From Kilmichael to the Foggy Dew, Ireland's favourite rebel songs

Marjorie Brennan selects a Top 10 of the best rebel songs

1 THE BOYS OF KILMICHAEL

This rousing ballad remembers the politically-significant ambush near the village of Kilmichael, Co Cork, in November 1920, a week after Bloody Sunday. Thirty-six IRA volunteers, led by Tom Barry, killed 17 members of the RIC Auxiliary Division. It comes in more than one version: Both feature the Tans leaving the town of Macroom.The late Cork poet Patrick Galvin added a verse which was critical of “revisionist” takes on the ambush: