St Patrick's Day songs?

Subject: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 09:31 AM

I know there must have been several threads on the subject of songs for St Patrick's Day, but I would still like to know the essential, must-have songs which American/Irish expect to hear on this day. I have a fair repertoire of Irish songs and I know that Danny Boy and the Fields of Athenry are going to be requested, what else should we rehearse?

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 09:39 AM

Singalong songs for St. Patrick's Day

BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: JedMarum
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 09:39 AM

The most requested songs, it seems to me, in addition to the ones you've mentioned; Whiskey in the Jar, Wild Rover, Wild Colonial Boy, Finegan's Wake - and I'm sure someone will ask for The Unicorn and Toura Loura Loura.

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 09:41 AM

Murray, I didn't mean to be abrupt...just trying to beat Malcolm Douglas and MMario with the links there. Hopefully we'll get even more discussion.

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 09:43 AM

Thanks, Mary, and Jed. Thankfully I know all these except the Unicorn, but I remember some woman calling out for this last year. Where do I find this song and has it anything to do with Ireland?

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: JedMarum
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 09:48 AM

Murray - I wouldn't worry aout the Unicorn. It is a modern song written by an American song writer (a very clever and successful one, at that). I believe it was written for the Clancy Brothers, and tells a cutesy tale about about Noah and the ark - couldn't get the unicirns to stop playing long enough to come in out of the flood - and thus; we have no unicorns today! Stick to the drinking and the fighting songs - they'll love it!

;-)

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 09:51 AM

Malcolm, I doubt if this is the one you want, but here's a bawdy one from the Mudcat Tavern.

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Inukshuk
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 09:59 AM

Here's the stuff we are working up:

Songs:
The Rising of the Moon
Whiskey in the Jar
The Stolen Child
The Ancient and Old Irish Condom
Molly Malone
The Irish Ballad (Rickety Tickety Tin)
and a bunch of other Irish and semi-Irish songs.

Tunes:
Rakes of Kildare
Washerwoman -- of course
Paddy on the Turnpike
Red Haired Boy AKA Little Beggerman
Rose of Sharon
Cuckoo's Nest
Smash the Windows
Lots of other Irish sounding jigs and reels

We always begin each set with a taste of The Irish Washerwoman and we end each set with some various arrangement of Danny Boy (Londondary Air)

Just the same, in spite of our best efforts, we usually get physically attacked at least once during the course of the evening. It's a ritual thing.

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 10:07 AM

Yeah, we do most of these tunes too. Maybe I can pass on an unorthodox tip here for anyone who sings "The Rocky Road to Dublin". We play the A part of "The Swallowtail Jig" in between every verse, it works really well, and gives me a chance to get my breath back .....hope this doesn't arouse the ire of the purists.

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 10:44 AM

Spancil hill... foggy dew Ella

This thread will be handy for me too.. got a St Patricks gig too...

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 10:55 AM

If you are playing for the general public, it doesn't matter. If you are playing for Irish-Americans, it is very tempting for some musicians to sneer at our musical taste, to the extent it is almost impossible to find the St. Patrick's Day collection of songs the Irish-Americans sang on that day...Irish Eyes, Molly Malone, Rose of Tralee, MacNamara's Band, Mother Machree etc. But those are the songs people grew up singing and those that remember them want to sing them. I'm not addressing this at you because you are obviously very respectful of the holiday, but so many musicians have this attitutde of "that's not what they sing in ireland." So what. It is what we sing here in America. Or used to. It's really really wrong to impose your own rules on someone else's cultural traditions. I wouldn't go into a Samoan-American community and say "that's not what they sang in Samoa." I wouldn't tell the Italians what to do on Columbus Day. I don't know why people feel entitled to do it to the Irish. Oh well.

mg

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Pseudolus
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 11:07 AM

there's a bunch of songs that aren't really irish (hmmm....sounds like another thread) but ARE associated with Irish Pubs. The Garden Song, No Man's Land, and yes the dreaded Unicorn. I would do all three of these and all of the others mentioned in this thread. I would also consider the following....

the Rising of the Moon
Four Green Fields
Come Out ye Balck and Tans
Fare Thee Well Enniskillen
The Moonshiner
Mark Mack

btw, have a great gig!!!
Frank

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Inukshuk
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 11:49 AM

Much wise counsel here. Thank you. Perhaps I won't get attacked up this year.

