Most well known Irish tunes

[jazzjune18]

any help naming some of the more well known Irish songs (songs not tunes)? I am interested in learning more songs

[James Rankine]

Songs taught on the Irish music online academy

Popular pub songs:

Will Ye Go Lassie Go
Spancill Hill
Lakes of Ponchartrain
The Wild Rover
Dirty Old Town
Fiddlers Green
The Spanish Lady
Whiskey in the Jar
Galway Bay
The Foggy Dew
The Cliffs of Duneen
The Red Rose Cafe
The Parting Glass

Traditional Irish songs:

Fair and Tender Ladies
P Stands for Paddy
The Rocks of Bawn
Thousands Are Sailing
Bonnie Blue Eyed Nancy
Free And Easy For To Jog Along
I Once Loved A Lass
Two Sisters
The Leaving of Limerick
Bold Fenian Men
Do You Love an Apple
The Bay of Biscayo

That should keep you busy!

[jwynia]

I personally shy away from the most popular songs because of how incredibly over-done they are. It's reached a point where, when an Irish band puts out an album, I can usually guess 80% of the songs that will be on it before I even look. That's sad given how many lovely Irish songs there are.

One of the best collections of Irish songs is "Sam Henry's Songs of the People" (http://www.amazon.com/Sam-Henrys-Son...2848115&sr=1-1). All of the songs include standard notation for the melody (I can't recall seeing any that didn't).

I'll also note that Spotify has an incredible number of obscure recordings of old Irish songs sung by source singers. For nearly every song in the book, you can find a recording of it. I typically use Spotify to find stuff and then buy a copy to keep for learning it.

As an example and starting point, this series of albums is exactly that kind of source singer recordings. There are 20 albums in the "Voice of the People" series.

http://open.spotify.com/album/0zoDOXTG77CSDjDrmjgnR4
http://open.spotify.com/album/1MjMkzmctCBy3cxqaHcvW6
http://open.spotify.com/album/3jrwBzqbeciNjpo3sQ8bEp
http://open.spotify.com/album/7kx9JlcQlIMdnod3pOrz2k
http://open.spotify.com/album/128rdG7sjUWRFsoSjEYbcx
http://open.spotify.com/album/3fURskcIQHvri8KqoIAkgr
http://open.spotify.com/album/4R0E3lGIWWbetfgexOJCCt
http://open.spotify.com/album/6zUAHzjJXFE81kGbUJRxN2
http://open.spotify.com/album/1wPdzQ6IxHvfR0DQdIBnod
http://open.spotify.com/album/3TYSCCcrL4W87wlSDMpCUJ
http://open.spotify.com/album/7m0bbpnReyQwij0QOlO77Y
http://open.spotify.com/album/6rJZwsXhwVnCoYv9JqsxJH
http://open.spotify.com/album/0HMHVQB1CuKxED1cZRtCKx
http://open.spotify.com/album/1JtZWfFXvSSaxsFJ6snVow
http://open.spotify.com/album/0CZlfMA9d9Lop5qxRSKERp
http://open.spotify.com/album/0xa32bBK7kevhOMD7k6RYG
http://open.spotify.com/album/4ziHD5sjoApwkHpsxDDOBm
http://open.spotify.com/album/3ZhkwUoSIBwkKWw60vyBzu
http://open.spotify.com/album/6VhIESTe8QcR3U3pP1oPf0
http://open.spotify.com/album/5m7EnZBVVgOZOCx8zmRHqn

Singers like Sara Makem, Joe Heaney, Paddy Tunney, etc. are the real deal and are on those albums as well as many others. They can take a bit of effort to get used to the sound of the recordings. Most of them were recorded 50+ years ago and most of the singers were in their sunset years when they recorded. But, you'll hear amazing songs that AREN'T on every single Irish album that comes out.

One more note is one of my personal favorite singers: Donal Maguire.
http://open.spotify.com/artist/3lMzMov9auJlOEJe7H3n8o

[Bertram Henze]

Molly Malone?
I'll tell me Ma?

[Colin Lindsay]

"Star of the County Down” is a good local song (given that I used to work in Banbridge, but now work not far from the Makem family in County Armagh and hope to call in on them soon.)

[SincereCorgi]

Nobody's mentioned the Unicorn Song yet?!?!?

[Beanzy]

If you go to Christy Moore's website he has a load of old & not so old cracking good ballad lyrics on there with the chords to many.
You could do a lot worse than work your way through a load of those; after everyone joins in if you crank up an auld Christy song.

[Mike Anderson]

Nobody's mentioned the Unicorn Song yet?!?!?

Argh!!!

[Randi Gormley]

buddy of mine usually sings "we buried danny boy beneath the fields of athenry" but you'd pretty much have to be singing it to an audience of sessionistas ....