|
02 Feb 10 - 04:47 PM (#2828473) Subject: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Susan-Marie I can't believe there isn't a thread for this already, but a search turned up nothing so..... With March 17th approaching its time to plan our St Patty's day gig and our bouzouki player always insists we do some "pub songs". I am heartily sick of his favorites, "Wild Rover" and "The Risin' of the Moon" so I'm looking for some suggestions. By "pub song" I mean something rousing that might be half familiar to the audience and that has a chorus they can all sing along on. Thanks! |
|
02 Feb 10 - 06:08 PM (#2828532) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Joe_F Time, Gentlemen, Time Finnegan's Wake |
|
02 Feb 10 - 06:27 PM (#2828553) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Young Buchan Rocky Road to Dublin |
|
02 Feb 10 - 09:39 PM (#2828673) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Maryrrf I really like "The Irish Rover" and you can add a chorus that goes "So fare the well my pretty little girl, I can no longer stay. So fare the well my pretty little girl, for I am bound away" |
|
03 Feb 10 - 10:10 AM (#2828783) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Dave the Gnome Judging by some of the pubs I have been in in Ireland you may be better with Country and Western or Karaoke! :D |
|
03 Feb 10 - 11:00 AM (#2828847) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego The Clancy's used to get audiences worked up with an ironic song called "God Bless England." One of the verses I recall: Oh, When we were savage, fierce and wild, Whack fol the diddle o the di dol day (approx) She came as a mother to her child, Whack fol the diddle o the di dol day. She gently raised us from the slime, And kept our hands from hellish crime... And she sent us to heaven in her own good time! Whack fol the diddle o the di dol day. |
|
03 Feb 10 - 11:07 AM (#2828854) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: GUEST,matt milton I've been really enjoying "The Zoological Gardens" recently. Great tune. Funny lyrics, both kinds of entendre, both single and double. Sung by Brendan Behan and also by the Dubliners (the Dubliners version is great). Have a listen on Spotify. You can use the "Trouble and strife, it is no lark..." verse as a chorus, as Behan does. There's always 'The Black Velvet Band'. A terrible old chestnut, I know, but it definitely has the singalongability factor in the chorus. "A Pub With No Beer", another Dubliners song you can hear on Spotify, is a pretty obvious pub singalong that's pretty foolproof. |
|
03 Feb 10 - 01:22 PM (#2828984) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: GUEST,Gusty 1) Who the flying feck is St. Patty? 2) What song was ever called 'The Risin' of the Moon'? |
|
03 Feb 10 - 01:26 PM (#2828988) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Paul_Schurr_PSG_NY I was in Joe Watty's pub on Inishmore one night when the old men circled up and started singing. The best singer started with a lament. Then there were some songs that had a chorus we could pick up. None were from the Clancy song book. When it came around to me, they said "Common, American, sing us a song." I hate to say it, but I didn't know one song at that time. So they said, "We'll help you out...She'll be coming around the mountain, when she comes, she'll be..." Well you get it. Up until that point, the singing was magical. Next best is Mary Black singing Song of Ireland -- I saw her in Denmark, of all places, just before Great Big Sea. If you haven't heard her version of this song, you've got a real pleasure ahead of you. The apparent favorite Irish pub song for the Pickin' Singin' Gatherin' is The Mermaid. Nearly every sing starts with it. |
|
03 Feb 10 - 02:42 PM (#2829065) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Marje I think you'll find that the Zoological Gardens chorus goes "Thunder and Lightning is no lark..." This is not a meteorological observation, it's about knocking on doors and running away (which of course is no fun in the dark as you can't see the reaction). And the song that's called the "Risin' of the Moon", Gutsy, is ... well, how can I explain this? It's The Rising of the Moon. Same tune as the Wearing of the Green, different words. But as for who St Patty could possibly be - ah no, you got me there. Begorrah bejabbers, no idea! Marje |
|
03 Feb 10 - 02:52 PM (#2829079) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: GUEST,Gusty Who's 'Gutsy'? Are you the same Marje who isn't aware that Cara Dillon comes from Norn Iron? |
|
