Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day

Subject: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Alice
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 02:27 PM

Well, this is short notice, but I've been asked to provide some lyrics to songs for a crowd to sing along with me tonight, and for the life of me all I can think of is Molly Malone, Red is the Rose, The Whistling Gypsy, and Wild Mountain Thyme. This is a group of people who probably have no clue about Irish music, and I'm supposed to provide copies for about 10 people to read the lyrics. Can anyone suggest more songs that would be easy enough for a group to follow the tune? Most of my song list are solos, but as I said, there are some I listed that I thought of. I'm running late to do some work, I'll check back again this afternoon.

thanks.

Alice

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: GUEST,Laura
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 02:35 PM

Finnegan's Wake Wild Rover Whiskey in the Jar When Irish Eyes are Smiling Danny Boy (everyone has heard Danny Boy) :-) Black Velvet Band German Clockwinder Jug of Punch Wild Colonial Boy Parting Glass

...that should hold you for a while... :-)

-Laura http://teachout.net/WoW

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 02:35 PM

Try some of the "standards" like The Wild Rover, The Black Velvet Band, even the Leaving of Liverpool...

Jon

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 02:38 PM

Sorry Laura, hadn't seen your post when I made mine - sees like were thinking the same lines. Home Boys Home is another that springs to mind...

Jon

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 03:05 PM

I'll Tell My Ma

Paddy Works on the Railway

Star of the County Down

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Whiskey, You're the Divil

(These are all in DigiTrad)

Subject: Lyr Add: Wishes Three^^
From: katlaughing
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 04:02 PM

Dare I mention, I'll Take You Home, Again, Kathleen and, for a really easy one, do you know this one, Alice?

Oh, there lived in old Ireland, a wee little man
And, he went by the name of a leprechaun
A fairy shoemaker none other was he
And he had the power of wishes three

Now, I'm tellin' you sure as the day I was born
Tis meself that would boldly walk up and say
"Bless the friends that I love, and the friends that love me,
And the frineds of me friends, that's me wishes three!"

Arrgghhh! Have fun! kat

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: katlaughing
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 04:18 PM

Here's another this type of crowd may know or at least be familiar with. It's an old Mitch Miller singalong, that started out:

Aitch-Ay-DoubleAre-Eye-Gee-Ay-En spells Harrigan
Proud of all the irish blood that's in me...etc.

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: kendall
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 04:27 PM

Clancy lowered the boom
I had a hat (Caseys Hat)

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Alice
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 06:26 PM

Well, Guest, and for those who don't know me, I have a couple of hundred Irish songs in my head that *I* would sing, but this is a group of people that have no knowledge of Irish music and I don't want to do the American tin pan alley stuff. When I do sing Danny Boy, I sing it solo - it's not really a singalong because of the range, and my voice is higher than most in a crowd. While away from the computer I thought of Jug of Punch, Rosin the Bow, The Juice of the Barley, and The Moonshiner, adding the Wild Rover (thanks Jon) should be plenty. I needed things that they would only sing easily on the Chorus.... rushing now to print.... I have only an hour to get this done.

Have fun tonight, folks, and be safe.

Alice

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: skarpi
Date: 18 Mar 00 - 06:29 AM

I would add Mursheen Durkin and what will we do with a drunken sailor. I know this a little bit late but what a heck. all the skarpi Iceland.

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton
Date: 18 Mar 00 - 11:37 AM

St. Pat's Day has turned into something else over here in the States. The songs they like are something like this...for a majority of the American Irish who are not in touch with their culture.

Has Anyone Here Seen Kelly, Harrigan, I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen, Peg Of My Heart, Great Day for the Irish, The Wearing of The Green, Danny Boy, Macushla, A Little Bit of Heaven, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, My Wild Irish Rose, Too-ra-loo-ra-looral, Who Put the Overhauls in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder, are some and all for the American market. Most of them are early show tunes.