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Rex
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 11:55 AM

I did run across the words to a song titled: "Saint Patrick's Day" itself. Supposed to be from around 1650. I don't know how the tune goes. Wish I did.

Rex

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: UB Ed
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 12:46 PM

Murray, for your own welfare, avoid the Unicorn. It takes a life of its own and we have somehow cultivated a pro- and con-Unicorn faction when we play at our local pub. People will send money for us to both play and ignore; whoever sends the most wins. We also made the mistake of using Unicorn lyrics in Psycho Killer once (again a compromise) and that has also gotten out of hand.

In addition to the above, I would suggest "A Nation Once Again" and "God Save Ireland"

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: MMario
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 12:58 PM

The only time I did a St. Patrick's gig the most requested songs were "Drunken sailor" and "roll your leg over" - luckily we had a large supply of verses for both tunes

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Les from Hull
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 01:10 PM

In our neck of the woods, we would consider only the following to be essential:

Wild Rover
Irish Rover
Black Velvet Band
Fields of Athenry

That would be the only time we would want to do these. Normally we only sing the Wild Rover to one of the many 'wrong' tunes it fits (The Boxer, The Laughing Policeman, Supercalifragalistic...)

Anything else that sounds reasonably authentic will usually suit. With a know-nowt pub crowd, it useless trying to be subtle. They don't know that The Banks of the Bann is Irish. So fast tunes, and comic songs are favourite. We try to avoid anything too political, someone (usually the landlord) will object.

Murray Macleod - I like songs mixed with tunes. My own contribution to this genre (Pretentious? Moi?) is Spanish Lady, sung slower than usual, mixed with the A part of Christmas Eve, then up to speed at the end with all three parts.

Les

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: GUEST,JWB
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 02:25 PM

Pity the poor Unicorn. Written, I'm told, by Shel Silverstein and made famous by the Irish Rovers (who sang it on Ed Sullivan or some such show). That's the only reason it's become an "Irish" song.

Another Shel Silverstein song that goes over well on St. Patrick's Day is The Mermaid Song. Lively and suggestive, just they way audiences tend to like 'em.

We usally do these songs, which have gone over well: The Orange and The Green, We're All Off to Dublin in the Green, Jug of Punch, Galway Bay (one of those Tin Pan Alley Irish-American numbers), Ballybae, Haul Away Joe (any rousing chantey is likely to be a hit).

Perennial requests include: Four Green Fields, When Irish Eyes are Smiling (which is more interesting if you sing the verses and not just the chorus), I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen, Wild Colonial Boy.

Have fun, and bring lots of extra guitar strings.

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Jimmy C
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 02:27 PM

How about " Hail Glorious St. Patrick" it should be a must on that day. All the other's mentionned are fine but I would scrap the Unicorn.

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 02:32 PM

I'm just playing the same stuff I play every other day... And no frigg'n unicorn's, no danny boy,

AND GREEN BEER ME ARSE!!!

;-)

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: bob schwarer
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 02:40 PM

Johnson's Motor Car.

Bob S.

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Snuffy
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 05:46 PM

Rafferty's Motor Car, Delaney's Donkey, Paddy McGinty's Goat.

Whatever happened to Fall Doon Again?

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 09:48 PM

who threw the overalls in Mrs. Murphy's CHowder, finnegan's wake, wearing of the green, same old sheleleigh, where the river shannon flows, did your mother come from island, kerry dancers, endearing young charms, minstral boy, danny boy, the pig was kept in the parlor, jim o'shay, rosie o'grady, bells of st. mary's, dear old donegal, tara's halls, long way to tiperrary, the band played on. mg

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Sarah2
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 10:51 PM

I do The Unicorn if there are kids in the crowd, as well as Bill Staines' "A Place In the Choir," the latter on the strength that I heard the Clancys do it -- funny listening to "All God's craythurs got a place..." -- And fun to get the whole crowd doing hand motions on the chorus. (Of course, audience abuse is my specialty...)

One year the local Irish immigrants cornered me and asked me to go light on the rebellion songs, so I dug up lots of humorous songs and old (yechhh) love songs, only to end up catching hell from the Irish Americans -- where were all those good rebellion songs?

