Tunes to Play for St Patrick's Day

[kirksdad]

Hello MC World

We got hired out to play on the 17th of March, looking for just a few suggestions for tunes besides "Galway Girl" (Know that one already) that we could pepper throughout the set.


KD

[neil argonaut]

Well looking at your avatar, you could always go for Connemara Breakdown or Dixieland.

Depends what kind of a set it is, but if you're looking for something in the vein of Galway girl, i e with an Irish theme to it, but not a straight out traditional instrumental, you could always go for something by the Pogues or the Dubliners.

[Canoedad]

The Pogues have so many great ones. The Body of an American is one of the "smoother" ones for the Pogues. Here's a youtube with lyrics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q97IfBOIR5Q
I always loved the thought of a Cadilac sitting outside a home in Ireland during a wake and the "tinker boys" talking about hotwiring it. Great mental image!

[Randi Gormley]

Or the Clancys -- older stuff, but songs a lot of people know and can sing along to. The few bar songs we do include "no, nay, never," "gypsy rover" and "finnigan's wake" and we tell people to sing the chorus(es) with us.

[Beanzy]

Goin' up to Monto, I'll tell me ma when I get home, The Good Ship Kangaroo, Sally Maclenanne, The Irish Rover,
Basically I won't need to be subtle on St Paddy's Day
Another thing you can do is take a current pop hit and turn it into a slip-jig. Usually gets a good reaction.

[Ed Goist]

The entire first side on 2112...
The audience won't see that coming.

[Jim MacDaniel]

Since you seem to be open to non-trad songs, in addition to Galway Girl and the Pogues, you must include Fisherman's Blues, and perhaps a few other more well known Waterboys songs. You could also have fun with songs from Van Morrison's expensive catalog, and perhaps even some U2, or even Thin Lizzy's The Boys Are Back In Town.

[Pete Summers]

Surely Irish Washerwoman.

[kirksdad]

The entire first side on 2112...
The audience won't see that coming.

I half kiddingly suggested doing Dark Side of Moon with Banjo, guitar and Mando....they of course shot that down.......


I would like to do a few sing along tunes

[Jim MacDaniel]

Check out "Pickin' on Floyd" :mandosmiley:

[jim simpson]

The Proclaimers: And I would walk 500 miles....

[Eddie Sheehy]

The Rocky Road to Dublin, Dirty Old Town, I'll tell my ma, Molly Malone, The Sweets of May, Cunla, Bean Phaidin, Arthur McBride, St. Patrick's Day, The Irish Washerwoman, Whiskey in the Jar, The Wild Rover... for starters...

[raulb]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEt2XdN_TbQ

[raulb]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-LuQVKzZMM&feature=related

[Lukas J]

The ones my band is playing for St. Paddy's includes:

-Star of the County Down
-Maid Behind the Bar
-Irish Rover
-the Wild Rover
-Finnegan's Wake
-Seven Drunken Nights
-Rocky Road to Dublin
-Dirty Old Town
-Whiskey Before Breakfast
-Whiskey in the Jar
-Red Haired Boy
-Molly Malone
-False Lady
-Kesh Jig

not all of these are 100% authentically Irish, but most are, and we've got them in the set from last year, and inviting a Bodhran playing buddy. Time to let the old tenor banjo have its moment in the spotlight!

I'd also like to do "the Broad Majestic Shannon" by Shane MacGowan, but we'll see what happens.

[allenhopkins]

Depends on what you're comfortable with. I do a bunch of St. Pat's jobs every year. The ones I do with my band Innisfree are pretty straight Celtic trad instrumentals: jigs, reels, waltzes, airs, O'Carolan harp tunes, etc.

For vocals, and especially for non-Irish audiences, I play some "jukebox Irish," and not ashamed to do so. The Chauncey Olcott standards: When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, Wild Irish Rose; rowdy sing-alongs like Wild Rover, Black Velvet Band; Clancy Brothers songs like Wild Colonial Boy, Gilgarry Mountain (Whiskey In the Jar), Jug of Punch, I'm a Rambler & Gambler, Boys Won't Leave the Girls Alone, Red Is the Rose. There are some great songs about Irish immigrants in America, but they may take some research and learning: Muirsheen Durkin, Drill Ye Tarriers, Paddy Works On the Railway, No Irish Need Apply, When McGinnis Gets A Job, By the Hush, etc. And if you want to get into contemporary songs, ones like When New York Was Irish and Kilkelly, Ireland are quite poignant and underline the Irish expatriate experience.