Contrast that with songs like My Lagan Love, Wild Mountain Thyme, She Moved Through The Fair, An Bunan Bui, Tuirse Mo Chroi, and the Clancy's and Tommy's songs which have real Irish spirit and sentiment.

Even Saint Patrick's Arrival is not known to American audiences for St. Pat's Day.

Saint Pat's Day has become an excuse for a big beer bust.

Frank

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Jeri
Date: 18 Mar 00 - 12:48 PM

Amazingly enough, I spent a very nice St. Pat's at the same place that hosts our Fri night session. The band was the Great Bay Company, composed of musicians that are regulars at that session. They play every St Pat's. People were boldly singing along to songs like Wild Mountain Thyme, Black Velvet Band, and the multiply-requested Wild Rover. I guess if you sing the songs often enough, folks can learn them. They sure seemed to know the choruses pretty well. Persistence pays off.

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Alice
Date: 18 Mar 00 - 12:55 PM

I agree, Frank, which is why my experience yesterday turned out to be very weird.

This was a last minute request on the part of my friend to lead some songs, but I should have been clued in about the bar scene (duh) not being a patron of bars, I just wasn't thinking. The location is a new bar and restaurant in the old Northern Pacific train depot that was remodeled beautifully to a large space with exposed rafters, stone floor, brick walls. I work part time for my friend doing interior plant design and maintenance and this week, they finished the remodeling and we installed all the plants. She asked me to come over for a drink St. Patrick's day and sing.... well, after circling the neighborhood for awhile, I finally got a parking space and yet when I got to the door they wouldn't let me in.... too full. It is a neat building, and everyone in the area who was into being in the 'new bar' had filled it to overflowing. My friends were inside, but the staff wouldn't let me in because of the crowd. If I'd wanted to hang around for awhile, I would have made it, but I just went home. She told me today that she was sad that I didn't get in to lead some singing, because otherwise there was nothing about the night that had to do with St. Patrick or the Irish. Ah, well.

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton
Date: 18 Mar 00 - 12:56 PM

Jeri,

Wish we had that kind of gig. Most of the folks we played for didn't really care one way or another for real Irish songs. We gave 'em Clancy and Tommy tunes. Even sang My Lagan Love, which I think is one of the nicest. They wanted what they perceived was Irish. I think they liked Morrison's and Kesh though.

Glad to hear that there is still a Saint Pat's Day like you described.

Frank

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: GUEST,hollowfox
Date: 18 Mar 00 - 02:15 PM

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who had a strange St. Patrick's Day. I'd told a medievalist/reenactor friend that I'd walk in the Cleveland Ohio St. Pat's parade, if I could. Well, it turned out that my three kids had the day off from school, so we all found ourselves 80 miles from home, freezing our knuckles off in costume. Even putting the costumes over warm clothing didn't quite do it. So there I was, riding backwards on the float, dressed like a (plump) refugee from the Potato Famine, holding a green "Erin Go Braugh" flag. To my left was my 11 year old daughter wearing chain mail and brandishing a short sword (well, it fits her personality), while one brother played a bodhran and another carried a long-handled war axe. I was standing between two pillars representing the prehistoric age, and the front half of the float had a rotating display that included large posters of a page from the Book of Kells, and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I. An eclectic display, to say the least. But then, we were followed by a Belfast flute-and-drum band, all with their hair dyed electric chartreuse, playing that great Australian hit "Wild Colonial Boy"!...sometimes it's just better not to ask...

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Alice
Date: 18 Mar 00 - 02:45 PM

hollofox, that's a hoot... at least I was warm yesterday. The snow stopped in the morning and melted.

I guess it's the let-down after great expectations. My great expectation was that I was going to sing a solo gig in the dining restaurant of the new Montana Ale Works, (see the song list thread) but the owner was just too harried by all the rush to get the place open by Friday, so we never worked it out. Two last minute requests then came up... Thursday night, I was asked to sing at the county rest home for the old folks there, which I was delighted to do, since I knew they would appreciate it. Then, I got a call Friday morning from my friend with the foliage business reminding me that I was supposed to be pruning and doing maintenance on the plants in three office buildings that day... ooops cancel the county rest home singing... and by the way, when you get back from doing plant care, can you print out the lyrics for Irish songs for people to singalong tonight?

