by dsweeney Tue Jul 20, 2010 1:37 pm
philipchevron wrote:dsweeney wrote:Cheers for that Smoz, brilliant. Hadn't seen it before. The Steve Cooogan bit where he has to disguise his voice is f**kin' hilarious and illustrates brilliantly the sheer idiocy of the whole thing. You could see Sinn Fein and read their words but not hear their voices !!
The thing I can't get with the IBA ban though is this; was almost every single Wolfe Tones song banned from the British airwaves as well or what ? If it was banned purely for having anti British Establishment views then God knows how many more were, or should have been banned. Was " Give Ireland back to the Irish " by Paul Mcartney banned or is that an urban myth ? Anybody ?
The McCartney record was indeed subject to a blanket BBC ban in 1972. I remember, when listening to the rundown of the new weekly Top 40 on Radio 1, which was at lunchtime on Tuesdays back then, it had to be announced as "up to number 12 (or whatever) is
a record by the group Wings", the very title itself considered unmentionable. McCartney's response to the ban was to ensure that the next "record by the group Wings" was entitled "Mary Had A Little Lamb". Seriously.
The Dubliners and the Wolfe Tones were both subject to the late-80s ban which, if nothing else, displayed indiscriminate taste on the part of the powers that be.
However, as witness the ban on "Fairytale of New York" a couple of years ago [for about ten minutes, after Kirsty's mum had read them the riot act] although the BBC had aired it lovingly for 20 years, indicated that we are not dealing with rational or consistent people here.
Is this a pop at the Tones Phil or are you simply saying the Dubliners were lumped in with all other rebel/ Irish ballad groups ?
I hope it isn't because there is a dreadful snobbery in this country about the Wolfe Tones. Yes, the 'RA thing can get a bit out of hand at times but it is far from all they do. By a LONG chalk. Instrumentals, jigs, reels,ballads, you name it. In fact I would say they have a back catalogue that rivals anything in Irish Folk music. And, BTW, even though I wasn't there, the formative Pogue Mahone were known to play more than a few rebel songs, I believe.
[quote="philipchevron"][quote="dsweeney"]Cheers for that Smoz, brilliant. Hadn't seen it before. The Steve Cooogan bit where he has to disguise his voice is f**kin' hilarious and illustrates brilliantly the sheer idiocy of the whole thing. You could see Sinn Fein and read their words but not hear their voices !!
The thing I can't get with the IBA ban though is this; was almost every single Wolfe Tones song banned from the British airwaves as well or what ? If it was banned purely for having anti British Establishment views then God knows how many more were, or should have been banned. Was " Give Ireland back to the Irish " by Paul Mcartney banned or is that an urban myth ? Anybody ?[/quote]
The McCartney record was indeed subject to a blanket BBC ban in 1972. I remember, when listening to the rundown of the new weekly Top 40 on Radio 1, which was at lunchtime on Tuesdays back then, it had to be announced as "up to number 12 (or whatever) is [i]a record by the group Wings[/i]", the very title itself considered unmentionable. McCartney's response to the ban was to ensure that the next "record by the group Wings" was entitled "Mary Had A Little Lamb". Seriously.
The Dubliners and the Wolfe Tones were both subject to the late-80s ban which, if nothing else, displayed indiscriminate taste on the part of the powers that be.
However, as witness the ban on "Fairytale of New York" a couple of years ago [for about ten minutes, after Kirsty's mum had read them the riot act] although the BBC had aired it lovingly for 20 years, indicated that we are not dealing with rational or consistent people here.[/quote]
Is this a pop at the Tones Phil or are you simply saying the Dubliners were lumped in with all other rebel/ Irish ballad groups ?
I hope it isn't because there is a dreadful snobbery in this country about the Wolfe Tones. Yes, the 'RA thing can get a bit out of hand at times but it is far from all they do. By a LONG chalk. Instrumentals, jigs, reels,ballads, you name it. In fact I would say they have a back catalogue that rivals anything in Irish Folk music. And, BTW, even though I wasn't there, the formative Pogue Mahone were known to play more than a few rebel songs, I believe.
