Hi gang,

I am looking to expand both my performing repertoire and my mp3 collection.

Looking for people's "top 10" or 20 trad Irish or Scottish songs. Ballads, Republican songs, whatever.
English preferred, please... I am quite good at learning songs in other languages phonetically,
but I want to be able to understand and "own" what I am singing,
so English will have to do until my Gaelic gets better.
That should be around damn near never.

Please give me song titles, artist whose version you prefer, and any info about where these songs might be bought/traded/downloaded etc.

Also looking for sailing songs/chanteys and the like. They don't all have to be on the order of "Haul Away, Joe", but songs that have some seafaring pedigree are preferred.

Thanks... oh, and because my eyesight tends to get blurry pretty quick when reading for too long,
please, if you would be so kind, put your songs in a
vertical column list so I don't have to scan long sentences.

Thanks,

BBS

P.S. Is there a "hierarchy" of the more popular Irish bands as far as trad credibility or integrity goes?
I am thinking of groups like the Dubliners, the Chieftains,
the Clancy Brothers/Tommy Makem, Clannad, De Dannan etc...
who are the "more trad" or "more progressive"?