My final refuge was the St. Patrick Mudcat Tavern. (Yay Andrés.)

alice

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: katlaughing
Date: 18 Mar 00 - 03:14 PM

Sorry it turned out so weird, Alice.

Frank, I agree with you. The only reason I mentioned any of those songs was because Alice had indicated that was the kind of crowd she'd likely be dealing with.

It was strange here, too. Hardly saw anyone wearing anything to note the day.

kat

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: georgeward
Date: 19 Mar 00 - 05:03 AM

Hey, Hollowfox! I'd have traded my twelve hours at the Washington Tavern and the (good) money it made for a sight of that float.

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Sorcha
Date: 19 Mar 00 - 05:15 AM

Maybe it was the (psudeo)Millenium......mine was nice and quiet (real change!) No gig booked, so I went to a VERY quiet local, and had a *GASP* green Maragarita, just didn't feel like green beer or a long black. Was home by 8:30 PM local time. And I didn't have to play Danny Boy! (ya ya ya!)
But I did send 3 people a computerized "Chase the Snakes" Paddy's card! (sheesh, Americans)

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Genie
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 04:11 AM

Well, another St. Patrick's round of festivities will soon be upon us. You folks who mention that Americans just us the day as an excuse to get drunk are pretty much right, of course. At least it's an excuse for a PARTY and a PARADE and a chance for Hallmark to make money.
About the time this thread was started, I even went into a Portland (Oregon) pub that had an Irish name on St. Patricks and found, to my chagrin, that the music they were serving up with their green beer was good old American ROCK music--nothing with either an Irish or an Irish-American flavor at all!

Folks in retirement communities (not all of which are "rest homes") generally like the Irish-American pop and show tunes and the Irish-American standards from the late 19th and early 20th C., for the same reason that folks in my generation like Elvis and the Beatles--it's the music of their youth.
I do find, though, that if the music is instrumental (no singer) and lively, many of those same folks --as well as many of the generation X-ers and generation Y-ers --can get into it. (They don't HAVE to have heard an instrumental piece before to appreciate it.)

BTW,Kat, "H-A-R-R-I-G-A-N" was written by George M. Cohan in the nineteen-teens.

Genie

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Murph10566
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 10:43 AM

Here's a basic set (cheat) list I use for quick reference - (Key + Lead Lyric)... Of course, I've got the font size blown up to fourteen to help these old eyes read more easily...

Over the years, I've tried to weed out the 'Stage Irish' tunes that Eric Bogle talks about in his hilarious tune "Plastic Paddy"...

Happy Strummin', M.

A Mother's Love - C - An Irish Lad was leavin'…

A Nation Once Again - G - When Boyhood's fire was in my blood…

Big Strong Man - G - Have you heard about the Big Strong Man …

Black Velvet Band - G - In a neat little town they call Belfast…

Boys Won't Leave the Girls Alone - D - I'll tell my Ma when I go home…

Dublin in the Green - D - Well, I am a Merry Ploughboy…

Fields of Athenry - D - By a lonely prison wall, I heard a young girl …

Four Green Fields - G - "What did I have?", said the proud old Woman…

Green Fields of France - G - Well, how do ye do, young Willy McBride ?

