Jewish Skinhead Army: A New Poem

Here's a new poem. For various reasons I'm doing it now instead of waiting for 2 more to be ready. You can read about how I write my poems here. This one is about anti-racist skinheads and general notes for that kind of poem are here.

You can find all the other lyrics by clicking on the "lyrics" label at the bottom. The other SHARP/RASH poems are here.

 “Jewish Skinhead Army” based on “European Skinhead Army” by No Remorse. Original lyrics are here.

1. This is about Jewish-American skinheads. I’m not sure how many of them are members of anti-racist skinhead crews (a skinhead gang but, with non-Nazi skinheads, it doesn’t mean what you think), but I’m sure some of them are.
2. The first 1/3 of a post here is relevant to this.
3. The Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews in Nazi Germany of their citizenship and contributed to the creation of a kind of Apartheid for German Jews.
4. Normally I wouldn’t encourage White people to brag about being white, but Nazis don’t think that Jews are White like, for example, Irish-Americans are (of course there are Jewish Irish-Americans).
5. “Bourgeoisie” is a term for the upper-class. Anti-racist skinheads are overwhelmingly working-class and proud of it. Very few are socialists or anarchists, but some are and I’M writing the poem (if that implies I’m a skinhead, I’m not).
6. “Sunwheel banner” is a term for the Swastika.
7. ZOB is the Polish acronym for the Jewish Combat Organization, the group that carried out the rebellion in the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII.
8. Bonehead is an anti-racist term for Nazi skinhead.
9. In the movie “Uprising” a member of the ZOB dressed in a German Army uniform jokingly says “Heil Shitler!”
10. Valhalla is part of Norse mythology, it's a place where warriors go after they die, although there seems to be some debate about exactly who gets in- only people who die in combat? Anyway, the fascists love it and have sort of taken over the concept, but a friend told me that he likes the idea of the left claiming it and specifically said that if such a place exists, Che and others like him are probably there. (Do I believe in Valhalla? You could say I’m sort of an agnostic on that question and am sort of solidly a Christian. The way I see it, this is pretty flexible, don't take it too seriously, and one way to think about it is that if you believe in Heaven and would rather these people went there instead of Valhalla, maybe they can do both, spend some time in Valhalla and some time in Heaven; but my friend and I do like the idea of reclaiming it from the fash).
11. Oi! is music that most skinheads (and some other fans of what you might call the kind of music that inspires moshing) listen to. I’m not sure how to describe it musically, although it resembles punk. I think it’s sort of defined by lyrics about violence and the working-class and being skinheads and the hair cut of most people in Oi! bands.
12. Hallah is a kind of Jewish bread.
13. **65% of this poem is me and 35% is the original.

On the Nazi boneheads we’re gonna go medieval
We're shaving our heads because it's good against evil
We've got the music, we've got the bands,
We never lose, we play the winning hand

Chorus:
Jewish Skinhead Army,
We stand together in the anti-fascist cause,
Jewish Skinhead Army,
We smash those who admire the Nuremberg Laws

We're on the streets, every night,
We’re of the working-class and we’re also White,
Smash the bourgeoisie, socialize their manors!
We raise our middle fingers to the sunwheel banner

We remember the ZOB, and fuck Shitler,
the Nazi bonehead is a class traitor,
If we fall in battle and go to Valhalla,
We’ll listen to oi! and eat some Hallah

Irish Unity: Three New Poems

Three more poems. For info about how I write my poems, see this. 2-3 of these poems are based on lyrics I find offensive, see the next paragraph. The last poem is about anti-racist skinheads. There are notes for those poems in general here.

I have until recently been very unsure about whether or not “Sweet Home Alabama” is a racist song. But, if wikipedia is not totally full of shite, I lean very heavily towards saying that it’s racist. That’s based partly on the song’s wikipedia page. I looked at the interview with the back-up singer, and I looked at the page with the statement by Ed King. Also, although Neil Young says they were right to be angry about his song “Alabama,” “Sweet Home Alabama” refers to the Neil Young song “Southern Man,“ which he doesn’t apologize for and which is (lyrically) a fairly-very good anti-racist song. I also found an article in The Atlantic that  makes it pretty clear they were racists when the song was written (the confederate flag has always been a symbol of racism).

You can find the rest of the lyrics, about ten pages of them, here.

1. "General Maurice Rose" About the Allies in WWII and specifically about Jewish-American soldiers who fought Nazi Germany.
2. "The North." N. Ireland. (A BLACK AND GREEN POEM)
3. "Skinhead Unity." Anti-racist skinheads.

“General Maurice Rose” based on “European Skinhead Army” by No Remorse. Original lyrics are here.

1. This is a little complicated. It started out as a poem about the US Army IN GENERAL in the European part of WWII. But then I needed something that rhymed with “Valhalla” (see below) and I found a kind of Jewish bread. Then I remembered about General Maurice Rose (see below) and made it PARTLY about Jewish-American soldiers in that theater (it's not from General Rose's perspective, and I imagine a lot of Jewish-American veterans might not know what to think about the part about Odin, but I explain that below (for whatever it's worth, the reference to Odin was already there)).
2. A medical center in Denver is named after the late General Maurice Rose. On their site they say the following about a point in 1945:

“It was around this time that news broke that General Maurice Rose, a Denver son and the highest-ranking Jewish officer in the U.S. Army during World War II, had been killed in combat. Rose was known for his aggressive style of leadership, directing his units from the front rather than a rear command post. When he and his staff, surrounded by German troops, were attempting to surrender, a panicked young German tank soldier fired one shot to Rose’s head, killing him instantly. His death caused an uproar: demands were made by congressmen for an investigation, and it was front-page news. Suddenly, the committee knew they could achieve two goals—create the new Jewish hospital and memorialize a fallen Jewish hometown hero.”

3. The Waffen-SS was the tactically-elite military, as opposed to paramilitary, part of the ideologically-based SS.
3. The Rhineland was a strategically important part of western Germany with a lot of industry.
4. FDR was the President of the US during almost all of WWII, until he died about a month before Nazi Germany was defeated.
5. Nazis made Jews wear a yellow star armband.
6. Although it’s true that the WESTERN Allies rarely carried out night assaults A) The Soviets frequently did, B) it rhymes, and C) sometimes they DID- see this and this.
7. The Wehrmacht was the German military, although it’s unclear if the Waffen-SS was part off the Wehrmacht.
8. The “sunwheel banner” is a term for the Swastika flag.
9. Odin is the god of Valhalla. Valhalla is part of Norse mythology, it's a place where warriors go after they die, although there seems to be some debate about exactly who gets in- only people who die in combat? Anyway, the fascists love it and have sort of taken over the concept, but a friend told me that he likes the idea of the left claiming it and specifically said that if such a place exists, Che and others like him are probably there. (Do I believe in Valhalla? You could say I’m sort of an agnostic on that question and am sort of solidly a Christian. The way I see it, this is pretty flexible, don't take it too seriously, and one way to think about it is that if you believe in Heaven and would rather these people went there instead of Valhalla, maybe they can do both, spend some time in Valhalla and some time in Heaven; but my friend and I do like the idea of reclaiming it from the fash). I MADE A POINT OF REFERRING TO ALL U.S. SOLDIERS IN THAT THEATER NOT JUST THE JEWISH ONES, TO LESSEN THE DEGREE TO WHICH I AM SAYING THAT GENERAL ROSE (SPECIFCALLLY) WENT TO VALHALLA. (also I’ve done six other poems where I imply that people who don’t believe in Valhalla go there, and one of them was about Allied soldiers in the Western European theater (the other five references to Valhalla were largely but not exclusively about Irish Republicans)
10. After Germany was defeated, a process was started that resulted in a democracy being created in what would be West Germany. Although some would point out that it was done through military occupation and an effort called “de-Nazification”, I think the entrenched nature of Nazism in Germany meant that there was no other way to create a democracy there. If it weren’t for a lot of Allied soldiers, de-Nazification would have been impossible to enforce, and the German Army would have reconstituted itself.
11. The second to last line. It’s meant to refer to members of the Waffen-SS. They were responsible for massacres of civilians (even in the West), the execution (in ONE incident) of American POWs, and some of them were concentration camp guards. Such people, IF soldiers in general go to Valhalla (see above), don’t go to Valhalla, in my opinion.
12. Hallah is a kind of Jewish bread.
13. You have to emphasize the “er”s in “banner” and “shatter” to make them rhyme.
14. **73% of this poem is me, 27% is the original.

On the Waffen-SS, we’re gonna go medieval
The Allies have teamed up and it's good against evil,
We've got the tanks, we’re heading for the Rhineland
We won’t lose, we’ll play the winning hand

Chorus:
United States Army,
We fight together, commanded by FDR
United States Army,
We fight for the people who wear the yellow star

We're advancing day and night,
Behind the front our air support takes flight
Smash the Wehrmacht, make it shatter
We raise our middle fingers to the sunwheel banner

many U.S. soldiers will meet Odin, unlike Hitler,
After we take Berlin, a democracy we’ll configure
When we kill Nazis in battle, they won’t go to Valhalla
After the war, we’ll celebrate with some Hallah

******************

“The North” based on “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Original lyrics are here.

