List of Irish ballads explained

The following are often-sung Irish folk ballads and folk songs. The songs are arranged by theme under the categories "Politics and soldiering" and "Non-political" and are not necessarily contemporary to the events to which they relate.

Songs may fit into more than one category, but where possible, are grouped uniquely to where is most appropriate.

Politics and soldiering

Anti-war and anti-recruiting

16th and 17th centuries

18th century

1798 Rebellion

Songs relating to the Irish Rebellion of 1798 (though not necessarily contemporary):

19th century

Napoleonic Wars

The Great War 1914–1918

1916 Rising

War of Independence

Civil War and post-Treaty Republicanism (1922-1969)

The Troubles (1969–98)

Non-political

Miscellaneous and uncategorised

Work and industry

Love and romance

These songs can be grouped as: aislings, broken token songs, night visiting songs, modern songs, etc.

Places, emigration and travel

Songs of the Travelling People

Sport, play and fighting

Humorous songs

Murder ballads

Drinking

Hedge schoolmaster songs

Get-togethers

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Conway, Pat . 1982. Soodlum's Irish Ballad Book. New York. Oak publications. 978-0-8256-0284-9.
  2. http://www.nick-kelly.com/db_d10_ira.htm Dominic Behan record notes
  3. Web site: Century: Marching to a different tune . 2023-08-28 . The Irish Times . en.
  4. The Spirit of the Nation: Ballads and Songs by the Writers of The NationDublin, James Duffy, 1845. p. 58
  5. Web site: Capercaillie – Alasdair Mhic Cholla Ghasda . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/-DvvfNACsYc. 2021-12-12 . live. YouTube . 26 July 2008 . 15 August 2011.
  6. [Patrick Galvin]
  7. The Ballad Poetry of Ireland, 4th ed., edited by Charles Gavan Duffy, 1845.
  8. http://www.triskelle.eu/lyrics/claresdragoons.php?index=080.010.020.030&rec=142 here
  9. Brendan Kennelly: The Penguin Book of Irish Verse (1970)
  10. Web site: Bagenal Harvey's Lament . Digital Tradition . Digital Tradition (Mudcat) mirror . April 1999 . 20 September 2012.
  11. Ballads from the jails and streets of Ireland. Published by Red Hand Books. Dublin. 1966. Compiled and edited by Martin Shannon
  12. Anthology of Irish Verse, edited by Padraic Colum, 1922.
  13. Book: O Lochlann, Colm. 1965. More Irish Street Ballads. Dublin. Three Candles Press. 0-330-25317-4. registration.
  14. Georges Denis Zimermann: Songs of Irish Rebellion (Irish political street ballads and rebel songs) 1780–1900
  15. The Great Irish Tenor: John McCormack, by Gordon T Ledbetter, Town House, 2003.
  16. [Tom Munnelly]
  17. The Poets of Ireland, ed. D.J. O'Donoghue. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis & Co., 1912
  18. Terry Moylan (Ed.): The Age of Revolution in the Irish Song Tradition, 1776 to 1815
  19. Songs of the People edited by Gale Huntington, Lani Herrman with contributions from John Moulden. 1990 (University of Georgia Press)
  20. Book: Beinern, Guy . 2007. Remembering the year of the French: Irish folk history and social memory. 147. Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin Press. 978-0299218249.
  21. Waterloo II [Laws N31] American Balladry From British Broadsides (G. Malcolm Laws, 1957)
  22. Smith's Irish Minstrel (Edinburgh, 1825)
  23. http://www.triskelle.eu/lyrics/connaghtrangers.php?index=080.010.020.030&rec=151 here
  24. http://www.triskelle.eu/lyrics/gallipoli.php?index=080.010.040.010&rec=234 here
  25. News: Saving Cork's urban ballads, because cities have folk songs too . Irish Times . Jimmy . Crowley . 22 September 2017 . 8 March 2024 .
  26. Book: James N. . Healy . Ballads from the pubs of Ireland . Mercier Press.
  27. Book: Passing the time in Ballymenone: culture and history of an Ulster community . University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982 . Glassie, Henry H. . Henry Glassie . 2008 . 833. 9780812278231 .
  28. Billboard, 23 October 1961
  29. Web site: Mullingar brothers who wrote 'Grace' honoured in their hometown . rte.ie . 10 August 2023 . 6 April 2024 .
  30. Web site: Republican Songs – Long Kesh Documents. 30 April 2016.
  31. The Ballad of Michael Collins. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/r2rShV4aqGQ. 2021-12-12 . live. 16 November 2007. 30 April 2016. YouTube.
  32. Desmond Ryan: Sean Treacy and the 3rd Tipperary Brigade (see Appendix). The Kerryman, Tralee, 1945.
  33. station of knocklong – Johnny Donegan. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/WgEtXHMDCbw. 2021-12-12 . live. 25 June 2009. 30 April 2016. YouTube.
  34. Web site: Charts History - Search - Title - Upton . https://archive.today/20240308192736/http://irishcharts.ie/search/placement?page=1&search_type=song&placement=Upton . 8 March 2024 . Irish Recorded Music Association . irishcharts.ie .
  35. Book: Leslie Daiken

