Move Along, No Green Here

Jesus, I hate St. Patrick’s Day. But this music helps to make up for it. Reels and jigs shall be left for another day (well, okay, besides the last track).

1.  How Can They Tell That I’m Irish? – Edward M. Favor

Nonsense from 1910.

2.  Lorca’s Novena – The Pogues

Shane MacGowan is the one who needs an intercession.

3.  Spring Comes to Spiddal – The Waterboys

Instead of a sweater, how about some Dixieland?

4.  Ballerina – Van Morrison

Van unplugged.

5.  Wind Out of My Sails – Julie Feeney

The Co. Galway native plays all the instruments, too.

6.  Kvi Gjeng Du Så Einsleg Og Stundar – Dolores Keane & Rita Eriksen

Ireland meets Norway.

7.  Bí Ann – Kíla

They met in an Irish language school.

8.  Leanfaidh Mé – Kíla

One of their founding members left to join the Frames.

9.  Altercations – The Tossers

The Tossers are a poor man’s everything from Chicago.

10.  Tomás Bán Mac Aogáin – Darach Ó Cáthain

A sean nós, or “old style” (a cappella), song about love and a hanging.

11.  St. Dominic’s Preview – Van Morrison

An acoustic version with Mary Black on backing vocals. Performed on an Irish-language television show.

12.  Broken Things – Juliet Turner

Heartbreaking Julie Miller song recorded for an Omagh benefit album.

13.  Crazy Love – Brian Kennedy & Anúna

Kennedy backed Van for years; Anúna is a medieval choral group.

14.  You Know What I Want to Know – David Kitt

From a 2000 SXSW compilation.

15.  Factory Girls – Flogging Molly with Lucinda Williams

Less drunk than the Pogues, less crude than the Tossers.

16.  The Island – Paul Brady

Ulster singer who started out as a hotel piano player in Donegal.

17.  The Shankill and the Falls – Bap Kennedy with Nanci Griffith

Brian Kennedy’s older brother. Both are from Belfast, but Bap worships Steve Earle, not Van Morrison. (Stay tuned for the attached hidden track, wherein Kennedy & Earle get filthy.)

18.  Seol Do Bhó (Biddy from Sligo) – Séamus Begley & Stephen Cooney

Begley is a Kerry sheep farmer; Cooney is an Australian and an honorary Aborigine. I saw them perform in Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal, in 1997.

IMAGE: Untitled (mixed media) by Ross Stewart

Comments

[elliot Majerczyk]

Another stellar mix. Tis indeed a grand night to listen to this.
Have you heard 'Homes of Donegal" by Paul Brady?

[Brendan Wolfe]

Thanks, Elliot, and I haven't. I believe that the song on this mix is the only Paul Brady I have. And oh how I miss Donegal. I'll have to write about that Ballyshannon experience -- the greatest single night of music in my life.