1. See my thoughts above about whether or not the original is a racist song.
2. This is set around 1990.
3. I assume that BA units were flown into the North instead of traveling by sea.
4. “The Six” is short for the Six-Counties, a republican term for N. Ireland (I say “the Six” not because republicans say that (they don't) but because it rhymes).
5. In 1983 the very popular British Nazi skinhead band Skrewdriver did a song called “Smash the IRA” and I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of young, working-class, conservative and patriotic BA soldiers were fans. Skrewdriver’s vocalist and lyricist Ian Stuart Donaldosn started, in the late 1980s, a side project called The Klansmen, which was about the American South.
6. Margaret Thatcher’s constituency was Finchley.
7. “Tiocfaidh ar la” is a republican slogan coined by Bobby Sands and means “Our Day Will Come.”
8. There’s a theory, which must be embraced by N. Ireland anti-Catholic bigots, that Catholics aren’t real Christians.
9. Bangor is a medium-sized city (in the NI context, if Belfast is a large city, and Derry is also a medium-sized city) that’s almost entirely Unionist.
10. In my version the boos are coming from Nationalists and republicans.
11. The Provos is an earlier term for the movement made up of what we now call simply Sinn Fein and the IRA. I explain here how they had, 1981-1997 a comprehensive strategy for getting the British out and helping their community.
12. “The Falls Rd. Curfew” was a major turning point in the very first year of The Troubles. In Aug. 1969 there were massive anti-Catholic pogroms in Belfast which were destructively and lethally successful. Because of this, the British Army, who sort of saved the Catholics, was welcomed by a decreasing number of Catholics in the first several months after the BA came onto the streets of N. Ireland. On June 27th there was a major and partly armed, attack by loyalists on the isolated Catholic enclave of the Short Strand in East Belfast. The British Army wouldn’t help but about four members of the Provisional IRA successfully defended the area and killed five armed loyalists. 9 days earlier a British general election had been won by the Conservatives. The Unionists were furious about the PIRA action in the Short Strand and demanded action. The following is from the Conflict Archive on the InterNet:

********

Friday 3 July 1970
Falls Road Curfew
Beginning in the afternoon, the British Army carried out extensive house searches in the Falls Road area of Belfast for members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and IRA arms. A military curfew was imposed on the area for a period of 34 hours with movement of people heavily restricted. The house searches lasted for two days and involved considerable destruction to many houses and their contents. During the searches the army uncovered a lot of illegal arms and explosives. However the manner in which the searches were conducted broke any remaining goodwill between the Catholic community and the British Army. During the period of the curfew there were gun battles between both wings of the IRA and the Army. Two people were killed by the British Army during the violence; one of them deliberately run over by an Army vehicle. Another person was shot and mortally wounded by the Army and died on 10 July 1970.

Saturday 4 July 1970
 The Falls Road curfew continued throughout the day. A man was killed by the British Army.

**************

(I should clarify something- I don’t think there was any inter-republican fighting, but both the Provos and the Officials, separately, fought the British during the Curfew; also, although the official record doesn’t totally reflect this, a Polish-British photojournalist was killed by the BA, bringing the total to 4 civilians killed; one of the two local men shot was 62 years old)

13. The red, white, and blue are the colors of the British flag.
14. The Civil Rights Movement in N. Ireland in the late 1960s and the early 1970s was inspired by its counterpart in America, and at the very end, a delegation from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference attended the Bloody Sunday funerals.
15. **77% of this version is me, 23% is the original.

Jet turbines keep on turnin’
Carrying British soldiers to the Six
Singin' songs about the Southland
Occupying northeast Ireland because of Tory politics

Well I heard Mrs. Thatcher say the North is
as British as Finchley
Well, that’s nonsense and won’t stop us from
creating a border in the Irish sea

Chorus
Tiocfaidh ar la Derry
Where the skies are so blue
Tiocfaidh ar la West Belfast
Where Catholics believe in the Lord, too

In Bangor they love the Queen, (Boo! Boo! Boo!)
Now the Provos are doing all that they can do
The Falls Rd. Curfew angered me
An atrocity carried out under the red, white and blue

Now Southern Blacks had “We Shall Overcome”
And they overthrew segregation
They inspired us to march for our rights
And it turned into a struggle for liberation

***************

“Skinhead Unity” based on “European Unity” by Brutal Attack. Original lyrics are here.

1. This is about anti-racist skinheads. Although there might not be any left in America, they used to exist, so I’m going to occasionally do poems about them.
2. I get the impression that when Nazi skinheads became part of the skinhead scene, non-racist and anti-racist skinheads initially didn’t do much to stop them.
3. D-Day was the Allied invasion of Europe during WWII.
4. Skinhead was started in connection with Jamaican immigrants in England. Nazi skinheads claim it isn’t true.
5. Most anti-racist skinheads are patriotic.
6. Anti-racist skinheads are frustrated by those skinheads who are more or less neutral.
7. Ska is a kind of Black music that a lot of non-racist and anti-racist skinheads (as well as others of course) listen to.
8. As far as I can tell in the 1980s and 1990s a LOT of anti-racist skinheads were homophobic, but I have reason to believe that, as homophobia became less common among youth in the last 20-30 years, it became less common among anti-racist skinheads.
9. Although anti-racist skinheads occasionally used guns, Nazis love guns. And there was a similar gap when it came to knives.
10. A mask is sometimes defined as a PROTECTIVE covering. So, they’re not hiding their reasons for being more or less neutral. I wouldn’t be surprised if they can’t handle the kind of beating that Nazis give anti-racists.
11. **50% of this is me, 50% is the original.
12. I just added "great" to the 4th line. It makes more sense, I forgot I'm not writing 10 years ago, when I wrote most of my poems.
13. Bonehead is an anti-racist term for Nazi skinhead.
14. UPDATE 4/14/20 I just changed "from" to "of" in the last line of the chorus.

You know our scene’s been taken over by fools
Mis-using their strength, inspired by the Nazi tools
Some of us are to blame for not stopping them right away
But now we’re fighting the fash like our great-grandfathers did on D-Day

Chorus
Skinhead unity
friendship, class pride, a diverse community
Skinhead unity
Our culture free of the Nazis

Our skinhead forefathers were Black English people you see
But that’s not what the boneheads would have you believe
So how come our scene’s been overrun?
By alien ideologies, the fascist atrocities, with the knife and the gun

So listen skinheads, listen very carefully
It’s time to wake up, time to make a stand you see
United we'll win, come here our call
If we stick together nothing’s gonna make us fall
It wont be easy it'll be a long hard task
And there are those fools who hide behind the neutrality mask
But we'll pull through, ‘cos ska wins in the end
To anti-Semitism and homophobia we will never bend

Taking Down Columbus: Three New Poems

I explain about my poetry here. The second is based on a song I agree with. The other two are not. The third one is about anti-racist skinheads. You might want to read the notes about that kind of poem here.

All the poems are available by clicking on the "lyrics" label at the bottom.

1. Indigenous Peoples Day. Opposition to Columbus Day Parades.
2. A Letter From Ardoyne To British Labour. An appeal by a Northern Ireland Catholic to the British Labour Party.
3. Taking Down the Boneheads. Anti-racist skinheads.

“Indigenous Peoples Day” based on “Freedom” by Brutal Attack. Original lyrics are here.

1. This is about opposition to Columbus Day parades, from the perspective of a white ally, but not me (frankly, I LOVE those parades- just joking; the thing is, I practically never or never write from my perspective when I use the first person in my poems; in this case, the last line of the first verse is not something I have done)). For multiple reasons, you should read several paragraphs here, beginning a little more than 1/2 way down, starting with the paragraph “For many reasons…” and ending with the paragraph “For whatever it’s worth….” You should definitely read some of the material here.
2. Although this is about such parades nation-wide, in Denver at least, the group organizing the parade is or has been the Sons of Columbus (there seem to be groups using that phrase throughout the country) (UPDATE 3/27/20 It's been 15-20 years and I was wrong- in Denver it was the Sons of Italy, but the other phrase, in connection with the word parade, IS found all over the internet).
3. When Columbus was governor of Hispanola (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic), at least 99% of the indigenous population was killed.
4. I mentioned Irish-Americans for three reasons:

A: We’re awesome.

B: In the last 20 years or so, frequently local organizations of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (an exclusively male, Catholic and Irish-American group) have marched in Columbus Day Parades (see the very end of an article here). They’re more or less conservative (some are economically progressive) and this just pisses me off even more.

C: I think that sometimes Sinn Fein should intervene in American political fights considering A) how internationalist they are and B) how much time they spend here. Considering how Columbus Day parades stand for something worse than Orange Order parades, and the fact that many of their supporters are MARCHING in Columbus Day parades, I think it’s one of the few times that SF should speak out, IN AMERICA, about injustice here.