03 Feb 10 - 03:32 PM (#2829109) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Dave the Gnome Then of course there is the famous Irish song 'Dirty Old Town' :-S DeG |
|
03 Feb 10 - 06:40 PM (#2829320) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Susan-Marie You folks are great, thanks so much! I was already thing of Rocky Road to Dublin because its fun and the ultimate singers challenge in terms of holding a tempo and memorizing words. But I manage a pretty good "Invitation to a Funeral" so I think I'm up to it. I have Zoological Gardens and The Mermaid on a Wolfe Tones CD. Song of Ireland might be a good closer. I've never heard of "A Pub with no Beer" - I'll have to look it up. |
|
03 Feb 10 - 07:04 PM (#2829339) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Dave MacKenzie We always used to stick to our own repertoire and if anyone wants to get up and sing, let them. Saves you having to learn "Danny Boy". |
|
03 Feb 10 - 07:46 PM (#2829402) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: GUEST,Learaí na Láibe Sorry Lads, I hate to spoil yere grand session but you won't hear much singing in Irish pubs at all - TV or piped rock/pop is the standard background. Maybe some group that's well on might start slurring some song five minutes before closing time, but even then it's more likely to be some old pop chart topper from the distant past. Visitors to Ireland often get a false sense of our pub culture because they visit tourist pubs where the famous one man ballad band is put on show to sing the same ould flahed-out reportoire that's been sung for the last forty years, i.e. anything ever recorded by the Clancys or Dubliners, with a few numbers from Christy to bring things up to date. Then of course you'll have to add a few rousing rebel songs so that the tourists leave, thinking we all hate the English. Right, I know I'm being negative and that you can find pubs all over the country where they occasionally have sessions where you'll here a wide variety of Iris traditional songs sang in different styles. But unless you're in the know there're difficult to find. I like almost everything that the Clancys and the Dubliners recorded but I don't want to live in a musical time warp from the 60's. I've been through it once and that's enouigh for me. Apologies if my cranky rant upsets the thread. Here's a nice song when sung in a pub or anywhere else: "One Starry Night" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEoCPFvRxtw |
|
03 Feb 10 - 09:16 PM (#2829471) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: GUEST,Learaí na Láibe Sorry for typos and bad syntax in my last post. I'm not able to edit. |
|
03 Feb 10 - 09:44 PM (#2829482) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Susan A-R Thanks for this thread. I have a St. Patrick's Day gig at, of all places Ye Olde England Inn" I have a feeling I'll be pulling out "Danny Boy" which is a lovely song if done right (there's a reason for the chestnuts) but may not do "Old Mother England." Thread creep, I know. Colcannon works well (the Black Family does this) "the Jolly Tinker" If I can do it without getting mortally embarrassed. "Seven days are In a Week" If I Was a Blackbird" "It Was Pleasant and Delightful" "I know my Love By His Way of Walking" (I've only heard Danny Carnahan do this one) Do You Love an Apple (depressing, but a great song) The Clancys did a lovely version of "One Morning in May" Different title, Chorus went Oh they kissed so sweet and comforting as they clung to each other They went arm and arm down the road like sister and brother They went arm and arm down the road 'til they came to a stream And they both sat down together love to hear the nightingales sing. If you're feeling adventurous and sober, Mary Mack, Heather on the Moor, Holy Mo Me Father Loves Nikita Kruschev, Anyway, that got me thinking too. Thanks. |
|
04 Feb 10 - 04:41 AM (#2829628) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: GUEST,matt milton "I think you'll find that the Zoological Gardens chorus goes "Thunder and Lightning is no lark..." This is not a meteorological observation, it's about knocking on doors and running away (which of course is no fun in the dark as you can't see the reaction)." - Marje Thanks -interesting. We called 'thunder and lightning' 'knockdown ginger', when I was growing up in south london. I know the Dubliners sing it that way. But Brendan Behan sings it as "trouble and strife". I like both, and I might sing either. You could take "trouble and strife" literally. But it also for me has an association to the missus (as in "me old 'trouble n strife" - wife, in cockney rhyming slang) which is in keeping with the song too – there are plenty of suggestions in the song that the zoological gardens are somewhere you go to do naughty things... |
