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