Carnage balladeers
Sir: Mark Steyn (Arts, 3 September) won- ders which events will inspire Irish Republi- can songsters when they come to celebrate their feats of arms over the last 25 years; he feels Inniskillen, Warrington and other acts of inventive carnage will prove too great a challenge for their balladeers. He underes- timates their creative stamina. In 1979 I shared a last tube to Kilburn with some closing-time choristers from the Emerald Isles who were — so to speak — one part high spirits to three parts best bitter. To the tune of 'Old MacDonald had a farm' they regaled me with a lively rendition of 'Lord Mountbatten had a boat'. The chorus, if memory serves, went 'With a bang! bang!
here and a bang! bang! there . It is the hallmark of a truly resilient culture that lit- tle is needed to 'spur it into song'.
Guy Carter
63 Rectory Road, Walthamstow, London E17
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