    . Goodbye Twilight: Songs of Struggle in Ireland . Lawrence and Wishart . Daiken (ed.), Leslie . Leslie Daiken. 1936 . London . 90.

  36. Dominick Behan: Easter Week and After (Topic 12T 44). Notes by Paddy Tunney 1965
  37. Christy Moore & Jimmy Faulkner – Galtee Mountain Boy – 1979. https://web.archive.org/web/20120317235253/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBVgb6qtvP0&gl=US&hl=en. 2012-03-17 . dead. 12 January 2008. 30 April 2016. YouTube.
  38. The Story of the Drumboe Martyrs, 1958 (revised edition published circa 2000)
  39. The Singing Irish by Dominic Behan
  40. News: Checkpoint death report welcomed . BBC News NI . 24 June 2008 . 24 June 2008.
  41. Web site: CAIN Web Service – Extracts from 'Songs of Resistance 1969–1982 . CAIN . Songs . 22 October 2012.
  42. Web site: Irish Republican Music . The Balladeers . 10 October 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130109015136/http://theballadeers.com/irm_01.htm#mnp . 9 January 2013 . dmy-all .
  43. http://www.seanchai.com/lyrics.htm#3_9 SEANCHAI – Lyrics
  44. Bernadette Gilligan (ed.): In an Irish Twilight – Teresa Brayton. The Teresa Brayton Heritage Group. Kilcock, County Kildare. 2002.
  45. Book: Moore, Christy . 2000. One Voice. London. Lir/Hodder and Stoughton. 0-340-76839-8.
  46. Book: I'll live till I die . Drumlin Publications . O'Hara, Aidan . 1997 . Leitrim . 1-873437-17-X . 29 July 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303200420/http://www.drumlinpublications.com/l'lllive.html . 3 March 2016 . dead .
  47. Web site: Cockles and Mussels (Molly Malone) . Folkinfo.org (quoting book by Sean Murphy) . 2002 . 12 August 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110719115810/http://www.folkinfo.org/songs/displaysong.php?songid=618 . 19 July 2011 .
  48. The New Methodist Hymn Book Illustrated, John Telford (Epworth Press, London, 1934)
  49. Web site: Black Velvet Band (I), The. 30 April 2016.
  50. Book: McCourt, Malachy. Danny Boy: The Legend of the Beloved Irish Ballad. New American Library. 2005. 0-451-20806-4.
  51. Sam Henry's Songs of the People (University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1990), p 269
  52. Web site: Irish Songs With Chords – The Golden Jubilee. 30 April 2016.
  53. http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/people/johnny_patterson.htm Johnny Patterson – Accessed 8 Sep 2009
  54. An Cumann Le Béaloideas Éireann/The Folklore of Ireland Society: Béaloideas, A study of the 'Dead Lover's Return' in Irish tradition. Dublin, 1983. pp. 126 et passim
  55. "The Suffolk Miracle" in The popular ballads of England and Scotland, edited by Francis Jame Child, 1904 edition. p. 592
  56. O'Connor, Frank (trans). "I am Stretched on Your Grave". Lucy, Seán, (ed). "Love Poems of the Irish", Cork: Mercier, 1967
  57. The popular ballads of England and Scotland, edited by Francis Jame Child. 1904 edition. p. 605
  58. http://www.columbia.edu/itc/english/seidel/joyce/edit/images/general/jom10_11.jpg The Dead
  59. https://archive.today/20130217185724/http://pauloreilly.ie/?page_id=65 Paul Reilly web page
