1) Matt McGinn (born 1… Read Full Bio ↴There are at least three artists with this name:
1) Matt McGinn (born 1928 - died 1977) was a Glasgow singer songwriter and poet who came to prominence in the 1960's with his prolific catalogue of folk songs.
2) Matt McGinn (b1978 - ) is an Irish singer-songwriter from Hilltown, Co. Down in the Mourne Mountains who has released his debut album Livin'.
3) Matt McGinn is the guitarist for Rosita.
1. Matt McGinn was one of the most important singer songwriters of the folk revival in the 1960s and 1970s. He was born on 17th January 1928, in Ross Street, Glasgow, next to the famous "Barras " market. Matt's life would have followed the typical steps of the other poor kids that lived in the Calton; petty theft and crime, if it hadn't been for the fact that, after spending two years in approved school for stealing, a friend introduced him to left-wing politics. He was later to win a trade union scholarship to study Economics and Political Science at Ruskin College, Oxford, which was quite something for a man that had ended his formal schooling at the age of 12. While at Oxford he won a newspaper prize for "Best Folk Song" and this encouraged him to write more; indeed he was known to write five or six songs a day. He had a natural talent for rhyme and writing and he wrote songs, poems, jokes, books, plays and even a pantomine. He was first and foremost a political man who identified most with communism. Throughout his life he fought injustice and inequality, through his songs and participation in demonstrations and protests. Matt also had a great sense of humour and was a compasionate man and the range of his songs is very wide and surprising; from hard hitting social comment like With Fire and With Sword, to love songs like Janetta, to kids' songs like the Red Yo-yo, which is a favourite with school children. Matt died in 1977 yet the man and his songs are remembered more every year. He was in many ways typical of his people and social class, yet his natural talent to tell the tales of his people through song made him unique.
2. Matt McGinn is a singer songwriter from Co. Down. Born on a snowy St. Stephen's day in 1978, he was raised in Hilltown, a picturesque village amongst the Mourne Mountains. At 11 years old, after being dragged to piano lessons by the ear for six years, Matt picked up his father's Eko guitar and never looked back. After finding a love for music throughout school at St. Colman's Newry and continuing to study music at Queen's University, he has been prominent on the Belfast music scene ever since. In 2007 he took over Duke Special's East Belfast studio for a month and released his first self produced and recorded E.P., a tongue in cheek titled 'Double Bed & other wee Tunes. In December 2010 he recorded and produced his debut album Livin' to much acclaim.
He has also collaborated with artists such as Joe Echo aka Ciaran Gribbin who is now fronting INXS, Gareth Dunlop and Michael Logen who is rising to fame for his work with Johnny Lang.
more http://mattmcginnmusic.com
3) Matt McGinn is the guitarist for Rosita.
Go Limp
Matt McGinn Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Take warning from me
And dont you go marching
With the n-a-a-c-p.
For theyll rock you and roll you
And shove you into bed.
And if they steal your nuclear secret
Youll wish you were dead.
Singin too roo la, too roo la, too roo li ay.
Singin too roo la, too roo la, too roo li ay.
Oh mother, dear mother,
No, Im not afraid.
For Ill go on that march
And Ill return a virgin maid.
With a brick in my handbag
And a smile on my face
And barbed wire in my underwear
To shed off disgrace.
Singin too roo la, too roo la, too roo li ay.
Singin too roo la, too roo la, too roo li ay.
One day they were marching.
A young man came by
With a beard on his cheek
And a gleam in his eye.
And before she had time
To remember her brick...
They were holding a sit-down
On a nearby hay rig.
Singin too roo la, too roo la, too roo li ay.
Singin too roo la, too roo la, too roo li ay.
For meeting is pleasure
And parting is pain.
And if I have a great concert
Maybe I wont have to sing those folk songs again.
Oh mother, dear mother
Im stiff and Im sore
From sleeping three nights
On a hard classroom floor.
Singin too roo la, too roo la, too roo li ay.
Singin too roo la, too roo la, too roo li ay.