Immigrant Eyes - G - Old Ellis Island was swarming, like a scene …

Irish Eyes Medley - C - When Irish Eyes are smilin'…

Men Behind the Wire - G - On the little streets of Belfast, in the dark…

On the One Road - G - We're On The One Road, sharing the one load…

Rare Old Times - A - Based on song and story, heroes of renown…

Rising of the Moon - G - O, Come tell me, Sean O'Farrell…

Roddy McCorley - C - O, see the fleet-foot host of men, who speed with…

The Moonshiner - G - I'm a Rambler, I'm a Gambler, I'm a long way…

The Old Man - A - The tears have all been shed now; we've said our last…

The Unicorn - C - A long time ago, when the Earth was green…

The Wild Rover - D - I've been a Wild Rover for many a year…

When NY was Irish - G - I'll sing you a song, of days long ago…

Whiskey in the Jar - D - As I was goin' over the Cork and Kerry Mts…

Whistlin' Gypsy Rover - D - The Whistlin' Gypsy came over the hill…

Wild Colonial Boy - G - There was a Wild Colonial Boy: Jack Duggan…

Wild Mountain Thyme - G - Oh the summer time is comin'…

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: MMario
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 10:55 AM

Brian Leo does a "St. Pat's Day Polka" I would love to learn.

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: GUEST,Lynn Koch
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 02:04 PM

The Unicorn is as Irish as Shel O'Silverstein, but the Irish Rovers did it, so that makes it Irish. (No complaints from me, really; I love to do it, and there are great movements to go with it -- depending on your audience's age bracket!!)

Don't forget Tommy Makem's "Johnny Is a Rovin' Blade".

Want a really pretty one? "Cliffs of Dooneen" is really picturesque.

Want to gross them out? "Follow Me Up to Carlow" is pretty gruesome.

Have fun, Alice!

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: UB Ed
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 02:39 PM

Did anybody include "Holy Ground"?

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Genie
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 11:56 PM

HEREis a link to a thread about St. Patrick's Favorites.

Genie

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: michaelr
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 12:08 AM

"Boozin'"!

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Wotcha
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 09:14 PM

Try the following songs of the sea:

The Harp without the Crown

All for Me Grog

The Shores of Botany Bay (Aussie-Irish)

Quare Bungle Rye

Paddy Lay Back

Slainte
Brian

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Desdemona
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 09:50 PM

"Pass the green beer, pass the green beer, pass the green beer, oh I think I'm gonna be sick...."!

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Mar 02 - 01:40 AM

In the Levy sheet music collction you can find words and music of that great old favorite "No Irish need apply"

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Genie
Date: 08 Mar 02 - 01:45 AM

How about "These Are My Mountains" or "Marnie, Come Fare Away With Me?"

Also, "Nancy Whiskey" may be a Scots song, but Irish bands do it a lot and it seems appropriate for the St. Patrick's revelry in the US!

Genie

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: hobbitwoman
Date: 08 Mar 02 - 06:54 PM

Genie wrote: About the time this thread was started, I even went into a Portland (Oregon) pub that had an Irish name on St. Patricks and found, to my chagrin, that the music they were serving up with their green beer was good old American ROCK music--nothing with either an Irish or an Irish-American flavor at all!

This is precisely why I've stopped going to our local St. Patrick's day dinner. Last year the entertainment was a woman and her son who speciality was Frank Sinatra numbers. The older members of the organization that sponsors the dinner want music they can dance to! The younger ones, my brother and his lot, have tried to introduce Irish music to the event, but it goes over like a lead balloon with the older ones (who all profess to be Irish!). I don't know, maybe we give them headaches with all our banging on the tables and singing at the top of our lungs.

Annie

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: leprechaun
Date: 09 Mar 02 - 02:30 PM

Me brother and I now get our fix of Irish music at the Knight's of Columbus every St. Patrick's Day. It took us years to find it, and several times we sat fuming after the parade, drinking poxy green beer, listening to Jazz, and wandering around looking for music to honor the day.

I consider Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ra, Irish Eyes, MacNamara's Band and Danny Boy part of my heritage. "Real" Irish music purists, of course, consider those types of songs contaminated because they're from the wrong side of the pond. I, however, hold those songs in deep reverence, because my earliest memory is of both of my parents singing them. Those memories are what makes St. Patrick's Day a holy day for me. Thus a silly song like Mrs. Murphy's Chowder is evocative, and Mother Machree, especially on March 17th, can positively make us blubber. And drinking whiskey is a sacrament in honor of my father.

