St Patrick's Day

Even despite our current situation with social distancing, St Patrick’s Day never fails to be a hell of a good time every year. We’re all wearing green, we’re all drinking beer, we’re all listening to Irish music…or maybe that’s just me, idk.

Obviously I have a playlist created for March’s main holiday, and I’ve chosen a few selections to showcase this week.

Sing Irishmen, Sing by Corrib Folk (Traditional) Shown right away by the fact that we aren’t even sure who wrote it, this song is a very traditional sounding Irish ballad. It’s easy to picture a bunch of guys together in a bar holding their glasses and swaying side to side with their arms over reach others shoulders in time to the beat. I dream of a beautiful picture/No more need we think of the past/They’re singing and dancing in Ireland/And the people are happy at last/Sing, Irishmen, sing/So the sound of your voices will ring/And let the world know, it really is so/Sing, Irishmen, sing

I’m Shipping up to Boston by Dropkick Murphys (written by A. Barr, J. Lynch, K. Casey, M. Orrell, M. Kelly, W. Guthrie) I know I’m late to the party, but I started really liking Dropkick Murphys about two years ago when I heard their song Rose Tattoo for the first time. I’m Shipping up to Boston is from their fifth studio album The Warrior’s Code and despite its lyrical simplicity, it’s still pretty hype to listen to. It’s also one of the band’s most well-known singles, being featured on the soundtrack for the Academy Award winning Martin Scorsese film The Departed. I’m a sailor peg and I lost my leg/Climbing up the top sails, I lost my leg/I’m shipping up to Boston, whoa/I’m shipping up to Boston, whoa/I’m shipping up to Boston, whoa/I’m shipping off to find my wooden leg

The Galway Races by Firkin (Traditional) Another traditional Irish tune, this cover has a very different energy than Sing Irishmen, Sing. Firkin adds a much harder rock sound to the song while still incorporating the fiddle and other traditional Irish instruments. The Galway Races are an actual real thing as well – an Irish horse racing festival held annually on the last Monday of July (so for 2020, we’d be looking at July 27th). As I rode down to Galway town to seek for recreation/On the seventeenth of August, my heart was elevated/There were multitudes assembled with their tickets at the station/Me eyes began to dazzle and I’m going to see the races/With me whack-fa-the-da-for-the-diddle-ee-iddle-day/There were passengers from Limerick and passengers from Nenagh/The boys of Connemara and their flair of married ladies/There were people from Cork City who were loyal, true, and faithful/Who brought home the Fenian prisoners from dying in foreign nations

The Devil’s Dance Floor by Flogging Molly (written by B. Regan, D. King, D. Casey, G. Schwindt, M. Hensley, N. Maxwell, R. Schmidt) Full disclosure – my husband is not super pleased that this is the Flogging Molly song chosen for the blog, but hey, a true number randomizer on the Internet can’t be argued with. I personally really dig this song – it’s very fast paced and would be a ton of fun to dance to. Like Dropkick Murphys, I would say Flogging Molly is one of the more well-known Irish music bands to most Americans. This song was featured on their 2000 debut album Swagger, and for those familiar with the British sitcom Derry Girls, it was featured in S1E5. Her breath began to speak as she stood right in front of me/The color of her eyes was the color of insanity/Crushed beneath her wave like a ship, I could not reach her shore/We’re all just dancers on the devil’s dance floor/Well, sing a little more, little more o’er the merry-o/Swing a little more, a little more next to me/Swing a little more, little more o’er the merry-o/Swing a little more on the devil’s dance floor

Drink the Night Away by Gaelic Storm (written by S. Twiggerr, S. Wehmeyer) First and foremost, I love the drum beat in this song. All the instruments weave together so well throughout, but the drum beat is what really sells it for me here. Gaelic Storm is a Celtic band that was founded in California in the mid-1990’s and appeared in the blockbuster film Titanic as well as having a few songs on the soundtrack. This song is from their 1999 second studio album Herding Cats. We set sail at half-past morn/Looking for a new tomorrow/Don’t know when we’re coming home/So we’ll drink and we’ll dance and we’ll drown our sorrow/Weigh-hey, hey, laddie, hey/Weigh, hey, hey, we’ll drink the night away

Irish Celebration by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (written by B. Haggerty, R. Lewis, Z. Condon) Honestly, there’s still a small part of me that to this day is surprised that Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are commercial successes, but I can definitely accept it. This song ended up being a nice surprise for me – released as a single in 2013, it’s a shootout to Ben “Macklemore” Haggerty’s Irish heritage. I really like the beat more than other Macklemore & Ryan Lewis songs out there, and it’s just a good time to listen to. I’m an Irishman, leathered, weathered Irish skin/Beard orange as the sunset or the flag in the night sky/We fly it in, proud for the life we fight to live/History, I write with it, spit it with the dialect/And this is a celebration, of course/The green, white, orange/And when they pulled up on that shore, first generation born/Toast to those that made it on a boat to New York/And when the English came, the colonizer came/They filled up bottles of gasoline, turned ’em into balls of flames/And hurled ’em to protect what’s ours, don’t touch these lucky charms/A bunch of Irish screaming, fuck the London Guard/I’m kidding, not to some of them this bloody raw/But go against the Irish and get a bloody jaw/Preach non-violence, but remind us of the scars/And the bias, put a pint up while they sing this song/We put our glass to the sky and lift up/And live tonight, ’cause you can’t take it with ya/So raise a pint for the people that aren’t with us/And live tonight, ’cause you can’t take it with ya

The Galway Girl by Steve Earle (written by S. Earle) I did a little bit of a double take on this song when I discovered it, because like most other millennials who went to college in Texas I know Steve Earle due to CopperheadRoad and had to check and make sure this was the same guy. I really enjoyed this song a lot – it still has Earle’s country sound while incorporating a very Irish feel to it as well. This song is featured on his 2000 album Transcendental Blues and features Irish musician Sharon Shannon on accordion. Well, I took a stroll on the old long walk of a day-i-ay-i-ay/I met a little girl and we stopped to talk of a fine soft day-i-ay/And I ask you friend, what’s a fella to do/’Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue/And I knew right then I’d be taking a whirl/Around the Salthill Prom with a Galway girl

Hopefully this gives you some fun music to listen to during our time of social distancing. Stay safe, Happy [early] St Patrick’s Day, and see you next week!