  60. Norah Saunders, 1988. "Joseph Campbell: Poet & Nationalist 1879–1944, a Critical Biography"
  61. Discussed in the Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society in 1905 and 1911.
  62. Stationers' Register, November 1639, under the title "The Souldier and his knapsack"
  63. Web site: Francis Fahy Society . 30 April 2016 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230536/http://www.kinvara.com/francisfahy/index.htm . 3 March 2016 .
  64. Book: Bowles, Micheál . 1985. Claisceadal 1: Irish Folk Songs and Accompaniments. Dún Laoghaire. Glendale Press. 978-0-907606-35-2.
  65. Web site: Canadian Journal for Traditional Music . O'Connor, Jennifer . Canadian Journal for Traditional Music . 1986 . The Irish Origins and Variations of the Ballad "Molly Brown". 6 November 2009 .
  66. Book: Moulden (edit.), John . Songs of Hugh McWilliams, Schoolmaster, 1831. Portrush. Ulstersongs. 1-898437-00-9.
  67. B 10572 released by Rose Brennan in October 1953: "If you love me" / "The Whistling Gypsy"
  68. Web site: Uncle Rat Lomax Digital Archive . 2022-10-17 . archive.culturalequity.org . en.
  69. Book: De Burgh Daly, Mrs . 1973. Prose, Poems and Parodies of Percy French. Dublin. The Talbot Press. 0-85452-107-0.
  70. [Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin]
  71. Web site: Did I think I'd find 1,000 Cork songs? Never in my wildest dreams! . echolive.ie . 22 April 2022 . 8 March 2024 . John . Dolan .
  72. Book: Crowley, Jimmy . Songs from the Beautiful City : the Cork Urban Ballads . 2014 . The Freestate Press . Cork . 9781910179406 . 1107170483 .
  73. Web site: Christy Moore on 'The Big Marquee', his new song about Cork . irishexaminer.com . Irish Examiner . Joe . Dermody . 26 June 2023 . 8 March 2024 . "O The Lonely Woods of Upton, The Boys of Fairhill, The Piper of Crossbarry, I hear him still" .
  74. Web site: Oskar Metzke, The Spy who should not have died. 30 April 2016.
  75. Web site: County Tyrone Ireland – An Creagan Visitor Centre. 30 April 2016.
  76. Folk Songs and Ballads Popular in Ireland Vol. 2, edited by John Loesberg. Ossian Publications.
  77. Walton Book of Irish Songs, Vol. 4. Walton's
  78. Book: [[Clancy Brothers]]. 1969. The Irish Songbook. New York. Wise Publications. 0-86001-280-8.
  79. The Colahans – A Remarkable Galway Family, Diarmuid Ó Cearbhaill, Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, volume 54, 2002, pp.121–140.
  80. News: Glanworth You're Calling Me Back Home. The Avondhu .
  81. News: The Raw Bar Remix. RTÉ News .
  82. Book: Walton, Martin. Treasury of Irish Songs and Ballads. Dublin. Walton's Music.
  83. Web site: Hills of Donegal 2. www.countysongs.ie. 17 May 2016.
  84. http://www.paulbrady.com/lyrics/backcentre.asp
  85. Web site: Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears. scalar.usc.edu. 1 Feb 2018.
  86. Web site: Jimmy MacCarthy Discography . https://archive.today/20090106202427/http://irishrock.org/ipnw/bands/maccarthy-jim.html . dead . 2009-01-06 . Irish Punk & New Wave .
  87. Kathleen Hoagland, ed. 1000 Years of Irish Poetry
  88. Dr. Mark F. Ryan,Fenian Memories, Edited by T.F. O'Sullivan, M. H. Gill & Son, LTD, Dublin, 1945