5. This isn’t written from MY perspective. But here’s a little story relevant to the last line of the first verse. After the controversy about Ward Churchill broke, I attended a rally and/or protest in support of him. I was wearing an anti-Columbus t-shirt and some College Republican said that Columbus was his hero. I explained what I mentioned above about Hispanola and the GOPer said that when he moved into his apartment he wiped out the “indigenous population of spiders.” I should have explained how offensive it is to compare that with killing brown-skinned people, but I just called him a motherfucker. He asked if I wanted to fight and then speculated that I don’t believe in fighting (I’m not a pacifist). I just stood there looking at the rest of the crowd until he’d been silent for 2-3 minutes and then I walked away.
6. As far as the FBI, in the 1970s the American Indian Movement was targeted for destruction by the FBI (exclusively or almost exclusively on Pine Ridge). On the Pine Ridge reservation, 1973-1976, the US government and its corrupt reservation allies were responsible for the murder of at least 69 AIM members and supporters (according to the chapter “AIM Casualties on Pine Ridge” in Ward Churchill’s 1994 book “Indians Are Us?”). The population of that reservation I would estimate was, at the time, about 20,000 (I can’t find anything for that, and according to the US Census Bureau via Wikipedia, in 2017 there were almost 20,000 people there, and between the fact that it was likely 1/2 of 1/3 that in 1975 and the fact that I have found some confusing facts indicating that it may be higher than 20,000 today, I’m just going to go with 20,000). In The Troubles, five years that saw 200+ deaths each year were 1972-1976 and since 1972 saw 480 deaths in the conflict, I looked at the years 1972-1975. During that time, almost exactly 422 members of the Nationalist community, including members of republican paramilitaries (including three from the South who were killed in the North; I mention that because I’m sure some AIM members on Pine Ridge were not locals), were killed by either the security forces or loyalist paramilitaries. Now, when considering population figures, if things were equal in terms of these sorts of deaths, the figure for N. Ireland would have been 1,725 (for good reason, I looked at just Pine Ridge and on the other hand, all of N. Ireland). I should also point out that AIM was not as militant as the IRA, and as far as I know, killed none or almost none of their opponents and probably ZERO civilians, and were not blowing up buildings. If they had been more aggressive and/or had killed civilians, I can only imagine how many of them and their supporters would have been killed (there’s evidence that around 90% of the Nationalist community, including republicans, supported republican paramilitaries TO ONE DEGREE OR ANOTHER, see the middle third of this for support of internees in the 1970s and hunger-strikers in 1981). UPDATE 12/19/20 I just got an email from Churchill saying that the population of Pine ridge at the time was about 10,000, so instead of 1,725 the hypothetical figure for N. Ireland is 3, 450.
7. In the last 25 years I celebrated the 4th 3-6 times. A) I have some slightly patriotic tendencies and B) I was hanging out with friends who were more or less liberal or my Mom who was (overall) fairly liberal. But I’m sure that most white allies who oppose these parades don’t celebrate the 4th and I agree that some of what it is symbolic of is fucked up shit.
8. Columbus may have been Italian, although according to Ward Churchill there’s some disagreement about that. MANY Italian-Americans (around 60-90 years ago), in response to bigotry against them, started talking up the idea that Columbus was Italian and began celebrating him. At a 2000 talk in support of a protest of the Denver Columbus Day parade, Ward Churchill said that there SHOULD be a celebration of Italian-America, but based on pasta, not Columbus. Sacco and Vanzetti were Italian immigrants and anarchists convicted of murder in 1921 during a wave of anti-immigrant, anti-Italian, and anti-anarchist hysteria in America. It’s widely agreed that there’s plenty of reason to believe they were innocent.
9. Police body cams make it less likely that they’ll do fucked up shit. There should be some kind of serious penalty for the officers and/or department if they claim that the footage isn’t available (it wasn’t turned on, it broke, the computer doesn’t work, whatever their excuse is).
10. **80% of this version is me, 20% is the original.
11. This is dedicated to my late friend Chris O’Laughlin, who died of cancer in 2002. He was very progressive, and an opponent of these parades, and was Irish-American and Italian-American (and probably proud of both- I know he was an Irish Republican). RIP Chris.
12. UPDATE 3/27/20 I'm not real familiar with to what degree American Indians live communally today, especially those who live off the reservation, but A) I think that continues to one degree or another today and B) only about 150 years ago around 1/3-1/2 DEFINITELY lived communally and C) 300 years before that, they all definitely did and D) it's something that many Indians, to one degree or another, aspire to.
13. UPDATE 3/28/20 In case I need to clarify this, here it is. I have said, explicitly, in at least two other places on my blog, that I would feel better if there hadn't been any European settlement here at all. I mentioned westward expansion  for two reasons: A) A LOT of the time people focus on criticizing "Manifest Destiny" (the idea behind westward expansion) and B) the settlement of the 13 colonies was not something done by the government I recognize as mine, it was done by the British. But I DO feel bad about the settlement of the 13 colonies.
14. UPDATE 4/9/20 I imply in the poem that all American Indians want the parades banned. I'm not sure that's totally true. About 10 years ago an Indian I was friends with said she wasn't into the idea of blocking the parade. That might extend to getting it banned. But among Indians who oppose blocking it, there might be some or many who are sort of okay with it being banned by the city. In Denver I had been to a few other protests organized by the group (or the main group) that organized the protest of the parade (Colorado AIM) and was slightly familiar with the Denver American Indian community and I think that maybe around 1/3 or 1/2 of Indians in that area identified with them (most of the others hated them). It's possible that if the others opposed blocking the parade, for some of them it was because CO-AIM got in front of opposition to the parade at the very beginning, and like I said, a lot of Indians in Denver really don't like them (that might be because they’re fairly comfortable, in theory and at least once in practice, with militancy, and without being Marxist or social-democratic or anarchist, CO-AIM could be described, to one degree or another, as leftist). And if some people would say that the issue of freedom of assembly would indicate opposition to the parade being banned, I would say that it seems pretty popular among Indians to tell sports teams what they can do with their “Indian” mascots. The Native American Rights Fund, a group more moderate than CO-AIM, supported at least one lawsuit and supports creating a legislatively created and empowered committee in CO that would have the power of the law to approve or reject the mascots of public schools (including higher education). The streets are public, and Columbus Day is probably more offensive to American Indians than “Indian” mascots are. In any case, something like 99% of American Indians don't like the parades.

When the Sons of Italy want to march the city won’t ban it
But take a look at the genocide, Columbus began it
Now they’re afraid of us because we tell the truth
To the masses of white people, including the Irish-American youth
When I think about America’s westward expansion I feel some shame
But when I stand to make a speech the police ask me for my name

Chorus
Freedom from genocide is the very least they deserve
Capitalism and Imperialism joined forces, two things we should not conserve
The White man can try to suppress Indians with their police and the FBI
Indians will emerge victors- and fuck the 4th of July!

Communal Nations with a lot of respect for the land       
They’ll keep working until Columbus Day parades are banned
We don’t hate Italians-Americans and remember Sacco and Vanzetti
As Ward said, let’s celebrate Italian-America with a ton of spaghetti

So, let’s help promote the next protest against those parades
If we have to, we’ll keep doing this for many decades
We want a country free of bigotry, and based on community
We believe in police body cams and equal opportunity

**********

“A Letter From Ardoyne To British Labour” based on “Body Count” by Body Count (Ice-T’s heavy metal band). Original lyrics are here.

1. I removed a lot of Ice-T’s non lyrical talk, except for the very beginning.
2. Ardoyne is a nationalist/republican neighborhood in North Belfast.
3. This is basically in late 1970 and 1971, after British Labour were removed from power by the voters and yet, close enough to the beginning of the conflict that you could say the republican struggle was still growing, and when Orange is definitely the right word because Stormont, the Unionist-dominated regional devolved Parliament and Government, still existed.
4. As far as I can tell, there are some pro-unionist tendencies in BL, some pro-republican tendencies, some pro-SDLP tendencies (although officially they’re sister organizations, the SDLP doesn’t belong in the Socialist International and I think a lot of people in BL know that (that post also explains how, setting aside the question of the IRA’s campaign, getting behind the SDLP was not getting behind an effective path to equality, justice and freedom for the Nationalist population)), and some other tendencies (i.e. some wanted Labour to organize in the North, but British Labour, not Irish Labour).
5. The red, white and blue, in this poem and not the original lyrics, refers to the BRITISH flag.
6. Partition is the division of Ireland.
7. Orange is the color of anti-Catholic bigotry in the Anglo-Irish context.
8. The BA is the British Army.
9. AKs are AK-47s which are automatic rifles.
10. RA stands for “Republican Army” and is pronounced “raw.”
11. Loyalist refers to the paramilitaries that focused mostly on killing Catholic civilians because they were Catholic.
12. Squaddie is a British soldier.
13. I choose North Belfast because, behind West Belfast, it saw the most deaths in the conflict (compared to the other 3 quarters of Belfast, Derry, and Counties Armagh, Down, Antrim, Derry, Fermanagh, and Tyrone). But I think it was worse for Catholics in North Belfast than those in West Belfast because it was a mixture of Nationalist and Unionist areas, whereas the Nationalist areas of West Belfast were all grouped together.
14. **25% of this version is me, 75% is the original.
15. I have calculated that only about .3% of the IRA's operations resulted in civilian death.

You know, sometimes I sit at home, you know, and I watch the BBC
And I wonder what it would be like to live in some place like
You know, Manchester, Liverpool
You know, where the peelers come and got your cat outta the tree
All your friends die of old age
But you see.. I live in North Belfast
And unfortunately... SHIT AIN'T LIKE THAT!!
It's real fucked up!

God damn, what brothers and sisters gotta do
To get a message through
To the red and white and blue
What? I gotta die, before you realize
I was a person with open eyes?
Partition’s insane, while you drink champagne
And I'm living under Orange reign
The BA fears Irish people with AKs
Here the ‘RA's got ten stashed With a case of hand grenades

You'd know what to do
If loyalists killed your kid on the way to school
Or a BA sniper shot your kid in a rural barnyard
Shit would hit the fan motherfucker and it would hit real hard
I hear it every night, another gun fight
The struggle mounts,
on with the IRA’s squaddie Body Count

God damn what the Irish gotta do
To get a message through
To the red and white and you?
What? I gotta die before you realize
I was a Catholic with open eyes?
Orange society’s insane, while you drink champagne
And I'm living under Imperialistic reign
Don't you hear the loyalist guns?
You stupid, dumb British Labour politicians!!

*************

“Taking on the Boneheads” based on “Tearing Down the Flags” by Razor’s Edge. Original lyrics are here.