One day at the briefing
Shed heard a man say,
Go perfectly limp,
And be carried away.
So when this young man suggested
It was time she was kissed,
She remembered her brief
And did not resist.
Singin too roo la, too roo la, too roo li ay.
Singin too roo la, too roo la, too roo li ay.
Oh mother, dear mother,
No need for distress,
For the young man has left me
His name and address.
And if we win
Tho a baby there be,
He wont have to march
Like his da-da and me.
The song "Go Limp" by Matt McGinn is a satirical critique of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The lyrics are told from the perspective of a young woman who is a participant in the movement. The first stanza features a warning from the woman's mother to not join the NAACP, a civil rights organization, because they will "rock you and roll you" and make you vulnerable to espionage. The chorus of "too roo la, too roo la, too roo li ay" is a nonsensical phrase sung as a way to mock the simplicity of protest songs.
In the second stanza, the woman reassures her mother and claims that she will return from her march as a "virgin maid" with a brick in her handbag and barbed wire in her underwear to defend herself. The third stanza features a turning point in the woman's story, where she meets a young man with a "gleam in his eye" and a hippie-like appearance. She lets her guard down and goes limp, following the advice she had received at a briefing. This ends up leading to a sexual encounter, which takes place during a sit-in protest.
The final stanza features the woman reflecting on her experiences, both positive and negative, during the movement. She is sore and tired from sleeping on a classroom floor for three nights but also reflects on how meeting people at the movement brought her pleasure. She then reveals that the young man she slept with has left her his name and address, suggesting the possibility of a future relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh daughter, dear daughter,
Take warning from me
And dont you go marching
With the n-a-a-c-p.
The singer is warning their daughter not to march with the NAACP, claiming that they'll mistreat her and try to extract secret nuclear information.
For theyll rock you and roll you
And shove you into bed.
And if they steal your nuclear secret
Youll wish you were dead.
The singer continues to paint the NAACP in a bad light, suggesting they would treat their daughter roughly and that they would meet unfortunate consequences if her secret knowledge of nuclear information was compromised.
Oh mother, dear mother,
No, Im not afraid.
For Ill go on that march
And Ill return a virgin maid.
The singer expresses their bravery and determination to participate in the march, assuring their mother that they will come back unharmed.
With a brick in my handbag
And a smile on my face
And barbed wire in my underwear
To shed off disgrace.
The artist intends to arm herself for protection but also remain pleasant on the surface level. They also seem to allude to some sort of mechanism in their underwear to avoid personal shame.
One day they were marching.
A young man came by
With a beard on his cheek
And a gleam in his eye.
During the march the artist describes that a charismatic man catches their attention.
And before she had time
To remember her brick...
They were holding a sit-down
On a nearby hay rig.
Before she was able to use her tool of defence, the group stopped marching to conduct a sit-in.
For meeting is pleasure
And parting is pain.
And if I have a great concert
Maybe I wont have to sing those folk songs again.
The singer shares their philosophy around relationships and suggests that if they have a successful concert they will be able to avoid singing traditional folk songs.
Oh mother, dear mother
Im stiff and Im sore
From sleeping three nights
On a hard classroom floor.
The artist describes their current physical state and the cause of it, having spent three nights sleeping on a classroom floor.
One day at the briefing
Shed heard a man say,
Go perfectly limp,
And be carried away.
The artist recalls a lesson from a briefing which advised going limp and being carried away in scenarios of conflict.
So when this young man suggested
It was time she was kissed,
She remembered her brief
And did not resist.
When the man attempted to kiss the artist, she remembered the manoeuvre she was taught and put up no physical resistance.
Oh mother, dear mother,
No need for distress,
For the young man has left me
His name and address.
And if we win
Tho a baby there be,
He wont have to march
Like his da-da and me.
The singer assures their mother that there is no need to worry, and shares the name and contact information of the man she met. She goes on to suggest that if they have a child together, that child will not have to endure the same difficulties the singer and the man faced in marching.
Writer(s): Nina Simone, Alex Comfort Copyright: WB Music Corp.
Contributed by Brody I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.