I'm not sure there's a Must Do, except the ones you like to play. But "Wearin' of the Green" always makes a great closer...

Sarah

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Susan-Marie
Date: 09 Feb 01 - 05:51 PM

Murray - Thanks for the tip on Rocky Road, I'm just learning it. Have you ever heard the version by the House Band? The rhythm is different, and fascinating, but I don't know enough music theory to describe it!

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 09 Feb 01 - 07:22 PM

I like all the advice given here and I shall be concentrating on learning quite a few new songs between now and St Patrick's Day. I "sort of" know all of them (except The Unicorn", and Clinton's "Green Beer My Arse". I need the lyrics and chords for that one, Clinton). I enjoy St Patrick's Day here, I know that it is never going to be a celebration of "real" traditional Irish music, but what the hell.

I like the idea of doing Bill Staines' song, Sarah. I have always promised myself I would learn it and now is as good a time as any.

Susan-Marie, I wish you all success with "The Rocky Road to Dublin", I must look out for the House Band's version. I think I am prouder of mastering that one than any other song except "Bottle of the Best" (which I shall also do on St Pat's even though it is Scottish.) They both require breath control above and beyond the call of duty!

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 10 Feb 01 - 04:01 PM

So often I hear that St. Patricks day should be a day for all the people of the island. A good thought....why should everyone be Irish except the protestants and since they seem to be welcome to celebrate why not some of their songs added in to make everyone feel at home? Surely the ballads are old enough and if everyone joints together I think it can be a positive experience....so learn a few of the other people and bring them all in. Click here for lots of songs to include.

Conrad

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Shall
Date: 10 Feb 01 - 04:25 PM

How about The Parting Glass as the last tune of the night?

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: GUEST,McMidchuck
Date: 10 Feb 01 - 05:04 PM

I try to remember to do Stan's "The House of Orange" every year.

Let me show you my scars....

Peter

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Amos
Date: 10 Feb 01 - 05:20 PM

Well, just to keep the pot stirred up, throw in the Auld Orange Flute, and Roddy McCorly and The Irish Green and The Rockks of Bawn.

A

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 12 Feb 01 - 02:57 AM

For St. Paddys day play "drunk" and be claddagh! wear o the green like a skunk with your head shrunk as mad as a hatta -what a prideful national day

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 12 Feb 01 - 08:07 AM

The unicorn one is great for kids... we do that one occasionally... it is like the folk version of YMCA . .. lol

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 12 Feb 01 - 09:04 AM

How about Nell Flaherty's Drake?

Kris

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: LR Mole
Date: 12 Feb 01 - 10:26 AM

I haven't the slightest idea why, but were I gigging this St. Pat's, I'd want to do John Prine's "Chain of Sorrow":lovely waltz. More for the feel than anything, I suppose.

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Genie
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 04:28 AM

Pseudolus, Did you mean "Mary Mack" or is there another song called "Mark Mack?"

For me, "Mountains O' Mourne" and "Roddy McCorley" are must-sings for most St. Patrick's gigs, as is--say what you like--MacNamara's Band (including the verse about "Uncle Yoolius... fum Sveden...playing in an Irish band."
Genie

Subject: RE: BS: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 04:32 AM

As Jimmy mentions, the hymn called Hail Glorious St Patrick - which my mother used to blame for the fact that it was always hailing and raining and sleeting out of the sky when the parade passed through Dublin, everyone requesting: "Hail, glorious St Patrick, dear saint of our isle, on us your dear children..."

Subject: RE: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: GUEST,Gerry in Pittsburgh
Date: 07 May 09 - 08:09 AM

Thanks so much for the lyrics to Hail Glorius Saint Patrick. I was beginning to think it was a lost hymn that only the old Irish nuns would remember. When people begin singing Irish songs (there are a lot of Irish, as well as other nationality groups, in Pittsburgh, I always asked about this because I had a verse missing from my memory bank. No one seemed to even know what I was talking about. You not only supplied the missing verse, you added two I hadn't known.

Subject: RE: St Patrick's Day songs?
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 07 May 09 - 10:33 AM

Might have missed it, but seen no mention of 'The Cobh Shanty' ( Fine girl y'are') which always goes down well. Agree with 'Parting Glasss' to finish. I always like to do 'Galway Shawl' for a more poignant note.