would be accurate).
4. The Tri-color is the Irish flag and the starry plough is the flag of socialist republicanism.
5. The general idea of the song is that in order to guarantee that the events of Aug. 1969 would not be repeated (1,500 Catholic families were forced out of their homes by loyalists, see this and this for more details) Ireland should be united and so the sooner that happened the better, and that involved putting pressure on the British through armed and other actions. Although things ended up not being catastrophic for the nationalist community, it was reasonable to think at the time that something at least as bad as Aug. 1969 could happen again. (I don't know how many republicans and nationalists saw it that way, but probably a lot)
6. Connolly is James Connolly, Ireland greatest socialist and greatest republican and a major leader of the 1916 Easter Rising, who was executed afterwards.
7. Pearse is Padraig Pearse, a major leader of the 1916 Easter Rising, who was executed afterwards.
8. Tone is Wolfe Tone, the grandfather of Irish republicanism who led a rebellion in 1798 and committed suicide when in jail awaiting execution afterwards.
9. Bombay St. was the main area where Catholics were forced out of their homes in Aug. 1969.
10. Long Kesh was the main prison camp holding republican paramilitaries.
**11. 32% of this version is me, 68% is the original.
12. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
13. Considering the original, I should say that Irish pride is very different from white pride (most of the time). (I just heard something making me think that it's probably a small minority of northern nationalists that would talk about "Irish pride"; I still feel odd completely re-writing that line, so I'm going to keep it)
14. Skrewdriver was supportive of the Unionist and British causes in N. Ireland.
15. I changed the 2nd line of the 1st verse by removing the word "only" from bewteen "my" and "interest."
16. This is basically about the IRA.

The stoops say what we should do, but I don't want to know
My interest is revolution, and maintaining the no-gos
The people have awoken and are marching right now
‘cause we are loyal to the Tri-Color and the starry plough

Chorus:
Tomorrow is always too late
We should never sit around and wait
Tomorrow is always too late
Get out there and do something today

Our enemies are tories, unionists as well
Both these forms of evil are raining our death knell
We salute the troops of yesterday, who fought the British plague
And we will carry on your fight as the republicans of today

(Repeat Chorus)

We must remain true to our cause, for comrades thrown in jail
For their sake and sacrifice, we must never fail
For Connolly and Pearse and Tone too, and Bombay St. as well
For the proud Volunteers in Long Kesh, our efforts they must tell


(Repeat Chorus)

*****

“Oh No, Here Comes A Republican” based on “Oh No, Here Comes A Commie” by Skrewdriver, original lyrics are here.

1. It’s about a member of the American Republican Party, the GOP. It’s also about a republican who probably represents a very small minority of today’s GOP, if you add up all the things I say about him, probably between 10% and 40% of the GOP matches this description.
2. Looking to the past means looking at periods when women had more inequality, gays were in the closet, and people of color were "in their place."
3. In the 1968 election, Nixon used what was called the “Southern Strategy” of appealing to people unhappy about desegregation. It represented a major part of the shift of the South from the democrats to the republicans. In general, white supremacists are more likely to work with the Republicans than the Democrats.
4. Only some small minority of the support that the GOP gets comes from white supremacists, but it seemed like the best substitute.
**5. 44% of this version is me, 56% is the original.
6. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
7. As I think might be obvious, there is nothing violent about this.

He looks to the past, he worships the upper-class
Nothing but air in his head
Appears in your eyes, peddling lies
Selling ideas that are dead

He's out there every single day
Talking 'bout the unions and the gays

(chorus)
On no, here comes a republican
elephant on his breast
Oh no, here comes a republican
Won't you give it a rest?

He hates his own land, he has a plan
To bring it all down to the ground
Confuse you with lies, installs his spies
Brings our destruction around

He just wants to see our nation declining
He wants the white man’s future to be shining

(chorus)

Support for his plans, comes from the Klan
People who only know how to hate
They wear robes of white, they’re so full of shite
Just like with Nixon in 1968

The elephant gets it’s support from these anti-semites
Hopes that they’ll help roll back our hard-won civil rights

(chorus)

Oh no, here comes a republican
the stars and stripes he flies
On no, here comes a republican
Won't you off and die?

