REMEMBRANCE - 'Ballad of Kidso'

  Remember the victims Merthyr  1831
Llanelli    1911

and, of course, northern Ireland.........

 This is a poem about just one of them, a man whose funeral was attended by many pop stars of the time(1983), including Bananarama and Spandau Ballet and whose brother was the drummer for Stiff Little Fingers.



                         THE  BALLAD  OF  'KIDSO'  REILLY


Kidso Reilly, do remember him?
Never a man of uniform,
not one to wield a gun
or get angry about the situation.

Kidso Reilly, a man of fashion,
his brother, the drummer, all the connections;
a man of music, a Celtic fan,
a roadie from northern Ireland.

A great craic, a charmer,
dab hand on stage with equipment
for Weller, Spandau Ballet, Bananarama ;
always plugged in, sorted.

Kidso Reilly, back home with mates
after a few jars and a carry out,
got to the top of the Whiterock,
an army patrol searched , interrogated.

Dressed in shorts and a t-shirt
Kidso walked 50 yards up Monagh
when the soldier knelt down
and shot him in the back, no reason.

In Court, Private Thain claimed
Kidso was carrying a weapon,
but the Judge called him a liar :
first soldier to go down for murder;

though many others had been guilty before.
Less than two years into his sentence
he was released from prison, Ian Thain :
his punishment, his old job back again!

His reward for murdering an innocent
was more than the Queen's shilling
and no-one has ever told the Reillys
if he ever returned to that scene.

So remember Kidso Reilly
whenever you wear a poppy,
a roadie, Celtic fan, man of fashion,
gunned down by the heroic British Army.




                         

---