An Irish List

As daughter of an Irish musician, and with many trips to Ireland - and therefore many pubs - under my belt, I feel I know a thing or two about Irish music. So I've compiled a list of "must-have" Irish songs. They're not all drinking songs, some are very common, some less so. As a disclaimer, most of the ones I consider "classic" are ones I grew up listening to my dad play in The Flying Cows of Ventry, his band with two of his brothers.

1. Black Velvet Band

2. Black and Tan

3. Tim Finnegan's Wake

4. Irish Rover

5. Wild Rover

6. Roddy McCorley

7. A Nation Once Again

8. Whiskey in the Jar

9. The Old Triangle

10. Rising of the Moon

11. Seven Drunken Nights

12. Rare Oul' Times

13. From Clare to Here

14. Town I Loved So Well

15. Old Dun Cow (MacIntyre)

The Clancy Brothers, the Dubliners, and Paddy Reilly are the most famous for these songs and also the most traditional. But if you're looking for a more contemporary Irish, the Dropkick Murpheys, the Brobdingnagian Bards, or Metallica's version of Whiskey in the Jar.

Most of these can be found on one of my dad's two CD's, and are able to be purchased via iTunes. iTunes is great because you can just search for the title of the song, listen to 5 versions of the song, and see which you like best.

I could probably continue my list for ever and ever, but 15 seems to be a good play list.