michaelcurran173

Why so many cities claim the Irish song I’ll Tell Me Ma

The Irish song I’ll Tell Me Ma has become well known in folk music circles across the world. It is such a popular song that cities all over the Ireland and even some in England and Scotland claim it as their own. It can evoke a lot of civic pride amon... Read >

Why the Irish love song Raglan Road was written

The classic Irish song Raglan Road is one of the greatest love poems of the last century – yet it was a throwaway jibe about cabbages and turnips that led to it being written. The song began life as a poem by the great Irish writer Patrick Kavanagh. He... Read >

How Yeats borrowed an old song when writing The Salley Gardens

The Irish love song Down by the Salley Gardens sounds like it has come straight out of the folk music tradition but in fact it was written by the classically educated poet W B Yeats. The song is a tale of unrequited love in which the young man pursues ... Read >

Why the Parting Glass is Irish music’s favourite song of farewell

Irish music is littered with songs of farewell but few have endured and become so popular across the world as the Parting Glass. Hundreds of years of emigration meant that Irish people got used to being separated from their families and their loved one... Read >

The Wild Rover – an Irish drinking song or an English temperance song?

When most people think of the Irish folk song, the Wild Rover, they immediately think of fun, laughter and above all, drinking. However, this may not be the correct way to interpret the song. It may, in fact, be a temperance song designed to warn agai... Read >

How the Irish Rover lyrics use exaggeration for comic effect

Irish music often uses exaggeration for comic effect but nowhere is it done on such a grand scale as in the song, The Irish Rover. The lyric dates from the early 1800s and tells the story of an impossibly large sailing ship and its even more improbable... Read >

How robbery and rebellion make Whiskey in the Jar a classic Irish song

When a country is occupied by a foreign power as Ireland was for several hundred years then music is often used as a way of poking fun at the establishment. This is a large part of the appeal of that hugely popular Irish song, Whiskey in the Jar, which... Read >

Spancil Hill - the personal tragedy behind the classic Irish song

It’s often the case that great songs are written by people at a time when they are experiencing great personal tragedy in their lives. The classic Irish ballad, Spancil Hill, is a perfect example of this. It was a written by a young man called Michal ... Read >