Irish Music

The first time I was touched when listening to Irish music was at the Renaissance Fair in Deerfield Beach, FL. It was a weekend in March 2017, and I was exploring the Renaissance Fair for the first time with my friends, who had gone the previous year. A band called the Crimson Pirates stepped up to an open stage and began playing The Drunken Sailor. We all laughed at the stanza:

Put a spiny lobster in his britches, put a spiny lobster in his britches
Put a spiny lobster in his britches, early in the morning.

But it was the next two songs that got me hooked on Irish music.

The first was an upbeat song called The Star of the County Down. The narrator is a young man who recounts meeting a beautiful woman named Rosie McCann, near Banbridge town in County Down. I looked this up and Banbridge is a real town in Northern Ireland, and County Down is a real county! At the end of the song he plans to dress in his Sunday clothes to win her over at the Harvest Fair.

Some of my favorite performances of The Star of the County Down have been done by:

• The Coach House Family
• The Angelo Family

The second was a slower, whistful song called The Black Velvet Band. The narrator is another young man, albeit far unluckier than the previous man. He too meets a beautiful woman, but she is an escort who robs a gold watch and puts it in his pocket. He is deemed guilty by a jury the next Monday and sentenced to “seven years of penal servitude” in Van Dieman’s Land, which is now the island of Tasmania off the coast of Australia.

My favorite performance of The Black Velvet Band has been done by:

• Luke Kelly and The Dubliners

Ever since I heard these songs, I’ve been listening to different Irish performers adapt the folk songs of their country. Suprisingly, the songs usually fit two categories: either they are fast and upbeat like The Star of the County Down or they are slow and whistful like The Black Velvet Band. Some songs are a mix of the two styles.

From the fast and upbeat songs, my favorites are:

• I'll Tell Me Ma
  • The Clancy Brothers
  • Fianne
  • Tommy Makem & Barley Bree

From the slow and whistful songs, my favorites are:

• Red is the Rose
  • Nanci Griffith and The Chieftains (sung from a woman’s perspective)
  • Liam Clancy and Tommy Makem (the epitome of whistful Irish tunes)

From the mixed songs that are rather fast but still whistful:

• The Nightingale
  • The Clancy Brothers
  • Charlotte Cumberbirch
  • The Dubliners