I don't, as a rule, do Irish rebel songs, not because they're not great songs, but because the "troubles" are still close enough to make me uncomfortable singing songs designed to get people to fight. I'll make an exception for Roddy McCorley which is more about martyrdom than about shooting Englishmen. And I love throwing in some songs with humor, like Red-Haired Mary and Martin Carthy's (and others') The Funeral, to the tune of Temperance Reel.

One little piece of advice I'd give, is to do at least a couple of familiar songs, even if they're cliches and and not your favorites. St. Pat's audiences, unless you're dealing with a hard-core Celtic crowd, do like to hear Toora Loora Loora and its ilk. One of the reasons songs become cliches, is that they're really good songs and thus get "played to death." Never hurts to revisit one of them one more time.

[John McCoy]

Ireland Forever (the soccer/football song)
The Spanish Lady
The Town That I Have Loved So Well

[neil argonaut]

The Proclaimers: And I would walk 500 miles....

I'm not sure if this is meant as a joke or not, but the Proclaimers are definitely not Irish, they're about as Scottish as you can get.

[mingusb1]

"One of the reasons songs become cliches, is that they're really good songs..."

Great point Allen, and one that is lost on so many in the oldtime and bluegrass crowd for example. Put another way, obscure tunes/songs are that for a reason.

If you're hired in a pub on St. Pat's you've got to give the crowd some familiar songs and tunes. They are there to have fun, not as an academic study of traditional music. You want them to sing (yell) along when they can.

Z

[kirksdad]

I'm not sure if this is meant as a joke or not, but the Proclaimers are definitely not Irish, they're about as Scottish as you can get.

Neil, we do that song anyways, knowing its from Scotland's own Proclaimers;

North Carolina has a heavy Scottish influence, since so many came here in the 17th and 18th century.....I'm Huntley, 17th generation father to son father to son, our family came to the Carolina via Lyme Connecticut in the 1660's.....I've been told we are part of the Gordon Clan.....I have much to learn.....

Both my brothers have been to see whats left of "Castle Huntley" I'm the only who hasn't....yet......

[Jill McAuley]

I'm a tunes type of gal meself, but if you're looking for songs then "The Auld Triangle" and "The Black Velvet Band" would be my suggestions.

Cheers,
Jill

[neil argonaut]

You may have much to learn, but you know a lot more about me, I can only trace my family back about 4 generations, at which time half were in ireland and half in scotland, but in the 1660's who knows.

[bobby bill]

Our version of London Derriere always brings the crowd to tears.

Funny - they stop crying as soon as we stop playing.

[Dan Hulse]

Depends on the crowd/venue, your style and location. Aside from the more traditional tunes already mentioned, you may wish to consider something by the Dropkick Murphys, the Tossers, Flogging Molly, the Killigans (from Omaha NE, a veritable hot bed of Irish punk) or the Dreadnoughts. Even an acoustic version of any of these groups more popular tunes would be recognised by a younger crowd. At least on this side of the pond.
I wish you mighty craic!

[Canoedad]

Man you guys 'n gals sound like a fun crowd! Good stuff all 'round.

('Cept I would't play The Town I Loved So Well to a St. Patty's night crowd. It's too long and slow for the St. Patty's rookies and the few who know what it is will be irritated that the other 90 percent is just talking all over top of it.)

[neil argonaut]

You could always finish with "the Parting Glass"

[mandolinstew]

there is a great song by Tom Russell on the Man From Who Knows Where album:Isn.t it a Pity When Irish Girls Grow Up

[Steve Lavelle]

"I half kiddingly suggested doing Dark Side of Moon with Banjo, guitar and Mando....they of course shot that down......."

Poor Man's Whiskey calls their version Dark Side of The Moonshine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDNkjZBPgzw

[Charlieshafer]

Play the Unicorn Song play the Unicorn song pleaaassssee play the Unicorn Song! Yes, we all know it's not Irish, but those danged irish Rovers.

On a more helpful note (hopefully) any of the Makem and Clancy stuff (one of my favorites is The Garden Song) and then my favorite "song" cd was Dessie O'Halloran with Sharon Shannon. Their version of "Say You Love Me" is tremendous fun. Shane MacGowan chipped in on Sharon's latest cd with Rake at The Gates Of Hell, which would be a blast, and Cathain is a phenomenal live song, as done by Grada, but then you need to sing in Gaelic.

