Want to stop Gen Z singing ‘Up The Ra’? The solution’s very simple!

FOR those of us old enough to recoil at the mere mention of place names like Enniskillen, Omagh, and (my home town) Warrington, the spectacle of young people cheering on the IRA in the manner of a good-natured soccer crowd is more than mildly disconcerting.

So embedded are those awful years of conflict across the island of Ireland and England in the psyche of those who lived through them, that even when a sports announcer mentions a GAA game between “Dublin and Monaghan”, the brain flickers in recognition of the infamous bombings in those counties.

I was three when they happened, and have no recollection of them, but the conjunction of Dublin and Monaghan, for those of a certain age, will always be there.

For those not ‘of a certain age’, of course, Dublin v Monaghan is just a one-sided GAA match.

Therein lies the issue at the heart of the recent - I should say latest - spat over the popularity of the Wolfe Tones’ song Celtic Symphony, and its infuriatingly catchy - so bad, it’s good - chorus of ‘Ooh aah, up the ’RA’.

The majority of those singing along to it at Electric Picnic never lived through the Troubles. And yet, I’d bet that a good few of them knew what they were doing would be recorded and pop up on social media, and raise the hackles of the older folk.

They must have been aware of the recent controversies over the song, such as when the Irish women’s soccer team came under fire for singing it after qualifying for the World Cup.

But that frisson of danger only adds to the song’s allure in their eyes.

Not only does a partying young wan get to have a sing-song with their pals and thousands of other like-minded people; they are sticking it up to the fogeys too. A win-win. It’s called rebelliousness, and it’s been going on since Adam’s son was a lad.

And here is where us older people have gone wrong when we try to take Gen Z (born 1996-2010) to task for apparently celebrating a terrorist organisation who killed thousands of people.

If we say the song is morally and ethically unsound, they will raise a certain finger, or two.

If we suggest celebrating the IRA might be a bit upsetting - not just for unionists in the North, but for all who suffered at the hands of terrorist violence - they will shrug their shoulders.

And, god forbid, if we set Joe Duffy and Bertie Ahern loose on them and urge the most educated generation in Irish history to educate themselves a bit more... well, the best we can expect from that is a dismissive “OK, Boomer”.

Here is precisely where we are going wrong.

People like me who are old enough to remember the almost daily dose of death, hatred and mayhem need to change tack. We need to take one for Team Gen X (born 1965-81), and for the older cohort of Team Millennial (born 1981-96) We need to swallow our pride and pretend to embrace that song; and, crucially, be seen to embrace it.

We must sing it lustily at every pub lock-in, at every wedding, as we are driving down the street at 30mp/h in our boring and safe Volvos and Nissans.

We must sing it loud, and sing it proud. ‘Ooh, aah, up the ’Ra’.

It will be difficult, I know.

For folks of my vintage, the prompt of ‘Ooh aah...’ is more likely to conjure up the rejoinder ‘Cantona!’ even among those of us who loathe Manchester United with a passion.

And even some of the most devout, middle-aged nationalists find the cheering on of the IRA beyond the pale.

But we must do this for Ireland. We must pretend that the song is the finest earworm we ever heard.

Furthermore, we must attend Wolfe Tones concerts, ignore any concerns about our fogey bladders, and head right to the front of the stage for the duration of the gig.

When that song comes on, we must whoop and holler in delight, in full views of the young wans behind us.

The followers of Facebook and Twitter/X need to wrestle that song from the fans of Instagram and TikTok.

The reason for this bizarre turn of events should be obvious.

By Christmas, Celtic Symphony will have lost its fanfare, its lustre will have dulled, and Gen Z, appalled to see ‘their’ culture appropriated by uncool old farts, will move on to the next big thing.

Then, we can drop the pretence, heave a sigh of relief, and get back to listening to Bachman-Turner Overdrive, while nodding our heads gently and occasionally opining ‘This rocks’. Or however you get your middle-aged kicks.

In truth, I personally can’t drum up any sense of outrage for young people who sing ‘Up the ’RA’. In fact, I can kind of understand the reasons they do it. I feel reassured that it’s just kids doing their rebellious thing.

Just like our parents used to recoil when the Sex Pistols snarled ‘I am an anti-Christ’, or when David Bowie wore a dress on Top Of The Pops, so each generation will find its own way to separate itself from older people who don’t understand them.

I do think it’s a bit sad (in the oldie sense) that young people who presumably yearn for a united Ireland can’t comprehend that their actions will only harm their cause. But I can already hear the youth of today sighing at that ‘hot take’. Cool teenagers didn’t listen to me when I was a teenager, so what hope have I now?

Right, better start rehearsing:

It was far across the sea

When the devil got a hold of me

He wouldn’t set me free

So he kept me soul for ransom...