|
04 Feb 10 - 04:43 AM (#2829630) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: GUEST,matt milton http://www.triskelle.eu/music/search_lyrics.php this website allows you to search its Irish song lyrics by category, one of which is "drinking songs" |
|
04 Feb 10 - 07:19 AM (#2829732) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Dave the Gnome Pretty much what I said earlier, GUEST,Learaí na Láibe. I think you may enjoy another Irishman's take on it with Tuesday night is always karaoke. Just don't ask him about Sister Mary Joseph:-) I must say though when I was in Listowel a few years back there were a few good live music sessions ranging from trad to contemporary and rebel to modern English covers! There was a Sean McCarthy festival going on as well but I think most of the sessions were nothing to do with it. Cheers DeG |
|
04 Feb 10 - 10:14 AM (#2829856) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Marje Sorry, Gusty/Gutsy, failure of brain of fingers on my part. And I hadn't realised that Cara Dillon was from NI, so I stand corrected there too. Matt: The reason I know about the "Thunder and Lightning" reference is because I grew up in N Ireland (long before Cara Dillon did), and that's what it meant there. "Trouble and Strife" in the Cockney sense wouldn't be a likely phrase for an Irish singer to use, but it might work better for an English singer/audience, so why not? Marje |
|
04 Feb 10 - 07:11 PM (#2830295) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Richard Bridge Er - I think some of those "Irish" songs are English. Whisky on a Sunday (which is English) often goes down well. |
|
04 Feb 10 - 07:13 PM (#2830297) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Dave MacKenzie I thought that an Irish song was any song that had, at least once, been sung by an Irishman. |
|
04 Feb 10 - 07:20 PM (#2830300) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Emma B Whisky on a Sunday? do you mean Seth Davy? SETH DAVY., by Glyn Hughes. He sat on the corner of Bevington Bush, astride an old packing case, And the dolls on the end of the plank went dancing, as he crooned with a smile on his face. CHORUS: "Come day, go day. Wishing me heart for Sunday. Drinking buttermilk all the week; whisky on a Sunday." 2; His tired old hands drummed the wooden plank, and the puppet dolls they danced the gear. A far better show then you ever would see, at the Pivvy or new Brightion Pier. CHORUS; Come day go day........ 3; But in 1905, old Seth Davy died, and his song was heard no more. And the three dancing dolls ended up in a bin, and the plank went to mend a back-door. CHORUS:"Come day, go day 4; But on some stormy nights, down Scotty Road way, when the wind blows up from the sea, You can still hear the song of old Seth Davy, that he sang to his dancing dolls three; CHORUS; "Come day, go day... |
|
04 Feb 10 - 07:29 PM (#2830304) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Richard Bridge Yes. It's about a specific place in Liverpool and a real beggar who used to beg there. I have some words slightly differently. |
|
04 Feb 10 - 07:32 PM (#2830308) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Emma B from Liverpool Lyrics web page "SETH DAVY was a real person, he really existed, and he died a couple of years into the 20th century. There was a street and a pub, both called "Bevington Bush" just north of Liverpool City Centre, and Seth Davy did do a "busking" act outside. In his book 'Liverpool: Our City - Our Heritage', Freddie O'Connor tells us that in 1760, half a mile from Marybone ("St Patrick's Cross") along Bevington Bush Road was a hamlet named Bevington Bush which had an inn called simply the 'Bush', which became a favourite haunt for folk to travel 'out into the country', to the 'Bevy Inn' as it became fondly known. The Liverpool slang for 'bevvy' ...may have derived from this old inn. Liverpool Pictorial says, "Bevington Bush was the name of a thickly wooded valley between Bevington Hill and Everton Hill. An inn on Bevington Hill was called `The Bush'. . With the opening of Scotland Road, the ancient Bevington Bush Road became a minor road amidst the massive slum district that would soon engulf it. As the district was built up it also lost its original name. Please do not be taken in by any Irish versions of this song, or any reference to "Bebbington". Bebington is "over the water" - not in Liverpool at all. I know the truth for a fact because, when I was a brand-new teacher in the Dingle in 1963, our old lollypop man told me that he had actually seen Seth Davy doing his stuff. So I have spoken to a first-hand witness. I have heard that Seth Davy's own singing was a non-too-wonderful monotone, and not the pleasant melody that was written about him in the 60s folk boom." |