1.  This is about anti-racist skinheads. They might not exist anymore, but that’s not going to stop me from doing poems like this.
2. Bonehead is an anti-racist term for nazi skinhead.
3. Cardiff (Wales) is the home of Roddy Moreno and the Oi! band The Oppressed are based there. Moreno is the most popular anti-racist skinhead in the world.
4. Las Vegas is where in 1998, two anti-racist skinheads were killed by Nazis.
5. A large town in the Czech Republic is where, in 2008, an anti-racist skinhead was killed by a Nazi Skinhead.
6. Perth (Australia) rhymes with Earth.
7. Anti-racist skinheads are embarrassed (or something like that) by the existence of Nazis in their culture.
8. SHARP stands for “SkinHead Against Racial Prejudice.”
9. Fash is short for fascists.
10. Suss is a skinhead/British word for intelligence (or something close to that).
11. Around 95% of skinheads are working-class and even when it’s warped by fascism, have a strong sense of working-class pride.
12. The idea is that, since the skinhead culture started in connection with Black English people, if you’re a racist you can’t be a skinhead.
13. Bread is a term for economic justice. Although the average SHARP is only sort of political and only sort of progressive, Nazi skinheads are, for better or worse, very political and have a (racially narrow) belief in economic justice.
14. Ian Stuart was the opposite of Moreno, and died in 1993 in a hilarious car accident.
15. I think the fash (and, sort of separately, the Christian Right) try to ignore the way they have a lot in common with the Muslim fundamentalist Right (if you think I have a racist double standard, see the first third of this).
16. I don’t believe in Hell, but if it does exist Ian Stuart and Al-Qaeda members are there.
17. A patch on, for example, a bomber jacket (popular with skinheads).
18. Docs are Doc Martens, boots that almost all skinheads (and some non-skinhead fans of music that inspires moshing) wear (it’s possible that in the last 20 years, a LOT of other people are wearing them, too).
19. **63% of this poem is me, 37% is the original.

They wear their swastika patches, their symbols full of hate
Don't they f*cking realize, that their defeat awaits
We're taking on the boneheads, all across the Earth
In Cardiff, Las Vegas, the Czech Republic and Perth

(Chorus)
We're taking down the boneheads- we'll banish Skinhead’s shame.
We're taking down the boneheads- SHARP is our name.
We're taking down the boneheads- we’re never giving in.
We're taking down the boneheads- we’re gonna f*cking win.

Fash still marching on our streets, they haven't learned a thing.
Don't they f*cking realize, our fists will swing and they’ll swing and they’ll swing
They're just a bunch of wankers, who haven’t got the suss
To the skinhead culture and the working-class they’re treasonous

They shave their heads and wear Docs but they aren’t real skinheads
They don’t realize you can’t promote hate and successfully push for bread
We're taking down the boneheads, and we hate Ian Stuart real well.
So they can join Al-Qaeda, in the fascist motherfuckers hell

Anti-Fascist Republicanism: Four New Poems

Here are four more new poems. The first three are based on lyrics I find politically offensive- I explain some more about that here.

The last one is probably my best and probably my last poem about anti-racist skinheads. There are some notes about those poems here that you might want to read.

1. In the Spirit of Connie Green. About Ireland and WWII.
2. Proclamation of the Republic. About the 1916 Easter Rising and the Irish War of Independence.
3. Irish Republican Socialist. Guess what it's about.
4. Frank Ryan Brigade. The anti-racist skinhead poem.

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

“In the Spirit of Connie Green” based on “European Unity” by Brutal Attack, original lyrics are here.

1. Connie Green was a republican Volunteer killed on active service in 1955. During World War II he was a British commando (he didn’t fight in Spain). It’s more or less sort of about those republicans who fought in Spain (most of the Irish people who fought fascism in Spain's Civil War were republicans) and certainly about those who supported the Allies.
2. At first I had so much trouble trying to alter the original lyrics. Then I got the idea of making it about Ireland and World War II.
3. It’s almost the soundtrack for one of my posts.
4. During WWII internment without charge or trial was used by the Fianna Fail government in Dublin against republicans. The government was very conservative, economically and socially. Republicans had done a lot to get FF into power when it seemed like a left-leaning republican party.
5. The South leaned a bit towards the Allies but were basically neutral.
6. The British Prime Minister, Churchill, tried to get the South to join the Allies, and at one point suggested that in return he would let Ireland be united. There’s some reason to believe he didn’t mean it. I believe that if Ireland HAD joined the Allies, the cause of Irish unity would have had a lot of support internationally after the war, and that might have resulted in Ireland being united even if London tried to renege on the deal.
7. Dev was the informal name for the Irish Prime Minister at the time.
8. “No Pasaran’ is a spanish anti-fascist slogan.
9. **76% of this version is me, 24% is the original.
10. I give this poem four out of five stars.
11. UPDATE 7/9/11 I just realized that some of this poem suggests that all anti-fascists want socialism. Obviously that's not true and I might change those lines.
12. UPDATE 3/18/15  I added "and mothers."

You know the South’s been put in the hands of fools,
Mis-using their power, internment their No1 tool.
We're partly to blame for helping them get power
And now they’re neutral, in democracy’s darkest hour

Chorus 1:
Anti-fascist unity,
we want socialism and democracy
Unity of the Irish nation
Europe free from Nazi occupations

Our fathers and mothers fought for the South’s freedom you see,
We’re prepared to fight and die, for Irish Unity
We fought for democracy in Spain
But dev passed up a chance for us to attain...

Chorus 2:
Irish Unity
We want socialism and democracy
“No Pasaran,” that is our stance
In Berlin, Belfast, Spain, or France

Chorus 1

Chorus 2

So listen dev, listen very carefully,
You should take London’s offer and help defeat the Nazis
In return our island will be united
If the Allies stick together, Nazi Germany will be smited

It wont be easy, it'll be a long hard undertaking,
The Nazi german war machine, we’ll be breaking
And we'll win- we have the might, and we know we’re right
So on the eve of Irish unity let us join this important fight

****

“Proclamation of the Republic” based on “New Nation” by Skrewdriver, original lyrics are here.

1. Lately I’ve been putting a lot of time, more so than usual, into trying to perfect these poems I do. This one, the last verse is not very impressive to me, but I have spent a lot of time on that and I don’t think I can make it any better.
2. The first verse is about the immediate aftermath of the 1916 Easter Rising. A description of the Rising can be found here. Almost immediately, support for republicans exploded, and in late 1918 Sinn Fein won the vast majority of Irish seats in a general election.
3. I believe that during the period 1916 to about 1922 that acting like there was a 32-county Republic made sense. I believe that changed gradually after the new borders of the South and the North were settled. The Northern statelet had no legitimacy. But I believe that with each election in the South, the Dublin state became more and more legitimate.
4. The reference to a war sort of makes sense with hind-sight- it’s kind of fairly accurate to say that the Easter Rising was the beginning of the War of Independence (“war” was the best option).
5. The 2nd verse is about the War of Independence (or the vast bulk of it, considering what I said in the preceeding note). When the 1916 Easter Rising took place, and until the leaders were executed, there wasn’t much support for the republican militants.
6. The Union Jack is the British flag.
7. Why do I think truth and reconciliation will happen as the British leave? As far as truth is concerned, I think there’s a good chance that will happen, partly because of the reconciliation part of this. Whatever sectarianism is experienced by the Protestant community will be a tiny fraction of what Catholics under British rule in Ireland have experienced for centuries. I offer some evidence for this here. As the Protestant community gradually learns that it has nothing to fear from living in a united, independent Ireland, they’ll probably be more receptive to a description of what Catholics went through. There are some more of my thoughts on sectarian divisions here.
8. The 3rd line of the last verse is about more southerners and more northern nationalists embracing republicanism, which goes beyond a general desire for a United Ireland (which close to all of those people support).
9. **53% of this version is me, 47% is the original.
10. I give this poem three stars out of five.
11. Skrewdriver were British and supported the British and Unionist causes.
12. About the War of Independence, when the IRA had the support of something like 90% of the non-unionist population.
13 UPDATE 2/20/20 In the last line I replaced "as" with "when."

The Tories are thrilled, as our leaders are being killed
The Brits are celebrating, they think they've won the war
They can stop their jeering, 'cos soon we'll be cheering
They think they have beaten us, but we have esprit de corps

(chorus)
Irish Republic free and true, I pledge my life to you
Now the situation is so tense
Irish Republic free and true, I pledge my life to you
If you fall, we'll fall in your defense

Our attacks are stunning, now the Brits are running
And people who weren’t on our side, now support the IRA
State money is always available, to pay those with info that’s salable
They may buy some traitors, but we will have our day

Chorus

They think they have won, but one day our time will come
They'll regret their ignorance, their bigotry, and partition
When our people come around, the Union Jacks will be torn down
When British rule fades truth and reconciliation will begin

*******

“Irish Republican Socialist” based on “White National Socialist” by No Remorse, original lyrics can be found here.

1. James Connolly was the greatest socialist/republican in Irish history.
2. A “stoop” is a member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. They are the main rival to Sinn Fein (among the nationalist community). I describe why they’re so bad here.
3. The RUC was, between the statelet’s creation and late 2001, the police for N. Ireland.
4. There are 32 counties in Ireland.
5. I give this poem 4 stars out of five.
6. **83% of this version is me, 17% is the original.
7. This poem is not meant as an endorsement of armed struggle since 1997.
8. About a socialist republican.
9. No Remorse were British and supported the British and Unionist causes.