[mandroid]

London Derriere

is that a wish to see just the back side of London-Westminster rule ,
as they are leaving?

or the Londonderry Aire meets a typo .. :whistling:

[Eddie Sheehy]

I will add to my earlier list:
Big Strong Man
Sean South from Garryowen - Allen can play Rodai McCorlai but we all know what the crowd will sing...
We're on the One Road
Fairytale of New York
Oro S'e do Bheatha Abahaile
Raggle-Taggle Gypsies
Si do Mhaimeoi Chailleach An Airgid
A Nation Once Again

[Eddie Sheehy]

And don't be afraid to throw in God Bless America or This Land is Your Land...
We know where we're from, but we also know where we live...

[Beanzy]

No mandolin on this one, but here's some lyrics by Des Bishop.

It may take beyond Friday to learn them;

"Léimigí Thart

Dún do chlab, dún do bhéal
Éist le mo scéal, má cheapann tú go dtuigeann tú, tá tú ag cur i gcéill,
Tá mé ag dul go nua Eabhrac, ceangal mé le slabhra,
Goile a mhac, ná bí (ag caint anseo???) i lár an tsamhraidh
(súistí búistín buaille beag a phústín???)
ná bí i do phleidhce, nó gheobhaidh tusa léice
Níl mé ag iarraidh a' éisteacht le do chac-bó
damhsa damhsa gan aon stró
buachaillí gránna, cailíní boga dána
Ní thugann mise aird ar na gardaí síochána
Ag an gCeathrú rua, Amach anseo faoin dtuath
léim anois léim anois léim anois go luath
má tá sé mícheart, má tá sé mícheart, is cuma liom, is cuma liom,
léimigí thart!

léim thart! léim thart léim thart! léim thart léim thart! léim thart
Fág seo, éirigh as do pholl is léim thart!

Léim, léim, léim , chuile duine léim, léim, léim, gach duine léim, léim, léim, chuile dhuine léim, léim, léim

freastalóidh mé thú ar nós John McEnroe
má shiúlann do bhean suas, buailfidh mé an hó!
Cá bhfuil do chlann, cá bhfuil do chairde, cá bhfuil an ceol, (suas in airde???)
Agus díreach (ar do thuiscint, tá mé ag rith???)
Má fheiceann tú mise, (b’fhearr duit???) bagairt a rá
Mar tá mé ar nós Tom Cruise sa scannán sin top gun
Ní stopadh tú mise leis an Shotgun!
Má dhéanann tú 's cuí go luath
Agus beidh tú i do staic
Ní éiríonn tú arís go deo, sin an craic
Anois mo stór, éist le mo ghlór,
amach ar an urlár ar nós Peigín leitir mór
má tá sé mícheart, má tá sé mícheart srl

Is mise an fear is fearr, so tá mé thar barr,
Ní fheicfidh tú mise i mo sheasadh (as an lár???)
Ná ag an deireadh ach an oiread an taobh eile don droichid
má thagann siad chomh fada liom, cuireadh mise iad,
amach ar an bportach, agus iad ag baint mhóna,
Déardaoin, De hAoine, De Satharn De Domhnaigh,
Suas suas ‘s síos agus ar ais arís,
Dún do straois, tá sé salach agus clúdaithe le smaois
(Do héadan bheidh caillte , an teallach sin duitse???),
Fainic thú féin nó ní thógfaidh mé uaitse
Má tá sé mícheart, má tá sé mícheart srl

Tá mo homies as Conamara
M'abhailies, m'abhailies as Conamara

Muintir na Gaeltachta, agus muintir na hÉireann freisin, tá an réabhlóid ag teacht go luath

Sin é, sin é, sin é , sin é [TRÉIG] "




http://youtu.be/qeAzetE74L4

[Jim MacDaniel]

Even though most people won't recognize it, the Gourds' Shamrock Bound is a fun mandolin-driven song that feels Irish, and should get people up and dancing.

[Jack Roberts]

Garryowen, of course, and while you are playing Irish Washerwoman, be sure to sing along with Isaac Asimov's lyrics:

para-dichloro-amino-benzaldehyde
para-dichloro-amino-benzaldehyde
para-dichloro-amino-benzaldehyde
para-dichloro-amino-benzaldehyde
(repeat)

People will think you are singing the original Gaelic!