|
04 Feb 10 - 09:29 PM (#2830397) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Leadfingers Susan-Marie - I somehow get the idea that you are in America - So ANY idea of an Irish Pub will be even further from the truth than an Irish Pub in England ! I know one VERY popular song in American 'Irish' pubs is Shel Siversteins bloody Unicorns , complete with actions ! |
|
12 Feb 10 - 01:41 PM (#2837332) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Big Mick I am not one for doing the same songs that are done by virtually everyone out there. Nor do I have any notion that these "traditional pub songs" are sung all that often in Ireland. But I would like my British and Irish friends to know that not all bands over here are "green plastic hat and pointy ears" bands. In our Band, The Conklin Ceili Band (sorry for no fadas but I can't be arsed just now), we surely will hit one or two of these per set. And we surely will do a rebel medley, as well as a couple of reel sets. But much of our focus is on the children and grandchildren of the Irish Diaspora, and their contributions in the lands they landed in. We will often mix these with a reel, or tune, using the "A" part as the break between verses, and breaking down into the full tune to close the song. Hence, on our latest CD, we will do a song written by Tim O'Brien (John Riley), and use Loch Leven Castle for the breaks/ending. Another one that we used the technique on was Steve Earle's "Dixieland", but in this case we used "Ashokan Farewell" as the intro. Of course, AF isn't Irish, but it has the feel of an air, which is why so many trad bands snatched it up. We did take "Follow Me Up to Carlow" and mix it up with "The Swallowtail", on our first CD. The effect on audiences is that we have a pretty unique sound. They come expecting to hear some variation of the standard pub band, and leave us with comments about how they love the music and haven't heard anything quite like it. We put on the jokes and patter, but the music is the star, and we try to be something other than the standard pub band, or another jig and reel band. It seems to work well for us. All the best, Mick |
|
12 Feb 10 - 07:33 PM (#2837682) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Richard Bridge Damn, Mick, I was just about to be sarky and your post stopped me. Some other time! |
|
12 Feb 10 - 08:37 PM (#2837730) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Susan A-R Mick, I'm very interested in those pairings. We put the James Taylor version of "One Morning in May" with a slowed down version of "Rose in the Heather" and do a version of "Home Dearie Home" with "Dublin Porter" To do them in singable keys, we have to mess with the tune keys, but they work well. I've also put "The Athens Queen" by Stan Rogers with "Whisky Before Breakfast" Seems fitting somehow. Oh, and we discovered that Bridget O'Mally goes very nicely with Inishere taken down a fifth on the fiddle. (Man, I am sure my spelling thorughout is suspect, but there you have it.) I'm getting inspired, and NO BLOODY UNICORNS! |
|
13 Feb 10 - 04:10 AM (#2837914) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Mo the caller I thought 'A Pub with no Beer' was Australian. I'm sure one of the verses when I heard it in the 60s had someone walking 40 miles to a pub with no beer. |
|
13 Feb 10 - 12:32 PM (#2838223) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: michaelr As I Roved Out The Blacksmith Boozin' Cold Blow and the Rainy Night Courting in the Kitchen The Crack was 90 in the Isle of Man Finnegan's Wake I'll Tell Me Ma Invitation to a Funeral It's Not the Day Jack-a-Row John Barleycorn Johnny Jump Up Maid When You're Young Mount and Go Patrick Street (Peter Street) The Raggle Taggle Gypsies St Patrick was a Gentleman The Scotsman Seven Drunken Nights The Sick Note Star of the County Down Whatever You Say, Say Nothing Whisky in the Jar The Widow's Promise |
|
13 Feb 10 - 12:58 PM (#2838253) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: artbrooks Gee, Terry...I was gonna suggest that one! "A Pub With No Beer" is by Australian Dropkick Murphy |
|
13 Feb 10 - 01:00 PM (#2838258) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: GUEST,Peter Laban True, those 'pub songs' are not the songs sung in pubs I frequent but in fairness there was a pairing of 'The High Kings' and 'The Wolfetones' on the Late Late last night. Too frightening a prospect to turn on the tellie at all. |