I live my life inspired by James Connolly
I pride my self on working-class solidarity
without these things I’d be nothing but a “Stoop”
But I support attacking, the RUC and the Britsh troops

Chorus
Irish Republican Socialst
proud to be and your can be- a
Irish Republican Socialst
Against capital and the RUC

x2

We need to seperate the North from the UK
And scare the bosses with our numbers on the first of May
By whatever means necessary, including the gun
Ireland, north and south should be united as one

chorus

we’re fighting for a 32-county socialist state
won’t stand for any injustice, inequality or any hate
Let’s drive out the British Army and unite our Irish land
We’ll vote out all the Tories and the unions will expand

Chorus

*******

"Frank Ryan Brigade" based on "Belfast Brigade," author unknown, multiple versions, mine is a combination of two I found on the Internet (plus 3 tiny changes I made), and thus there's no URL, the original is below the altered one.

1. The Hammerskins, or the Hammerskin Nation, most of the last 20 years have been America's and the world's leading Nazi skinhead organization.
2. Frank Ryan was an Irish republican leader of the International brigades on the anti-fascist side of the Spanish Civil War. (THERE IS NO SUCH GROUP, I MADE UP THE NAME “FRANK RYAN BRIGADE” FOR A FICTIONAL SHARP CREW)
3. SHARP is SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice. Since the song implies left-wing politics, I should say that I am going to write the SHARP poems as a leftist, even though probably some small majority of anti-racist skinheads are not leftists.
4. Docs refers to Doc Martens, boots that something like 99% of skinheads wear.
5. "No Pasaran" means "They shall not pass" and is an anti-fascist slogan originating with the Spanish Civil War.
6. The Hammerskins started in Dallas, TX.
7. Although in America Nazi skinheads probably have an average of 2 guns each (that's based on anecdotal evidence) and often use them, I get the impression it's much less common for anti-racist skinheads to have or use guns. In any case, it was the best substitute and almost definitely makes sense to some degree.
8. CEO might be a stretch as it implies a large corporation, but there are wealthy people who support white supremacist organizations, and companies outside the Fortune 500 have CEOs, and it's possible a small % of the top people at Fortune 500 corporations give money to White Supremacist organizations. (it pretty much makes sense and rhymed)
9. Elements of the GOP, including Saul Anuzis (see this) support White Supremacist or at least sort of White Supremacist organizations. (it pretty much makes sense). (UPDATE 3/1/20 it makes a ton of sense now with Trump)
10. Skinheads indicate their politics or lack thereof with the color of their laces. White always/almost always indicates racism, red in America is often worn by racists, although it is also worn by leftists. Except for a few reports of white being worn by anti-racists, they wear colored laces (I'm pretty sure black is worn almost only by non-political skinheads and by those in the process of joining a racist organization (and occassionally, anti-racists)). So, it makes sense and rhymes.
11. **48% of this version is me, 52% of it is the original.
12. I give this version five out of five stars.
13. SHARPs are partly but far from completely about violence.

The Hammerskins went out to beat the people down
They thought that SHARP was dead in our cities and our towns
But they got a rude awakening, when with fists and with Docs
They met the anti-racists who will fight them block by block

Glory, glory to the working-class
Glory, Glory to those who struggle en masse
Glory to the memory
Of those who fought and died
"No Pasaran" is the war cry, of the Frank Ryan Brigade

Hammerskins came from Dallas, equipped with fascist hate
Men by the hundred, spreading state to state
But when they met the SHARPs they were seriously delayed
By true skinheads of the anti-fascist Frank Ryan Brigade

Chorus

We have no guns or backing from the GOP or right-wing CEOs
We're ready to defend ourselves no matter where we go
We're fighting for our democracy and to hell with your fascist state
"No Pasaran" is the war cry of those opposed to hate

Chorus

So come all you gallant young people, and get your colored laces
We’ll strike a blow for freedom, equality, unity of all the races
You know our movement's history and the sacrifice it made
Come join the SHARPs of the Frank Ryan Brigade

Chorus


original lyrics:

Craigavon sent the Specials out to shoot the people down
He thought the IRA were dead in dear old Belfast town
But he got a rude awakening, when with rifle and grenade
He met the first battalion of the Belfast Brigade

Glory, glory to old Ireland
Glory, Glory to this island
Glory to the memory
Of those who fought and died
"No Surrender" is the war cry of the Belfast Brigade

Specials came from Holywood, equipped with English guns
Men by the thousand, ammunition by the ton
But when they got to Seaford St. they were seriously delayed
By the fighting 1st battalion of the Belfast Brigade

Chorus

We have no armored cars or tenders for to show
We're ready to defend ourselves no matter where we go
We're out for our Republic and to hell with your Orange state
"No Surrender" is the war cry of the Belfast Brigade

Chorus

So come all you gallant Irish people and join the IRA
To strike a blow for freedom, when there comes our certain day
You know our country's history and the sacrifice it made
Come join the 1st battalion of the Belfast Brigade

Four new songs

I've got four more songs. They're all "Those Lyrics," see this for an explanation.

One of them is about anti-racist skinheads, see the introduction of the first post with such songs for some information about them.

These are all about the same quality.

1. Lace Up Your Boots. Anti-Racist Skinheads.
2. Solidarity. The global working-class.
3. The Only Solution. The IRA in N. Ireland.
4. This Island is Ours. Same.

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).

“Lace Up Your Boots” based on “Allegiance” by Final Solution (original lyrics are here)

1. This is a song about anti-racist skinheads.
2. The first two lines are about how some large chunk of anti-racists, probably about half of those who know that there ARE anti-racist skinheads, are very critical of anti-racist skinheads.
3. anti-racist skinheads tend to be working-class.
4. It’s partly meant as an appeal to traditional (non-political) skinheads to become anti-racist. (no, I don't expect them to give a shit what I think of them, but I feel comfortable saying they should be anti-racist)
5. Black laces on their boots indicates that skinheads are traditional, blue indicates that they’re anti-racist.
6. The roots of the skinhead culture are with Jamaicans in the UK. The original skinheads were neither fascist nor white supremacist.
**7. 39% of this version is me, 61% is the original (this figure reflects the changes made in the 1st two lines).
8. I give this song/poem three stars out five.
9. UPDATE 2/21/11 I have just changed most of the 1st line (1st verse) and all of the 2nd line (1st verse)

You say we´re too violent, you say we don't assist
In taking down the white supremacists
We're proud anti-racist workers, deep from our heart.
To unite our class, we shall do our part.

United we stand, divided we'll fall.
Stand up all you skinheads and answer our call
Because change is near and the battle is at hand.
We must fight now to save our land.

Chorus:
Wake up all you skins and show your faces!
trade in the black for blue laces!
Shave your heads and lace up your boots,
with this anti-fascist fight we must remember our roots!

We're not a trend, we're here to stay
We're anti-racist Skinheads and fuck the KKK
We're the workers fighting for our class.
We'll finish our foes with a boot in their ass.

We want workers power, we'll feel the glory.
We'll fight till the death for our victory!

Chorus

***

“Solidarity II” based on “this planet is ours” by Centurion, original lyrics are here.

1. It’s about the working-class.
2. the references to fighting are meant to be something like 90% non-violent.
**3. 25% of this version is me, 75% is the original.
4. I give this song three stars out of five.
5. I skipped the last verse.

We’ll drive out the capitalist crud
We’ll crush the fash back into the mud
We’ll break the hold of the corporate powers
Soldiarity! This planet is ours!

We’ll stand against the right-wing lies
Not stand and watch as our children die
We’ll take it back in this perilous hour
Solidarity! This planet is ours!

Chorus:
This planet’s ours! We have the right!
This planet’s ours! We have the might!
This planet’s ours! We’ll ever fight!
This planet’s ours! Until the world’s without the Right

We’ll watch our power grow in might
As we inspire our enemy’s fright
We’ll show no mercy as our foe cowers
Solidarity! This planet is ours!

****

“The Only Solution” based on “Allegiance” by Final Solution original lyrics (original lyrics are here)


1. It’s about Irish republican socialists Volunteers.
2. Many critics of the IRA (which (during the 1980s, when this song is set) was mostly made up of socialists) call them fascist. This is debunked in the post “The Brown And The Green.”
3. There are 32 Counties in Ireland.
4. This is another where I suggest that IRA members wore combat boots, in this case it’s because “boots” is in the original. They might have worn them, some of the time. UPDATE 10/5/10 I just learned that, yes, many of them DID wear combat boots, although it was more common in rural areas.
5. I’m not sure what country Final Solution is from, but in case they’re from a country with a large Irish population, this contains a lot of left-wing and some anti-fascist stuff. For why that’s important, see this. (UPDATE 2/8/20 I just did some research. They're American but their frontman was with the Hammerskins, a network of Nazi skinhead crews that at one point included one in the unionist community of N. Ireland (I can't find an answer, but the band may have been officially connected to the Hammerskins))
6. 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)
**7. 44% of this version is me, 56% is the original.
8. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
9. This poem is not meant as an endorsement of armed struggle since 1997.
10. UPDATE 4/22/11 I said something about the 32-County Republic which sounds like I believe it exists. I believe in the vision of that Republic, but I don't believe it exists.
11.  UPDATED 2/5/16 Based on what might be called a fairly scientific look, only about .2% of the IRA's operations intentionally resulted in civilian death.

you say we’re terrorists, you say we’re fash
your bullshit lies will not last
we’re proud republican socialists deep from our heart
to free our nation we shall do our part

united we stand, divided we fall
stand up all you Irish and answer our call
because revolution is near and the battle is at hand
we must revolt now to free our land

Chorus:
wake up all you Irish and sign up quick
vow your allegiance to the 32-County Republic
load up your rifles and lace your boots
the british presence we will uproot

we’re not just reacting, we’re creating revolution
Irish unity and socialism are the only solution
we’re republicans, fighting for our land
we’ll push out the squaddies with rifle in hand

we want freedom, we’ll feel the glory
we’ll fight to the death for Irish victory

****

“This Island Is Ours” based on “This Planet Is Ours” by Centurion, original lyrics are here.

