Let us entertain you: paramilitary songs and the politics of loyalist cultural production in Northern Ireland

Abstract

From the Shankill Defence Association’s Orange-Loyalist Songbook to the UDA’s appropriation of ‘Simply the Best’, music has long been used to celebrate loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. During the Troubles, loyalist songs served a variety of functions, from community fundraising and entertainment to the transmission of loyalist cultural memory and the articulation of political perspectives ignored by the mainstream media. Yet, in addition to celebrating local practices and political traditions, loyalist songs now feed into a broader ‘culture war’ in Northern Ireland where, in the absence of intercommunal violence, the commemoration of paramilitary groups is used to continue the conflict by other means. This article traces the origins of contemporary loyalism’s culture war against Irish republicans, unravelling the role loyalist songs played during the Troubles and their ongoing legacy.