This Day in Music
Happy St. Patrick's Day! May the best days of your past be the worst days of your future. Plus Danny-boy Elvis, on this Irish day in music.
Holiday Listicle
My 15 Cool Songs for St. Patrick’s Day
There's hundreds and hundreds of great Irish songs in all genres, but here is a short list of some of my favourites. And yes, this list of 15 actually has 16 songs, because on St. Patrick's Day, we are allowed to imbibe just a little bit more.
Click on the artists to listen to the songs, and click on the italicized links for some added history.
Whiskey in the Jar. A traditional song from the Cork area, recorded by every Irish folk band in history, the coolest rock version being by Thin Lizzy in 1972.
Dirty Old Town. This 1949 folk song by Ewan MacColl was most famously recorded by The Dubliners in 1968, and The Pogues in 1985.
Finnegan’s Wake. An 1865 Irish-American ballad with disputed authorship, first brought to pop music by The Dubliners and The Clancy Brothers. Boston-area Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys offer a great take.
Whiskey You’re the Devil. A traditional song of unknown authorship, popularly done by The Clancy Brothers and The Pogues.
“This song is not a rebel song, this song is Sunday Bloody Sunday.” This great U2 track is from the album “War,” and is about an observance of that fateful day during The Troubles. I like the live version linked above from Red Rocks Amphitheater best.
Come Out, Ye Black and Tans. This song is a rebel song, most famously performed by The Wolfe Tones. It sings of fighting the Black and Tans, a group of British special constables sent to reinforce the Royal Irish Constabulary (the Irish police force when the entire island was under Britannia rule) during the Irish War of Independence, 1919 to 1921.
Molly Malone. A traditional song of unknown origin, and Dublin’s unofficial anthem, it’s most famously performed by The Dubliners.
God Save Ireland. Another rebel song, it’s the unofficial Irish national anthem (the official anthem is “The Soldier’s Song”) about the Manchester Martyrs. My favourite version is by The Wolfe Tones.
Drunken Lullabies. By Irish-American Celtic-punk band Flogging Molly, this will certainly put you in a dancing mood.
Star of the County Down. A late-19th century folk lyric by Cathal MacGarvey set to the tune of “Dives and Lazarus,” and made famous by The Irish Rovers, a group of Irish ex-patriots formed in Toronto in 1963.
The Irish Rover. An Irish folk song about a magnificent, if not improbable, sailing ship that meets a sad end. The definitive version is by The Dubliners, but for a real treat, listen to the 25th anniversary recording by The Dubliners with The Pogues.
Thing of Beauty. This is simply a great Rock and Roll song by the Irish band Hothouse Flowers from their 1993 album, “Songs from the Rain.” The link is from a pre-recording rehearsal and is raw, but cool!
Nothing Compares 2 U. Famously written by Prince, but performed best by the late and wonderful Sinéad O’Connor, who made it an international blockbuster.
Orinoco Flow. No list of Irish songs is complete without this ethereal dream by Enya.
The Long Black Veil. A 1959 country ballad by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin, done beautifully by Mick Jagger and The Chieftains in 1995.
The Galway Girl. An Irish ode by American singer-songwriter Steve Earle, and recorded with the talented Irish musician Sharon Shannon, it might be American, but it’s Irish in spirit! The 2008 cover by Irish singer-songwriter Mundy was the most downloaded song of the year in Ireland and went to No. 1. It’s been covered by many, but this version by Mundy and Sharon Shannon, along with Irish musicians We Banjo 3, Amazing Apples, Roisin Seoighe, Lackagh Comhaltas, Galway Rose Rosie Burke, and over 15,000 local citizens crammed into the pedestrian promenade of William St. in Galway City will surely leave you with a smile on your face.
Releases
1967: American blues-based psychedelic rock band Grateful Dead release their debut studio album, “Grateful Dead.”
Recorded in Los Angeles with four tracks edited for length at the behest of Warner Bros., the band’s record label, the LP was big in the Dead's hometown of San Francisco, but did not attract much attention elsewhere. The free-form FM radio format that would suit the group most was still very much in development, and not yet a fully-national network, keeping their popularity mostly local.
Warmly received by critics, Richard Goldstein writing for the Village Voice described it as, “straight, decent rhythm and blues.” The lack of radio play meant that it did not reach a wide audience, and that's reflected in its failure to chart.
Only two songs on the album were original compositions, “Cream Puff War” by Jerry Garcia, and the awesome opening track, “The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion),” credited to McGannahan Skjellyfetti, which was an alias for the entire band.
With other great tracks like “Beat it On Down the Line,” “Morning Dew,” “Sitting on Top of the World,” and an epic-length “Viola Lee Blues,” along with a live performance ethos second-to-none, the band earned its following with this excellent album, and eventually became legends of the extended improvisation and solo (i.e. jam) format.
The Daily Elvis
1976: Elvis Presley introduces the song “Danny Boy” into his repertoire, a popular traditional ode, or possibly a send-off to war, written in 1910 by Englishman Frederic Weatherly and set to the tune of “Londonderry Air,” a 1913 traditional Irish folk song.
Bonus Feature
This is an hilarious version of “Danny Boy” by The Leprechaun Brothers, i.e. The Swedish Chef, Beaker, and Animal from The Muppet Show. Whomever decided to have the three most incoherent muppets perform a musical number was indeed a genius!
Pictured: The Coat of Arms of The Republic of Ireland.
Closing Request
Please do not add any green food colouring to your beer, drinks, or food today. I thank you in advance. -Michael Fitzgibbon, Publisher