1. Squaddies is a term for British soldier.
2. Orange is the color of anti-Catholic bigotry in the Irish-British context.
3. “Tiocfaidh ar la” is a republican slogan which means “our day will come.”
4. This is set in the early 1970s and is about the Provisonal republican movement.
5. The RUC were the police until late 2001.
**6. 29% of this version is me, 71% is the original.
7. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
8. I’m not sure what country Centurion is from, but in case they’re from a country with a large Irish population, this contains some anti-right stuff. For why that’s important, see this.
9. This poem is not meant as an endorsement of armed struggle since 1997.

We’ll drive the Squaddies out of our land
We’ll crush the Orange back into the sands
We’ll break the hold of the imperialist power
Tiocfaidh ar la! This island is ours!

We’ll stand against the Tory lies
Not stand and watch as our childen die
We’ll take it back in this perilous hour
Tiocfaidh ar la! This island is ours!

Chorus:
This island is ours! We have the right!
This island is ours! We have the might!
This island is ours! we’ll take on the RUC
This island is ours! Until all Ireland is free

We’ll watch our numbers grow in might
As we inspire our enemies fright
We’ll show no mercy as squaddies cower
Tiocfaidh ar la! This island is ours!

And in the stars shall we proclaim
Our heroic deeds of glorious fame
And see our people be empowered
Tiocfaidh ar la! This island is ours!


One last note: Even with the songs that are only about 10% me (and at the upper end, one is 80% 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?).

Six new songs

I have six more songs. They're all "Those Lyrics," for an explanation see this. I might have a new source of non-offensive material for altering, but if not from now on it'll probably be something like 90% "Those Lyrics."
Also, two of these songs are SHARP/RASH songs, you might want to read the introductory portion of the first post I did with that sort of song/poem.

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).

The ones towards the top are okay, the ones towards the bottom are good.

1. We Fly the Starry Plough. Republican Socialists in Ireland.
2. The Hate Froze. The Eastern European part of WWII.
3. When Partition Falls. Partly about a vision for a United Ireland.
4. SHARP Skinheads. Anti-racist skinheads.
5. Slan Abhaile. N. Ireland.

“We fly the Starry Plough” based on “we fly the swastika” by No Remorse. Original lyrics are here.

1. The Starry Plough is the flag of republican socialism.
2. Considering the source of the original, I feel like I have to point out what is probably obvious: as long as it doesn't cross a certain line (and in N. Ireland I imagine it rarely does) Irish pride is very different from White pride. (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)
3. Volunteers are members of republican paramilitaries.
**4. 25% of this version is me, 75% is the original.
5. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
6. I'm not sure if I should have retained the bit about an era of darkness in my version. But "era of darkness" is basically in the right neighborhood- even today, with the economic situation and the continuation of British rule (albeit less so than before).
7. This poem is not meant as an endorsement of armed struggle since 1997.
8. No Remorse was supportive of the Unionist and British causes in N. Ireland.
9. This is about republican socialists, but only 1-2 lines are about those who use arms.

it’s a symbol of power, it’s a symbol of pride
in the hands of the Irish republican it evokes something deep inside

Chorus
we fly the starry plough, to London we won’t submit
we ain’t never going to take it down for no unionist or Brit

in this era of darkness, it’s a symbol of light
it’ll make a thousand strong Volunteers raise their fists and fight

Chorus

when you see our banners high, rally ‘round and cheer
only the crown forces have something to fear

Chorus

*****
There used to be  a poem here called "Real Skinhead." It might be back soon.

*****

“The Hate Froze” based on “The Snow Fell” by Skrewdriver, original lyrics are here.

1. The original is about, from a pro-Nazi perspective, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union which was dealt a fatal blow early on by the Russian Winter.
2. I skipped the first verse, which was about Stalin. I don’t like him, which is why I couldn’t flip it and I wasn’t going to leave it, so I’m ignoring it.
3. As the war went bad for the Nazis, there were more and more plots against Hitler.
4. The red flag in Berlin warms my heart because it represents the defeat of Nazi Germany.
**5. 15% of this version is me, 85% is the original.
6. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
7. I inspired someone on the Southern Poverty Law Center's blog to alter this song, and he did an even better job than I did. You can see his song in the comments.
UPDATE 11/27/10 8. I just realized that I'm pretty sure almost no one points to the Winter just outside Moscow as the moment when the defeat of the Nazis began. I might change that line.
8. UPDATE 12/24/10 I just added "there" to the 2nd line of the 2nd verse.
9. UPDATE 1/28/11 I am not a fan of the Soviet Union, but considering what they went through during the War, it's appropriate here and there to remember their contribution to the Allied victory.

They took the old roads that Napoleon had taken before.
They fought as a force of hate against the world in a fascist war.
One day they were looking around and the sun was shining on the cold flowers.
The next day they were freezing to death in the sleet and the ice cold showers.

(chorus)
And the snow fell
covering the hate of their ideals.
And the snow fell
freezing the blood and the wheels.
And the snow fell
it was the beginning of their defeat
And the snow fell
soon it would be complete

Then came the deadly roads back from the steppes of their retreat.
The cold racked their bodies but even better, there was the pain of defeat.
Many people who had hailed them once now turned and looked away.
These people now knew that Berlin’s defeat was on it's way.

(chorus)

they were finally pushed back to the borders of their fatherland.
Now assassins came heroes everywhere at hand.
Many Soviets had fought and died knowing that they had to win.
It still warms my heart to see the picture of the red flag in Berlin.

(chorus)

****

“When Partition Falls” based on “When The Hammer Falls” by Bound for Glory, original lyrics are here.


0. Partition is the division of Ireland.
1. The SDLP are the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Sinn Fein’s moderate rival in the nationalist community. I explain what’s wrong with them here.
2. Chinooks are UK military helicopters and are used here as a symbol of the British military.
3. The crooked cross is the swastika.
4. The red, white and blue are the colors of the British flag.
5. The ending of partition will strengthen various left, progressive, liberal and working-class movements in Ireland. I go into that more in the last 1/5 of this post.
6. There’s not a bad chance that when Ireland is united, a republican organization will be in a government with other parties of the Left.
7. There’s some large minority of republicans who support legalizing marijuana (dope is meant as a reference to marijuana, not drugs in general) (you could say this song is about that minority). (there's also a similar situation regarding abortion)
**7. 71% of this version is me, 29% is the original (a new record).
8. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
9. Since the original is American, I DID include some anti-hate stuff, see this for why that's important.
10. Initially this poem had some problems because it was kind of about Sinn Fein. I have now corrected that, and it is about a left-wing element of the republican family overall.
11. UPDATE 1/28/11 As far as I can tell, there's probably some small minority of republicans who are VERY Catholic, probably another small minority who are fairly Catholic, and probably a large minority who are atheist. And this poem is about the left-wingers, so it makes even more sense since there's probably not many republicans who are both very Catholic and left-wing.
12. UPDATE 1/28/11 Obviously republicans have been marching on the street for a long time, but more mass struggle will probably-definitely be part of republicans uniting Ireland and/or forming a republican-left government.
13 UPDATE 5/9/20 I deleted the last two "the" in the last line of the first verse.

SDLP fools and Unionist tools
We all live by London’s rules
Take a better look, up at the Chinooks
how many lives have they took?
Those of the crooked cross, in 1945 they lost
We’ll defeat them at any cost
we’re turning the screws, and we do refuse
to submit to the red, white and blue

Chorus:
From the visions that we saw, there will come new laws
When partition falls
With the power of pride, she’ll take a bride
When partition falls
for the women of Ireland, abortion on demand
When partition falls
For the working-class, justice at last
When partition falls

The future looks bleak, for those who think we are weak
the truth we will always speak
We have hope but no not from the Pope
We do support legalizing dope
we won’t Surrender, retreat, or cower in defeat
What will you do when we march on the streets?
We are what’s coming, our victory will be stunning
in a left coalition, the government we’ll be running

******

“SHARP Skinheads” based on “OC Skinhead” by Final War original lyrics are here.

1. Lincoln Brigade refers to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the group of American volunteers who fought fascism in Spain’s Civil War.
2. SHARP is SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice.
**3. 39% of this version is me, 61% is the original.
4. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
5. The class I refer to is the working-class.
6. 10/31/10 I just replaced the word "march" with the word "live" in the 5th line of the first verse.

We were born for anti-fash crusades
to follow the steps of the Lincoln brigade
born to fight and born to win,
we are all anti-racist Skins
we are the ones who live on the streets
our voices loud and never discreet
it's our battle in a people’s war
we are stronger than before

SHARP....Skinheads

Steel capped boots, fisted hands
an anti-racist scene and anti-racist bands
carry our banners hold ‘em above,
we'll fight for the class that we all love
drink some beer and hit the town,
find some Nazis and beat them down
comrades united across the states
we fight together against the hate

SHARP...Skinheads

yeah, We were born for anti-fash crusades
we all remember the Lincoln brigade
we've said it before let the battle begin
victory is ours you know we'll win
Fists and boots and our brains
we’ll defeat those who want fascist reign
shaven heads and opposition to hate
nazis better fuck off before it's too late

SHARP ...Skinheads

****

“Slan Abhaile” based on “When the Boat comes in” by Skrewdriver, original lyrics are here.