  89. Book: James N. . Healy . Con . O'Donovan . Comic Songs of Cork and Kerry . 1978 . 9780853424987 . Mercier Press.
  90. The Era magazine, 22 February 1863
  91. Web site: Music, songs, composers. ASCAP 1952. 2006. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers . 10 August 2008.
  92. A.L.Lloyd, Folksong in England (London, 1967), pp. 219–220. It was collected in County Cork in 1848 and the singer said he learned it in Dublin in 1790.
  93. http://www.farmersjournal.ie/site/farming-Mixing-farming-with-music-14804.html Farmer's Journal
  94. Early Ballads in Ireland, 1968–1985, edited by Tom Munnelly and Hugh Shields, European Ethinc Oral Traditions
  95. The popular ballads of England and Scotland, edited by Francis Jame Child. 1904 edition. p. 551
  96. Book: Chisman, James A. . Johnny Tom Gleeson : The Author of Bould Thady Quill . Three Spires Press . Cork, Ireland. 1994.
  97. Web site: Waltz . Robert B. . Engle, David G . Donnelly and Cooper . The Traditional Ballad Index . California State University, Fresno . 7 August 2010.
  98. Web site: Mu23-y3:015 . Glasgow Broadside Ballads . University of Glasgow . https://archive.today/20120801214331/http://www.gla.ac.uk/t4/dumfries/files/layer2/glasgow_broadside_ballads/mu23y3015.htm . dead . 1 August 2012 . 15 August 2010 .
  99. Book: Silverman, Jerry . Songs of Ireland: 103 Favourite Irish and Irish-American Songs . Mel Bay Publications . 1991 . Pacific, Missouri . 70 . 978-1-56222-113-3.
  100. Web site: Unveiling ceremony speeches – Nickey Rackard Commemorative Statue. 30 April 2016. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160331131044/http://www.nickeyrackard.com/site/?cat=12. 31 March 2016. dmy-all.
  101. Ballads of an Irish fireside, Vol 1, Walton's Musical Instrument Galleries, Dublin 1951
  102. News: Obituary . George Desmond Hodnett . . 24 September 1990.
  103. Val Doonican Songbook, London, 1965, Francis, Day & Hunter Ltd
  104. Dominic Behan: Ireland Sings (London, 1969)
  105. Web site: Vaughan Williams Memorial Library – Welcome to the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. 30 April 2016.
  106. "Cut the Loaf: Irish Children's Songs," Carmel O Boyle, Mercier Press, 1986
  107. Web site: Weela Weela Walya. Roud Folksong Index (S380526). Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. 19 March 2017.
  108. Web site: Clare People: The Colleen Bawn. 30 April 2016.
  109. Harte, Frank, Songs of Dublin, (ed.), 1978, Gilbert Dalton, Dublin and 1993, Ossian Publications, Cork.
  110. The Blackbird, published by W. A. Pond, New York, 1882.
  111. Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, "Our Goodman"
  112. The Folk Songs of North America: In the English Language, Alan Lomax, Peggy Seeger, Mátyás Seiber, Don Banks, Doubleday, 1960
  113. John K. Casey: The Rising of the Moon, and other Ballads, Songs and Legends
  114. Book: O Lochlann, Colm . 1939. Irish Street Ballads. Dublin. Three Candles Press. 0-330-25316-6.
  115. The Journal of the Folk Song Society, vol. IV, p. 294
  116. News: Quidnunc . An Irishman's Diary . . 9 October 1933 . 4.