RTE has been told by an expert in songwriting that the use of a nasty song by Irish rapper Dawn O’Brien to incite violence during the Troubles has been wrongly attributed to her.
In an article published in The Irish Daily Mail this week, Dr Stephen Barrett, an academic at the University of Exeter, claimed that O’Brien’s use of the words “bloody” and “sh*t” was in fact a direct quote from a song written by O’Shea Murphy, who wrote the song “Bloody Bloody Bloody Bloody”.
“The words are taken from a piece of music by Murphy, entitled ‘Bloody Bloody Bloody’.
It is an anti-war song,” Dr Barrett told the newspaper.
“The phrase ‘bloody bloody bloody bloody’ is a reference to a song by Murphy.
The lyrics of the song, which were taken from the Irish singer O’Shannon Murphy’s song ‘Bloodies Bloody Bloody’, are not taken from O’Brian’s song.”
Dr Barrett claimed that Murphy’s lyrics are “very derogatory, very violent” and that they were the result of a “deep hatred of the Irish”.
Dr Barrett added that the “fear of Irish people in the UK is such that they have chosen to attack their own people”.
Dr Stephen Barrett of the University Of Exeter has questioned the “shameless” use of O’Donnell’s song to incite hatred and violence during Ireland’s Troubles.
Dr Barrett also pointed out that OBrien’s lyrics “do not refer to any violence” and have been “used to incite others to violence”.
Dr Andrew Taggart, an Irish musicologist at the City University of New York, said Dr Barrett’s assertion was “shocking” and called for O’Reilly to “immediately retract her claim”.
“In the wake of this, a lot of people in Britain are now questioning her claim that she used the lyrics of ‘Bloodys Bloody Bloody’ to incite people to violence,” Dr Taggert said.
“That’s a dangerous claim that could be made on the basis of her lyrics.”
I’m not going to discount that OReilly used the song in a way that she should have.
“Dr Taggord added that “we don’t know what the lyrics were”, and “there is no evidence that OBrien used the ‘bloodies’ or ‘sh*ts’ to mean violence.
“He said it is important to note that the song was written before the Troubled Troubles, and it is unclear whether O’Sullivan ever sang it.”
It’s very unlikely that she would have been aware of it, and certainly not to have used it in a very aggressive manner,” he said.
However, Dr Barrett argued that “she was very aggressive”.”
She’s very aggressive and she’s very threatening,” he added.”
There’s no doubt in my mind that she was trying to incite other people to do violence.
“Dr Porter said Dr Tapper’s comments were “absolutely outrageous” and it would be “quite a bit of work” for the police to determine who wrote which lines.
Dr Porter added that he would have “no problem” with the police looking into the matter.”
If the song is a legitimate song that’s obviously a good thing, but it doesn’t say anything about violence, it doesn, I think, need to be taken down, and then we can all go back to normal,” Dr Porter said.
O’Reilly has also apologised to her listeners, saying she would “never have used the words, I’ve never used the word”.”
I was wrong and I have taken responsibility for it,” she said.
Dr Tapper said he hoped the police would “investigate” Dr Barrett, who has “not only a good reputation for his scholarship in Irish music, but his expertise in the area of songwriting”.”
But the more important thing is that the lyrics, which have no bearing on the content of the video, are not offensive,” he explained.”
And the song has never been used in any way to incite, to incite hate or violence.