[Dan Hulse]

Alas, the list would not be complete without my personal favorite. A modern classic if ever there was one. AND there's mandolin to boot!
A Biologist's St. Patrick's day song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oax3cUFsBSw

[Eddie Sheehy]

Saint Patrick Was A Gentleman - Usually accompanied by a solo Bodhran and sang to a Polka (2/4) beat...

Saint Patrick was a gentleman, he came from decent people,
In Dublin town he built a church and on it put a steeple
His father was a Callahan, his mother was a Grady,
His aunt was an O'Shaughnessy and his uncle was a Brady
Chorus :
Success to bold Saint Patrick's fist,
He was a Saint so clever,
He gave the snakes an awful twist
And banished them forever

There's not a smile in Ireland's isle where the dirty vermin musters
Where’er he put his dear forefoot he murder’d them in clusters
The toads went hop, the frogs went plop, slap dash into the water
And the snakes committed suicide to save themselves from slaughter

Nine hundred thousand vipers blue he charm’d with sweet discourses
And dined on them at Killaloo and then had second courses
When blind worms crawling on the grass disgusted all the nation
He gave them a rise and open’d their eyes to a sense of their situation

The Wicklow hills are very high and so’s the hill of Howth, sir
But there's a hill much higher still, Ay, higher then them both, sir
And it was on the top of his hill, Saint Patrick preached a sermon
That drove the frogs into the bogs and banished all the vermin.

[Eddie Sheehy]

Patrick Was a Gentleman:

y6J5vdnZMHE

[raulb]

Eddie, is that 2nd song "The Siege of Ennis" or "Tulla Polka"? I am trying to figure out which is which. I have music to 2 songs, both called "The Siege of Ennis" but wonder if one is Tulla.

[Eddie Sheehy]

The Polka in the Siege of Ennis (which is a SET dance) is the Tulla Polka. This one is pretty close to it...

[Jim Yates]

Fanny Power and Planxty Irwin make a nice set with a key change in the middle. Calliope House goes over well and seems to fall nicely on the mandolin. Try a hornpipe set with Boys Of Bluehill and Harvest Home. Mike Cross's lyrics to Whiskey for Breakfast go over well.

[Jim MacDaniel]

Your audience should enjoy The Dunne Song. I heard it it in a pub one trip to Ireland, and have been searching for a recording of it from time to time since to no avail -- but here here it is on TY...

4PJtCMZmIEk

If interested, I found a couple different versions of the lyrics:

http://www.nattceol.org/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=The+Dunne+Song
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=64991
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=4548

[Eddie Sheehy]

Tips for the amateur "Irishman"...

PADRAIGH (http://paddynotpatty.com/)

[neil argonaut]

Tips for the amateur "Irishman"...

PADRAIGH (http://paddynotpatty.com/)

Nice one, some good advice there;

While the thread's been brought up again, and with it only being a few days till st patrick's day, another suggestion which is lively enough - "Las Vegas in the hills of donegal" by goats don't shave.

[Killian King]

I will be playing and singing the following Clancy Bros songs for my 7 year old daughter and her friends at a family party this saturday. On the guitar since I do not have a mandolin or OM yet.

The Irish Rover
The Real Old Mountain Dew
Wild Rover
The Stuttering lovers
Still I love him
Brennan on the Moor
The Jolly Tinker
Courtin in the Kitchen

Maybe a few more.

Happy St Pats to everyone!

[Jill McAuley]

Tips for the amateur "Irishman"...

PADRAIGH (http://paddynotpatty.com/)

Oh cheers for that one Eddie, great stuff!

[Charlieshafer]

I will be playing and singing the following Clancy Bros songs for my 7 year old daughter and her friends at a family party this saturday. On the guitar since I do not have a mandolin or OM yet.

The Irish Rover
The Real Old Mountain Dew
Wild Rover
The Stuttering lovers
Still I love him
Brennan on the Moor
The Jolly Tinker
Courtin in the Kitchen

Maybe a few more.

Happy St Pats to everyone!

Courtin In The Kitchen is a fantastic song! Glad it's still being put to good use.

[allenhopkins]

I will be playing and singing the following Clancy Bros songs for my 7 year old daughter and her friends at a family party this saturday. On the guitar since I do not have a mandolin or OM yet...Brennan on the Moor...

They hanged Brennan at the crossroads, in chains he swung and dried,
But still they say that in the night, some do see him ride;
They see him with his blunderbuss, all in the midnight chill,
And there along the King's Highway rides Willie Brennan still.