|
13 Feb 10 - 07:23 PM (#2838543) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Tattie Bogle "Then of course there is the famous Irish song 'Dirty Old Town' :-S DeG" Yes, I think from the :-S you ARE winding us up Dave, but Susan-Marie thinks you're great for suggesting it, so what the hell? WE have also been asked to sing "that Pogues Song" S-M, it was written by Ewan McColl and is presumed to be Salford, England! As for "what is an Irish song?" have you seen that set of songbooks called "Songs Sung in the pubs of Ireland"? Plenty of English and Scottish ones amongst the Irish ones! |
|
13 Feb 10 - 08:01 PM (#2838555) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Little Hawk How about this one? ;-) !!!!!!! |
|
14 Feb 10 - 05:58 PM (#2839291) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: bfolkemer The Kerry Recruit, Arthur McBride, Red is the Rose, A Nation Once Again, The Greenwood Laddie, Kilkelly, Ireland, The Star of the County Down, Down by the Salley Gardens, Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye, The Galway Shawl, To Welcome Paddy Home, The Rattlin' Bog, Roddy McCorley, and Boolavogue are a few additional titles that haven't been mentioned and that seem to go well here in Pennsylvania. BTW, we intertwine Morrison's Jig with Follow Me Up to Carlow. |
|
13 Feb 12 - 07:44 PM (#3308044) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: GUEST,smiggy 21 a direct decendent of seth davey was one john lloyd davey who ended his days in speke liverpool John was bourn in window lane garston Circa 1925 |
|
14 Feb 12 - 06:00 AM (#3308204) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: BobKnight McAlpines's Fusiliers, The Hot Asphalt, The Rare Old Mountain Dew, The Enniskillen Dragoons, Muirsheen Durkin, The Rose of Allendale (English but passes for Irish), as does Three Drunken Maidens. "P" Stands For Paddy, A Bunch Of Thyme, and The Rare Ould Times, which is a great song, but not a raucous pub sing-along, although there is a wee chorus for joining in. I've got my first gig at O'Donoghues Irish Pub in Aberdeen this Friday, 17th of February, 2012, and I've been frantically combing the internet for Irish songs - so you're getting the benefit of my work for the last three weeks here. Of course, I knew of many of them before, but they weren't in my repertoire, but they are now. As well as things like Carrickfergus and many of the songs already mentioned by others on this thread. Good luck. Oh, a word of warning - there's a song called "No Mans Land," sometimes known as Willie McBride, or The Green Fields Of France. Do not use lyrics you find on the internet - they are absolute rubbish. I downloaded the lyrics for this song, then checked it against the original version by Eric Bogle. Whole lines had been changed -others lost entirely. It's the worst case of screwed-up lyrics I've ever seen - so to everybody, if you sing this song and got the words off the internet - check the words with Eric Bogle's original version on Youtube - you may be in for a nasty surprise. It's been adopted as an Irish song but was written by Eric, a Scotsman, now an Australian citizen |
|
14 Feb 12 - 07:07 AM (#3308243) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: GUEST,Allan Conn "Do not use lyrics you find on the internet - they are absolute rubbish." Yes things seem to go around. Intentionally or not Bogle seems to have used the "Streets Of Laredo" as an inspiration for the chorus of "No Man's Land". See the Johnny Cash version on youtube. Irish singers then seemed to have mixed up the lyrics of the two songs putting lines from Laredo (ie play the death march etc) into Bogle's song. I prefer Bogle's version but the problem is I sang it once at our club and the audience sang the "death march" line etc anyway! Bogle was asked when at Kelso if he minded the words being sang incorrectly and the song being misnamed "Green Fields Of France" or "Willie McBride" He said that as long as he got his bloody royalties they can do what they want :-) |
|
14 Feb 12 - 10:40 AM (#3308354) Subject: RE: Your favorite Irish pub songs From: Tattie Bogle Then apart from the Salford Irish song (Dirty Old Town), there's the Grimsby Irish song - Fiddler's Green Croydon Irish song - From Clare to Here American Irish song - Last Thing on my Mind Scottish Irish song - The Winter it is Past/Curragh of Kildare And for tunes: Star of the County Down, Gallant Poachers (Van Diemen's Land), Crooked Jack. And a whole hsot of songs to same tune as The Sick Note. |