Thanks for the link, Genie, I remember that thread. It turned me on to some songs I hadn't heard.

Kevin

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Genie
Date: 10 Mar 02 - 03:54 AM

Por nada, Kevin (to use an old Gaelic expression).

Genie

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: bet
Date: 10 Mar 02 - 11:53 AM

Kat, i can't believe you remember Wee Little Man. That's my old stand by for the kids on St. Pat's Day. I wonder if in the years to come they'll remember it? bet

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 10 Mar 02 - 01:00 PM

At the risk of getting lynched...

They drink their Guinness and Cider,
And then the players all stand.
With two fiddles, a guitar & Bodhrun
They call them the "Black Velvet Band"

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: GUEST,Sonja
Date: 11 Mar 02 - 11:33 AM

Speaking of Guinness, Nigel, here is a link to a related parody "I'll 'Ave Guinness Free"

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Mar 02 - 04:44 AM

bet, dear Sis, how could I forget it? I learned it well from you, darlin' dear! Love singing it, too!

Nice to see you online, again!

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Steve-o
Date: 12 Mar 02 - 05:41 PM

Sorry to hear Frank and others are so hung up on "authentic" Irish songs as opposed to the many "Americanized" ones that people want to sing and hear around St. Patrick's Day. Know why people want to hear those? Because they're great, timeless tunes, straightforward words, wonderful strong sentiments, and are generally done on nice simple acoustic instruments. I used to play mandolin in an American-Irish band, and I learned to love all these songs. There's not another culture that has so much music that is an integral part of its collective life that translates so perfectly to the "American ear". I'm an Italian-American....can you think of any of those wonderful Italian ditties that we all know the words and tunes to, and that we gather together in pubs and bars to sing together??!! Fiddler's Green, Shipyard Slips, Whiskey on a Sunday, Galway Bay, Leaving of Nancy, Bold O'Donahue....whether they are genuine or not, they are WONDERFUL.

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: hobbitwoman
Date: 12 Mar 02 - 09:29 PM

I agree. Not to mention a lot of those "Americanized" Irish songs were the attempts of Irish immigrants to keep something of their culture and homeland alive in the new country and pass it down through the generations. Or maybe the pinings of the immigrants for the "auld sod". Of course in my opinion the "true" music of Ireland is the Celtic music but that's a whole nother thread!

A local Irish group does a number called "When the Breakers Go Back on Full Time" - I've always wondered if this is an "authentic" Irish song or an American Irish song - I'm leaning toward the latter, given that this is a coal-mining region and many of the Irish immigrants around here worked in the mines - I know there's a lot of coal mining in Wales but don't recall ever hearing of any in Ireland.

Annie

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Genie
Date: 13 Mar 02 - 02:03 AM

Couldn'a said it better myself, hobbitwoman. People in the US wanting to sing Irish-American songs on St. Patrick's day? Quel surprise! If nothing else, folks often want to hear songs that are familiar to them.

FWIW, I'm not sure there's always a clear discernible difference in sound from one side of the pond to the other. [Different eras are a different matter, of course.) A lot of melodies made their way from the British Isles to America. (I understand "Streets Of Laredo" is set to an Irish tune, e.g. And how about "Peggy-O"? The song seems to be American but it sounds like it could be an old Irish folk song to me. [Please excuse me if I don't know its history.) And does "Where The River Shannon Flows" really sound that different in genrefrom "Isle of Innisfree" ("Dreams Of Alywn")?

Like you, Annie, I recognize Celtic music as the "true Irish" music, and I love it. That doesn't mean I can't appreciate the music the Celtic folks created when they immigrated here, too.

Genie

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: hobbitwoman
Date: 13 Mar 02 - 10:57 PM

Genie,

My feeling is, if someone is going to limit themselves to one or a few particular kind(s) of music they're going to miss out on an awful lot. Whether the music is authentically Irish, American Irish, or whatever, each form has its charm - to me anyway.