1. The title is an Irish farewell to someone traveling home. There’s a republican mural that shows a British army soldier walking away towards (I think) the sunset (there's a sign saying that England is that way), with those words at the top. It’s sort of a friendlier spin on the slogan “Brits out.” My version of this song is a bit less friendly, but I like that republican mural and wanted to use that phrase.
2. Historically there’s been a left-wing analysis that British business operating in Ireland benefit from the way that partition (and in the North the sectarianism that goes with partition) weakens organized labor and the left.
3. This is set in the 1980s and 1990s when the republican strategy of the “Ballot and the armalite (rifle)” was being used.
4. Squaddie is a term for British Army soldier.
5. Special Branch is a part of the police in Britain and Ireland, sort of comparable to the FBI. The SB of the N. Ireland police during the conflict was involved in collusion with loyalist paramilitaries. I explain that more around 2/5 the way through this post.
6. The Red Hand is a loyalist symbol.
**7. 56% of this version is me and 44% is the original.
8. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
9. Skrewdriver was supportive of the Unionist and British causes in N. Ireland.
10. Except for the last five lines, this could include nationalists and of course unarmed republicans, but those last 5 lines are about the IRA.

we won’t take shit, from the Brits, cause Ireland does rule
We will fight the tories, 'cos tories are all fools
Try to run our nation, and give it to fat cats
We won't take it anymore, we're taking our nation back

(Chorus)
Squaddie, Squaddie, get on that boat
Squaddie, Squaddie, row
Squaddie, Squaddie, get out of here
Squaddie, Squaddie, go, go, go...

They patrol the Irish streets, they're dividing our Irish land
And the bigots in Special Branch give aid to the Red Hand
Give them guns, give them info, ignore our human rights
We won't stand and watch our people be slaughtered without a fight

Chorus

We've got to love this land of ours, and fight to make it free
One day we’ll win just like our comrades in the ANC
And if we have to we will fight all the way to the end
between the ballot and the armalite we’ll make them comprehand

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?).

Some new lyrics

So, this is another lyrics post. Some of these are really good, those will be towards the bottom, the okay ones will be towards the top. Also, three of them are about anti-racist skinheads, the first post I did with those songs contains some notes in the intro that you might want to read before you read those lyrics.

That's about it. Like I said, I start with the ones that are only okay and end with the ones that are the best. The ones that involve twisting lyrics I politically despise (see this for an explanation) will be identified with a ++ and I'll specify what the original is.

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).

(I've been and will probably continue to be, kind of lazy about indicating when the chorus is repeated twice at the end of the song, that sort of thing)

I just deleted one of the worst poems I've done, about the Black Panthers

1. RASH. About Irish anti-racist skinheads.
2. People's Democracy. About People's Democracy, the left-wing/civil rights/anti-partition group in N. Ireland that existed from 1968 until sometime in the 1980s.
3. Spirit of the Streets. Anti-racist skinheads.
4. PIRA. The IRA in N. Ireland.
5. Red Rider. Anti-racist skinheads.
6. Stoop Down Low Party. About how bad the Social Democratic and Labour Party in N. Ireland is.

UPDATE 12/12/10 I just took down a poem about the ANC. The quality annoyed me, AND I'm not sure I have enough knowledge about the ANC's struggle to write a poem about it, even a brief one.

*****

“RASH” based on “One Shot Paddy” by Justice, original lyrics are here.


1. V-E day refers to the day victory was declared in Europe during WWII.
2. the last two lines don’t rhyme in the original, which seems to work for listening to the original, and I’m going to keep it as is, just changing IRA to ARA.
3. Brown is the color of fascism.
4. RASH is Red and Anarchistic SkinHeads.
5. ARA is Anti-Racist Action, a group connected to anti-racist skinheads.
**6. 24% of this version is me, 76% is the original.
7. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
8. I don't know why I kept the first two lines as they were in the original. I would have made more sense if the poem was about Irish SHARPs/RASH (I kind of bumped into (on the web) an Irish SHARP, and when he criticized me for my position on the North, I ripped him a new one). I might change that first verse, one way or the other.
9. I am now changing this poem to being about IRISH RASH, instead of American RASH.
10. AFA is Anti-Fascist Action (Ireland)

In Ireland many years ago or so the legend says
Saint Patrick roamed the hills and glens to drive the snakes away,
But now Ireland has anti-fascist skins- they’re bad news for the brown
Their name is RASH and it’s fash that they will hound!

[chorus]
The fash are getting worried they’ve all gone underground
If the RASH see them they know they’re going down
So the next time that you see the fash with their faces full of fright
Look out for the RASH and make sure that your laces aren’t white

Through the cities of Ireland these gallant heroes roam
They’ll wander through the streets they like to call their home,
And when they find fash they loudly charge forward and attack
It is then that you will hear the crack of bone as the fash are pushed back

Chorus

So if you’re home at night and the newsflash it is read,
The RASH has been at work – another fash bashed in the head
And when it comes time to celebrate V-E day’s cheer,
Remember the RASH and the gallant AFA!

Chorus

****

“People’s Democracy” based on “We Are The Law” ++ RACIST by Kill Baby Kill, original lyrics are here.

1. People’s Democracy was a militant, left-wing, and initially student part of the Civil Rights movement in N. Ireland starting in Oct. 1968 (it later became a political party and then around 1980 declined, and many members joined Sinn Fein and then it adopted another name). There’s more about them here, and the first 1/3 of this. PD doesn’t exist anymore, so this doesn’t violate my rules on publishing songs about actual organizations.
2. The first line is kind of a reference to the ambush at Burntollet.
3. The references to fighting are meant to be about 95% non-violent. I imagine there was some involvement with rioting (especially Devlin's role in the Battle of the Bogside) and there was some support for the IRA, but I think PD were largely about non-violence.
4. Probably something like 50%-60% of PD in 1969 were Marxist.
5. I’m not sure how into Irish pride they were, but I think the vast majority in 1969 identified as Irish and that probably went up to 100% about 2 years later, and I only like to change as much as I need to. Irish pride, most of the time is different than white pride. (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)
6. The Six-Counties is a republican term for N. Ireland.
**7. This version is about 46% me, 54% the original.
8. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
9. PD were very anti-racist and had connections with the Black Panthers.

Rise up all you fallen marchers, rise up and take your stands again.
Let us march for a new tomorrow, let us fight until the day we win
Marching into countless battles, students marching side by side.
Nothing stronger than the troops of Marx, nothing stronger than Irish pride.

Student legions marching for radical change, starting in Oct 1968.
To all of those who cross our path: capitalism and sectarianism we do hate
Never will they take us down, we’re born to fight and so we will.
The Six-Counties are our battleground, for the working-class we’re fighting still.

Chorus:
We are marching on the street.
PD… we take on the elite.
We will win and you know why.
People’s Democracy will never die.

Irish men and women the time has come,
to take down all the Unionist scum.
Our marching days are here now,
to our mighty legions they shall bow.
So listen here, we are socialists,
we keep on fighting Brits and Unionists.
We keep on fighting til sectarianism ends,
to this government we shall never bend

2nd Chorus
We are marching on the street.
PD… we take on the elite.
We will win and you know why.
we’re People’s Democracy and we will never die.

*******

“Spirit of the Streets” based on “We Are the Law” ++RACIST by Kill Baby Kill, original lyrics are here.

1. “Spirit of the streets” is probably more associated with traditional, non-racist skinheads than with anti-racist skinheads (SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice, SHARP) but I’ve seen SHARP youtube videos that included imagery with that phrase.
2. Skinheads have a sense of working-class pride and/or pride in being a skinhead. With the anti-racists, they do represent the best of the skinhead culture.
3. Skinheads wear different colored laces on their boots to indicated their politics or lack thereof.
4. The culture being referred to is the SKINHEAD culture, or subculture, which SHARPs feel is at risk from the Nazi skinheads (also known as boneheads).
5. The reference to workers seems to go a bit beyond how I normally talk about the working-class and anti-racist skinheads (traditionally skinhead is overwhelmingly working-class and probably remains so, or at least mostly so). If it does drift to the left, and only some small majority of anti-racist skinheads are more or less left-wing, that’s fine, I’m a leftist and that's how I'll sometimes write the songs.
6. In various ways, anti-racist skinheads are helpful to those who struggle en masse, even though probably something like 1/3 of anti-racist skinheads don’t really think about that (there’s a spectrum on this, and many are relatively non-political).
**7. This version is 33% me, 67% the original.
8. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
UPDATE 2/1/11 9. As far as helping "those who struggle en mass." A: Although many/most SHARPs don't care about that much, if at all, the fact is that what they do is helpful for people trying to combat racism non-violently; B: I use that rhyme pretty often, because I often forget to try similar words like "last."

Rise up all you fallen fighters, rise up and take your stands again.
Let us fight for a new tomorrow, let us fight until the day we win.
Marching into countless battles, Skinheads marching side by side.
Nothing stronger than the skins of SHARP, nothing stronger than Skinhead pride.

Shaven-headed legions march for freedom, Nazis won’t escape their fate
To all Nazis who cross our path: change your laces before it’s too late
Never will they take us down, we’re born to fight and so we will.
Our streets are our battleground, for the working-class and our culture we’re fighting still.

Chorus:
We are the spirit of the streets
Skinheads… We’re the elite.
We wear our boots and you know why.
SHARP Skinheads will never die.

Workers now the time has come,
to save your class from the scum.
The boneheads’ days are over now,
to our mighty legions they shall bow.
So listen here, this is our town,
we keep on fighting the Nazi clowns
We keep on fighting for the working-class,
fighting to help those who struggle en masse

2nd Chorus
We are the spirit of the streets
Skinheads… We’re the elite.
We wear our boots and you know why.
we’re SHARP Skinheads and we will never die.