******

“Blanketmen” based on “Justice” by Skrewdriver, original lyrics are here.

1. Blanketmen were republican prisoners who, in the late seventies until shortly after the end of the hunger-strike in 1981, wore blankets because they refused to wear a criminal’s prison uniform. In the late 1970s the British tried to break the republican family by criminalizing republican prisoners. See this and this (most of the last 1/2 is about the hunger-strike era). The prsioners resisted this effort, culminating in the 1981 Hunger-Strike when 10 men died, Bobby Sands was the first. This song is set in the mid 1970s before there was a large degree of support for the prisoners (from what I’ve heard, the first 1-2 years very few people understood what was happening to the prisoners and therefore very few people cared).
2. Most, perhaps all republicans who were “on the blanket” had been convicted by jury-less courts.
3. It wasn’t until the late 1970s that large numbers of people started to care about the prisoners.
4. The nationalist population were more or less terrorized by the British security forces and by loyalist paramilitaries, although they remained strong and determined to win and confident; but you could still say they were terrorized.
5. Orange is the color of anti-catholic bigotry in N. Ireland.
**6. 47% of this version is me, 53% is the original.
7. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
8. Skrewdriver was supportive of the Unionist and British causes in N. Ireland.

My spirit is strong as I'm dragged from the court
My mother screams "Brits out" in support
One by one, they lock us all away
non-Jury “Justice” is the game they play

(Chorus)
Call that justice, well it just ain't fair,
How much longer before they care
Call that justice from an alien judge
Jailed for fighting for the land you love

In a blanket, your time you’ll spend
‘cause you won’t break nor will you bend
A degrading regime if you won’t be criminalized
you fight for your people who are terrorized

Chorus

Call this orange state a democracy
But it’s steeped in division and inequality
Here's the reality, an alien state
Locking up patriots behind prison gates

*****

“Green Tories” based on “Government Out” by The Oppressed, original lyrics are here.

1. Green Tories are Irish nationalists who would normally be members of a normal conservative party. It could also refer to republicans with conservative politics.
2. Fianna Fail is the largest party in the South of Ireland. They’re conservative populists, generally socially conservative, and corrupt and very cooperative with the United States.
3. The stoops are the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Sinn Fein’s moderate rival in the nationalist community. I describe what’s wrong with them here. Probably some large minority of them are definitely not Green Tories, but the rest, to one degree or another, are Green Tories.
**4. 32% of this version is me, 68% is the original.
5. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
6. Only violence is part of the "revolt" referred to and the possibility of a future violent uprising by workers in the South.

You listen to their stories
you listen to their lies
You listen to their propaganda
They’re the bastards workers despise...

Chorus:
Hear the people scream and shout
we want green tories, green tories out

Fianna Fail coddles the rich
The stoops hold back the revolt
Neither party gives a shit
all they’re after is your vote

Chorus

To who will green tories answer
when corporations rule the state
If they answer to Washington
Irish independence will be faked

Chorus

So don’t listen to their stories
don’t listen to their lies
don’t listen to their propaganda
They know one day we will rise


One last note: Even with the songs that are only about 10% me (and at the upper end, one is 75% me), I have a request, although I don't have strong feelings or expectations about this. First, I want credit for these songs. Second, I'd appreciate it if the notes follow the lyrics around the internet. If you modify the lyrics further, please either make some notes for the changes if you leave some of my changes, or just provide a link to this URL so people can see my version. Although I'm not sure how many people will like what I'm doing with the lyrics, to one degree or another (depending on how much I changed them) I'm proud of these songs- and at the risk of getting a little personal, if people like the songs, I could really use the extra boost of getting credit for them right now (or if you don't like them, they were all written by Sarah Palin- that fascist, what kind of sick person enjoys altering racist lyrics?).