Hope the seven-year-old doesn't mind Willie "swinging and drying!"

[Eddie Sheehy]

We've added two Irish Set Dances to our list for a Contra Dance on Saturday night:
The Sweets of May - tunes are Sweets of May, Lannigan's Ball, Munster Buttermilk, The Dingle Regatta
and The Siege of Ennis: - tunes are The Tulla Polka, The Rattlin' Bog Polka, I'll Tell Me Ma, Egan's Polka.

[tnt2002]

Check out "The nigth the Patty Murphy died" by Great Big Sea, it's a great Irish (Newfoundland) drinking song.

[nickster60]

Any Tarentella oh sorry that is Columbus Day

[allenhopkins]

Here's some of what Innisfree is planning for St. Pat's:
Reels
On the Road To Boston/All the Way to Galway
St. Anne's Reel/My Love Is But a Lassie
Flowers of Edinboro/Merry Blacksmith
Wind That Shakes the Barley
Gaspe Reel/Joys of Quebec
Red-Haired Boy
Girl I Left Behind Me/Rakes of Mallow
Rattlin' Bog
Soldier's Joy/Over the Waterfall

Jigs
Dingle Regatta
Off She Goes/Smash the Windows
Irish Washerwoman/Swallowtail Jig/Saddle the Pony
Road to Lisdoonvarna/Black Rogue
Coleraine/Sons of Jubal

Hornpipes
Harvest Home/Fisher's
Boys of Blue Hill

Waltzes
South Wind
Greenwood Tree
Snowy-Breasted Pearl/Gentle Maiden
The Ash Grove

O'Carolan
Sheebeg & Sheemore*
Planxty Fanny Power

Mixed Medleys
Rights of Man/Drowsy Maggie/Rory O'Moore
Planxty George Brabizon/Kesh Jig/Rose Tree
Red Is the Rose/Minstrel Boy

Marches
Scotland the Brave/Boys of Wexford
Maureen From Gibberland

Vocals
Black Velvet Band
What Will We Do With the Drunken Sailor
Wild Rover
Gypsy Rover
Wild Mountain Thyme
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling
My Wild Irish Rose

And I won't be surprised, though not particularly stoked, if we end up fitting in Danny Boy and Toora Loora Loora somewhere in the evening, since we consistently get asked for them. Should be a fun night at the American Hotel (http://www.americanhoteloflima.com/) in lovely downtown Lima NY.

* you can spell this however you choose...

[Beanzy]

Soldier's Joy/Over the Waterfall


Off She Goes/Smash the Windows
Irish Washerwoman/Swallowtail Jig/Saddle the Pony




No particular reason, but I particularly like these combinations. They just seem to fit really well.

Enjoy the gig.

[Eddie Sheehy]

Check out "The nigth the Patty Murphy died" by Great Big Sea, it's a great Irish (Newfoundland) drinking song.

Patricia Murphy, was it?

http://paddynotpatty.com/

[Killian King]

They hanged Brennan at the crossroads, in chains he swung and dried,
But still they say that in the night, some do see him ride;
They see him with his blunderbuss, all in the midnight chill,
And there along the King's Highway rides Willie Brennan still.

Hope the seven-year-old doesn't mind Willie "swinging and drying!"

The Clancy Bros version doesn't have that verse in it. All the other songs are about drinking or courting, what's a little rebellion. ;)

I used to sing my daughter a song called "weela wallia" when she was about 3. My wife made me stop because my daughter has such a great memory for song lyrics.

google the lyrics to that one.

[allenhopkins]

...I used to sing my daughter a song called "weela wallia" when she was about 3. My wife made me stop because my daughter has such a great memory for song lyrics. google the lyrics to that one.

Don't need to Google. And "don't stick knives in your babby's head."

[Killian King]

Don't need to Google. And "don't stick knives in your babby's head."

Down by the river sallia.

Great to meet a fellow traveler.

[Eddie Sheehy]

Traveller?

[JeffD]

OK so here's the thing. My experience with St. Patricks Day Gigs

There are two types.

In one type they just want you to play all that fiddly diddly stuff while they eat their green pancakes and line up for the parade.

In the other they want you to play the music they intend to sing to while drinking green beer.

So umm.... play what you want, enjoy it, and if they had a good time they will invite you back. And if they didn't you won't have to do it again.