*******

“PIRA” based on “CYC” ++LOYALIST by Rab C. original lyrics are here (this is probably the most offensive thing I listen to, it might be upsetting)

1. The original is loyalist. This is about the Provisional IRA.
2. The smell is from the firing of weapons.
3. AK-47s are automatic rifles, RPGs are Rocket Propelled Grenades.
4. Peeler is police. Squaddies are British soldiers.
5. The Warsaw ghetto was one of the few places where there was Jewish resistance to the Holocaust. There’s a great movie about it called “Uprising.” (see this). You might think that this reference is innapropriate, considering that the IRA accepted aid from Nazi Germany and did some things that might have slightly benefited Nazi Germany. I did an entire post about this where I ripped the IRA a new one over it, and went half as far about Irish neutrality during the war. For my post on this, go here.
6. The RUC were, until 2001, the police.
7. The song, including the last line, is not an endorsement of continuing armed struggle past 1997.
8. This is the 3rd song in which I assume that republican paramilitaries wore combat boots. It just worked too well in some ways, and it’s possible some/most/all of them DID wear combat boots. UPDATE 3/11/10: A good source has told me that, yes, sometimes they did, but it was more common in rural areas.
9. The song describes something which probably happened zero or one time the entire conflict, although some things almost as intense probably happened something like five times. I’ve seen video of one gun-fight that was sort of similar.
10. The first two lines don’t rhyme in the original or my version, but in both it seems to work.
**11. 46% of this version is me, 54% is the original. Also I ignored one entire verse that I couldn’t do much with.
12. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
UPDATE 2/1/11 13. As far as triangulating fire, I am almost certain that's something combatants in combat do, although I can only find a small number of web-pages with that phrase. I believe it refers to pinning your opponent down with fire from multiple directions, or something like that.
13. UPDATED 2/8/16 Based on what might be called a fairly scientific look, only about .2% of the IRA's operations intentionally resulted in civilian death.

All told their partners when they got home that,
They didn't know where the smell came from,
They attacked with AKs and RPGs and boots on their feet,
And they forced them all the way back down the street,
Cos they hate the Queen and the House of Lords,
They’re the band that defended the Lower Falls ward
All the peelers were acting like Nazi pricks,
And the Provos triangulated their fire and put them in a fix

It was the maddest thing that you ever did see,
All the young soldiers in D Company
They battled them good and they dealt them a real blow
They fought like the Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto

When the Squaddies tried to intervene,
They got it too the best you've ever seen,
The RUC ran away in total retreat,
They left their colleagues behind, littering the street

The crowds all cheered as the Provos marched by,
All the soldiers with their head held high,
They clapped their hands and they stapmed their feet,
Republican Fighters are on the street.

So please love don't be mad with me,
Send my uniform out for a wee dry clean,
And if the peelers break down the door,
Tell 'em Ireland unfree will always be at war.

****

UPDATE 7/27/11 There used to be a poem here about the killing of five communists by the Klan and Nazis in 1979. Apparently there's VERY few anti-racists out there who believe that their deaths should be commemorated. There's also the fact that it had potential to give former friends and potential allies the wrong idea about my beliefs.

****

“Red Rider” based on “White Rider” ++RACIST by Skrewwdriver, original lyrics are here.

1. This is my 3rd song about Red and Anarchistic SkinHeads (RASH) exclsuively, which is kind of over-representing thier numbers among anti-racist skinheads, but A: I’m a leftist and close the political center of RASH, and B: I needed a color, and there’s not much of a color for the rest of the anti-racist skinheads (blue’s close, but doesn’t symbolize them the way that red symbolizes communism).
2. Historically skinheads have been into scooters, and I think that today is much more popular with anti-racist and non-racist skins than it is with Nazis. So, the “rider” part actually makes a lot of sense.
3. I’m tempted to de-sex the reference to fore-fathers, but it’s largely referring to, for example, those who fought fascism in the Spanish civil war or those who fought with the Allies in WWII (at the very least those who were motivated by anti-fascism and fought in the Atlantic/N. Africa/Europe, since we’re not talking about Japanese-imperialist skinheads), so the people I’m referring to would be something like 90% male. UPDATE 3/18/15 I added "fore-mothers."
4. Pride in this version refers to working-class pride.
5. Just like the other anti-fascist version of this song I’ve done, the reference to standing fast is a bit problematic, but works more or less, in this case, better than the other one if you consider that it’s calling on workers to oppose bigotry and fascism in whatever way they feel comfortable but to also support anti-racist skinheads (unless they're pacifists).
6. Just to be clear, that’s all peopleS meaning all cultures.
7. Overwhelmingly, when white supremacists try working within one of the two mjaor parties, it’s the Republican party (there's probably only some small minority of Republican tools who are aligned with the white supremacists, although there's a larger number that flirt with white supremacists) (I do know of at least one case where Nazi skinheads worked the election campaign of a Republican).
8. The culture referred to is the skinhead culture, which anti-racist skinheads feel is under threat from Nazi skinheads.
**9. This version is 23% me, 77% the original.
10. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.

You ride through the streets with your head held up high
For the working-class and your culture you're willing to die
Your forefathers and fore-mothers fought and your forefathers fore-mothers died
They died for a feeling they felt deep inside

Chorus
Red rider, red rider, your strength is your pride
red rider, red rider, you'll stand, never hide
red rider, red rider, your boots are your voice
You scorn the conscripted, you're fighting through choice

Your banners are unfolded, carry them with love
To fight for the working-class is a gift from above
Some fools will oppose you, true workers will stand fast
But victory shall be ours for the multi-racial working-class

You feel love for all peoples, disdain for the fools
The enemy's allied with the Republican tools
You fight for the working-class which shall be proud and free
And the only reward that you crave is victory

******

“Stoop Down Low Party” based on “Just Look Around” by Sick Of It All, original lyrics are here.

1. This is set sometime in the early 1990s.
2. Stoops are members of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Sinn Fein’s moderate rival in the nationalist community. See this.
3. FF and FG are Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, the two main parties in the Republic and are right around the center on economics, especially FG, and FF has a history of corruption. They also don’t care about the North as much as they should, especially FG (recently FF started organizing in the North).
4. The Irish Army is often sent overseas on UN Peace-Keeping missions. Although I think that’s great (and I think most republicans would agree), and it’s unsure what republicans would have done if they had had control of it during the conflict, I like the idea of republicans complaining about how the Army is being sent over-seas when there’s a need for it in the North! Volunteers are members of republican paramilitaries.
5. Hoods are young, usually more or less apolitical nationalist youth who engage in behavior that they more or less shouldn’t be- basically criminal, although there’s a spectrum and probably some of it is what a lot teenagers do everywhere- smoking pot for example. Because there was no support for the police, Nationalists would turn to the IRA to deal with crime, and this created a lot of hostility between the IRA and their supporters (“Provos”) on one hand and the hoods on the other hand, especially since, as far as I can tell, some large minority of the time the IRA either went too far or should have done nothing at all.
6. The majority of Provos at that time would have been against homophobia, but I know that some large minority were homophobic.
7. The three groups I chose- Provos, hoods, and gay people, seem like the best substitutes for the chorus, and it pretty much makes sense. To whatever degree the hoods are political, they’re closer to the Provos than the SDLP and we’re talking about working-class Nationalist youth who don’t benefit from the SDLP’s moderate politics. The SDLP back then were also very homophobic.
8. The SDLP is very middle-class and elements of the nationalist middle-class about that time were doing very well.
9. The Lower Falls is a working-class nationalist area where, at that point, SF was getting something like 70% of the vote.
10. Although there were other problems with the education system (it was structurally biased against working-class kids (that’s in the process of being changed, by SF)), I decided to pick on the Catholic Church and their homophobia and moderate, almost pro-British politics.
11. The Dail is the parliament in Dublin, which has basically never shown as much concern about the North as it should.
12. Squaddies are British soldiers, an estate is basically a neighborhood. The hatred is aimed at the British government and the British Army.
**13. This version is 29% me, 71% the original.
14. There are places where the lines don't rhyme in either my version or the original.
15. The line about Irish mankind is off a little bit, but it says Northern Irish (within a couple hours of publishing I added Northern) so it's referring to the Nationalist population, it's pretty accurate, unemployment back then was pretty high for Catholics.
16. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
17. The voice in this poem is militant and sort of pro-IRA. But many of his/her complaints would also be voiced by a lot of SDLP voters and some SDLP members.
UPDATE 2/1/11 18. In the 5th line of the 2nd verse, I just replaced the word "they're" with the word "London's."

The question the stoops keep asking me
how can one so young be so bitter and angry
well, the answer is plain to see
maybe if they weren't so blind they'd see what i see
i see the Brits patrolling on our streets
on every corner they're asking for ID
i start riots whenever I can
but sometimes the Brits just keep driving by
i see the repression and unemployment of Northern Irish mankind
the greed of FF and FG has made them blind
to our problems
Dublin sends battallions overseas,
Volunteers right here are fighting a war everyday

Chorus:
I see the hood that hates the Provo
Provo against the gays, neighbor against neighbor
and they're all too blind to see

When we fight each other it puts the SDLP at ease
it keeps us so busy, so they can do what they please
election time comes and they're out for votes
that's when you see and hear from them the most
The North is what London's calling a democracy
that's just another word for hypocrisy
Nationalist workers keep fallin' for the SDLP’s bait
And when they realize, it's always too late

Chorus

As the stoops get richer, the Lower Falls goin' hungry
i've seen the toll it takes on the workers family
education system that's obsolete
Preaches bigotry and tells kids not to riot in the street
see a father's fear, hear a mother's cry
what kind of a Dail watches our children die
The squaddies raid every single home in the estate
then you're gonna ask me why I hate

Why don't you open up your eyes so you can see
open up your ears so you can hear
take a look around and you will find
take a look around and you will find out why

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?).