A Few Surprises In The Top 100 Songs

A lot of the regulars to the site will have noticed that I recently compiled a list of the top 100 Irish songs of all time. The top 30 songs in the list contained very few surprises except for Sweet Carnlough Bay, hot that song slipped in there I'll never know. In the second part of the list from 31 to 68 there were some here I thought would actually be higher up the list. Songs like ''A Song For Ireland'' at No. 48. I would have thought it was top 20 material at least. In general it's a very good list of songs. Don't forget that this list is not the top 100 Irish songs that are liked by people living in Ireland but rather a list of Irish folk songs that are the most popular all over the world. A pleasant surprise for me anyway was the amount of rebel songs in the list. I was happy to see that these songs are being kept alive around the world. I know that if you asked one hundred people to name their favourite 100 songs you would get 100 different lists. Everybody's different a some songs mean more to some people than others, it may remind them of a place in time that they were happy or sad or for 100 other reasons as to why you fall in love with a nice piece of writing.
Off the top of my head, here's a few of my favourites in no particular order.

Joe McDonnell
Grace Jim McCann Version
Michael -Johnny McEvoy
Michael Collins - Wolfe Tones
The Parting Glass-Pogues Version
A Song For The Fox-The Furies
Long Before Your Time J.McEvoy
Let The People Sing
Thousands Are Sailing - Pogues
The Ferryman - Dublin City Ramblers
Bold Robert Emmet, Dublin City Ramblers Version
Boolavogue - Brian Roebuck Version
Slievenamon- Old Wolfe Tone Version
Where My Eileen Is Waiting-Johnny McEvoy Version
Come Out Ye Black And Tans-Wolfe Tones
The Rare Auld Times-Ronnie Drew Version
For Ireland I'd Not Tell Her Name. The Tones
Freemantle Bay By Justice
Kevin Barry - Wolfe Tones Version
Gallipili By The Fureys
Uncil Nobby's Steamboat-Wolfe Tones
Sean South
Boolavogue, Brian Roebuck Version
Shanagolden By Paddy Day
Red Is The Rose, Every Version
The Galway Races-Pogues Version, This is part of a medley
A Pair Of Brown Eyes - Pogues
The Old Bog Road J.McEvoy version
The Old Man - The Fureys Bros. And Davie Arthur Version.
Irish Soldier Laddie By Barleycorn
The Cocky Farmer-Ronnie Drew
Fergal O'Hanlon-Declan Hunt
The Bold Fenian Men By Dublin City Ramblers
The Foggy Dew
Avondale By Mary Black
Come By The Hills
Bring Them Home-Dublin City Ramblers
Night Visiting Song by Luke Kelly
Merry Ploughboy - Ronnie Drew Version

If you have't already seen the top 100 Irish folk songs of all time, head over to Martin Dardis site and go to most popular. See the link in on the right nav.

So How Are The Welsh Songs Doing ?

The Welsh section on the site was not my idea but Marc's. He discovered that nobody was providing the chords to the traditional welsh songs I usually don't start a new section until I have sufficient content for a page. This is usually about 10 songs. It wasn't long before Marc sent the first batch to get me started, that section now has 37 songs added to date. It was a slow burner at first but has now taken off and doing quiet well considering all the songs are in a minority language with less native Welsh people speaking their native tongue than for example the Irish Gaelic. In general the songs in this section get about 100 hits per day, but that figure is climbing week by week.Having these Welsh songs on the site is a way of promoting the language through song and story. So for example if someone comes looking for the chords to Colon Lan which is one of the more popular one's they will hopefully drift into the Welsh section and discover a whole raft of songs they may find interesting and learn a new one.

Wolfe Tones Look For Radio Airplay

I'm always intrigued by the writings of Brian Warfield from The Wolfe Tones. Brian has been struggling to get radio airtime for the band for years without much success. The latest song he tried to get played on R.T.E. [Our National Radio And T.V. Channels] is Swing A Banker. The following is from Brian,,feel free to comment. Since last October, we have requested a spot on 'The Late Late Show' to showcase a song, "Swing a banker", from the CD. We also requested a spot on other shows such as 'The Saturday Night Show'. In spite of begging, pleading, grovelling and doing everything possible short of a brown paper bag filled with cash, our requests were sidelined and rejected. Maybe that's what is necessary, I heard people say that a spot on The Late Late can be bought for 5 grand. If this is true, it's an outrage, are their big salaries not good enough? I believe there is a conspiracy and a systemic blacklisting of the Tones within the organization. I was recently sent a copy of a DVD, showing producers in RTE saying things such as, 'I would never play them on one of my shows, I don't care how good they are, and if I heard anyone play them, I would be on the phone immediately to find out why' ... Watch out, these videos will be on YouTube very soon for all the world to see. Talk about Swing a Banker, why are they deliberately avoiding playing the song, why and who's trying to prevent it getting to the world, are they afraid that the people might hear it and like it, and agree with it, why is it blackballed? The conspiracy continues

Send Me Your Old Folk And Rebel Songs

I hope to be adding new posts to this blog on a regular basis and I hope you will contribute comments to the posts. I am looking for ideas as to how to progress with site, it has got to the stage now where I have most of The Wolfe Tones, Christy Moore and over 800 songs in total. If you have any old folk or rebel lyrics and chords will you please send them to me at unitedireland@gmail.com
Lets keep our music alive

Johnny McEvoy

Johnny McEvoy has a new album out, the songs are a mixture of classic oldies and some new stuff. The album is now available from Johnny's website at €25.
I look forward to reviewing it and adding a few lyrics and chords to my site.
He is now on tour around Ireland so if you get the chance go and see him, you won't be disappointed as the show is better than ever.

I Don't Play Rock Songs

I've gotten a lot of requests for rock and pop songs from Irish bands and singers. When visitors see a site for Irish songs and chords some expect to find groups like U2 , The Cranberries and Van Morrison. I don't do that kind of stuff, it's not that I don't like it it's just that they are not ''Irish Songs'' , they are pop and rock songs played by singers and groups who come from Ireland and that doesn't make their songs ''Irish Songs''
There are plenty of sites around that cater for U2 Van Morrison, The Cranberries and so on. What I concentrate on are folk and ballads tunes from over 200 years ago to the present day. That's what I play as a guitar player, and that's the stuff I was brought up on. If you have a piticular song and are looking for the chords and it's a folk tune then let me know and I'll have a go at it.

The Wolfe Tones

The Wolfe Tones songs, well, I have now nearly all their lyrics collected and with some help from Marc Fahrbach who is a great man on guitar and has put chords to some of the more difficult songs. As The Wolfe Tones are my favorite group I have put more of an effort into bringing all their songs together on one site.
But the colelection is not compleat yet, her are a few from the older albums I hope to add soon.
Singing Games, Down In The Mines and Dry Land Salors, all from The Foggy Dew album of 1965.
Song Of The Blackwoods and Finding Moses from ''Up The Rebels'' album.
Treat Me Daughter Kindly and Up The Border from ''The Rights Of Man albumof 1968.
The Four Seasons taken from ''Rifles Of The I.R.A.
Dont Stop Me Now from ''Let The People Sing'' album of 1972