I have heard that a lot of American "bluegrass" music has its origin in Celtic music. I think a lot of the music had its origin in the old country, then got Americanized through the years as it's been handed down from generation to generation. I suspect a lot of us on this side of the pond had our interest piqued by the "Americanized" versions we heard our parents singing, and for me, at least, that sparked my interest in the music of the Celts. So it's been an evolution, of sorts, for me. One in its infancy but hopefully growing and thriving!

Annie

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Genie
Date: 14 Mar 02 - 12:23 AM

Right on, Annie! This world gets smaller every day, musically and otherwise. I say "enjoy!"

Genie

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: paddymac
Date: 14 Mar 02 - 01:08 AM

I think Kevin expressed a valid point very well. St. Patrick's Day is not just about the little island that seems to have populated so much of the world, but also about the many associations we all have with the place and the way we have experienced the celebration of the day in the past. One thing the day is not about is St. Patrick. I don't want to go down that road too far, but I do believe that he was basically just another interloper from the big island next door and certainly not an unmitigated doer of good. (ducking and running for cover).

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: leprechaun
Date: 14 Mar 02 - 02:36 AM

St. Patricks Day was my mother's birthday. Guess what her parents named her?

Helen.

After several shots of whiskey, I don't have much of a chance of getting all the way through Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ra without flooding my contact lenses out.

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: Alice
Date: 14 Mar 02 - 09:50 PM

Well, two years after I started this thread, and here we are again... last year was three paid gigs, a very busy day. This year it will be more layed back. Tomorrow night I will be singing on the Main Street Show, a regional kind of Prairie Home Companion. Songs will be Foggy Dew (love version), Paddy's Lamentation, Red is the Rose, and a Scottish song to finish (!!!!), Tam Glen. Sunday is our regular weekly session night, and in the afternoon, some of us will play for food at the Catholic church's St. Patrick's Day supper. More of my standards for such an occasion, The Rose of Tralee (my dad's favorite) and Star of the County Down.

Have fun, everyone.

By the way, Butte's notorious roudy green beer and parade day is being more controlled this year. The mayhem built up to such a peak last year that everyone decided to make some changes. Now they have required an ID to get some kind of bracelet or arm band that will let you buy drinks. It's always such a wild place on March 17th that I avoid going there. Butte does have alot of music booked, but the crowds of drinkers can get out of hand.

Alice

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From: hobbitwoman
Date: 14 Mar 02 - 10:12 PM

The same kind of rabble-rousing went on last year at the St. Patrick's day parade in Scranton, Alice, so this year there were more controls in place and I understand it was a much quieter and more pleasant day for families, etc., without the hordes of drunken revelers in the street. One thing they did was ask the local taverns not to start serving alcohol until 11 a.m. - as opposed to the usual 7 a.m.! I understand it helped!!

Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of Irish music around here - and the few places that do have it get so over-crowded you can't even breathe in them. Or maybe I'm just getting old!

Paddymac, I'll agree to disagree with you about the good Saint, but I do agree that the one thing St. Patrick's day isn't about, is himself!

Leprochaun, keep an "eye" on those contact lenses! :o) (Oh, yuck! Sorry, folks!!)

Annie

Subject: RE: Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day
From:
Date: 14 Mar 02 - 10:24 PM

I am so glad you spoke up Kevin...it irks me endlessly that people have so sneer at our music, which basically we only sing once a year...but those are the songs that I learned from my father...Dear Old Donegal, MacNamara's Band, Jim O'Shea...it is really really insulting when people go on about the music on St. Patrick's Day. They have 364 other days to listen to whatever. I would never consider telling Italian-Americans what to listen to on Columbus Day...Well, that is not what they sing in Italy...so?????

It is music that has been passed down. It was passed down by people who had survived a terrible famine, where they literally turned green, passages on coffin ships, tenement housing, jobs that killed them, awful discrimination. If it is good enough for them it is good enough for me.

mg

p.s. Anyway I like it.