Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>During Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ (1969–98), paramilitary groups were supported and sustained by a sociocultural apparatus that helped legitimise their position within the community and disseminate their political message. From the use of flags and murals to loyalist and republican parades, working-class vernacular culture revealed who was in control of various districts of the Province. For many working-class Protestants, loyalist songs were a key component of this culture, connecting the past and the present. Unlike the better-known loyalist marching band scene, which is a huge public spectacle, the loyalist song scene is much more private. Performances take place in a closed setting, within local loyalist pubs and clubs, where such songs are reproduced for internal consumption rather than outward expression. This book examines the role loyalist songs played during the Troubles, exploring who performed them, and the connection between loyalist songs and loyalist paramilitaries. It asks why musicians and audiences continue to produce and consume loyalist songs, explores the role of relevant producers and consumers in the (re)production of cultural memory, and analyses how loyalist songs feed into a broader culture war in Northern Ireland. The book argues that in the wake of Brexit, such songs form part of a cultural nostalgia for multiple and intersecting imagined pasts, which resonate with the rise of populism in other parts of the world and are weaponised to defend against the looming existential threat of a United Ireland.</jats:p>