In honour of St. Patrick’s day, this week Tony and I took a trip to the emerald isle! Ireland is famously a country of music and poetry, and has consistently punched above its weight – as far as population is concerned – in contributing to Popular music, and Eurovision… This week we took a view of all things Irish, including folk, fiddles, funk, and Fontaines D.C..
Paul Brady & Thin Lizzy
Arthur McBride is a folk song (Roud 2355) of Irish origin, and is an anti-recruitment song. The song describes a violent altercation between a narrator, his titular counsin or friend Arthur, and a British recuriting sergeant. Paul Brady, a singer-songwriter and musician from Strabane, Northern Ireland, first recorded Arthur McBride in 1976, and it is Brady’s reccording that is considered to be the definitive version. He adapted a longer version from Grover’s A Heritage of Songs, which he found while touring America with close-harmony Irish group The Johnstons in 1972-3. Later notable versions include those by Boby Dylan (1992), Mipso (2020), and Paul Kelly (2021).
Thin Lizzy included Sarah on their ninth album Black Rose: A Rock Legend (1979). The song was written by the band’s lead singer and bassist Phil Lynott and guitarist Gary Moore about Lynott‘s newborn daughter, and is not connected to an earlier Lizzy song entiteld Sarah from their second album Shades of a Blue Orphanage (1972), which was written for Lynott’s grandmother. The latter Sarah was recorded at Morgan Studios in Willesden by Lynott and Moore, with additional drums from Mark Nauseef; the other two members of Thin Lizzy – guitarist Scott Gorham and drummer Brian Downey – did not play on the song. The song was never performed live by Thin Lizzy, but was adopted as a live favourite by Lynott’s post-Lizzy project Grand Slam. It reached number 24 in the UK Singles Chart, and number 26 in Ireland.
Enya & The Corrs
Enya released Anywhere Is as the lead single of her fourth studio album The Memory of Trees. The album was Enya‘s first to be recorded entirely in Ireland, covers themes including Irish and Druid mythology, the idea of home, journeys, religion, dreams, and love, and contains lyrics sung in English, Irish (Gaeilge), Latin, and Spanish. The lyrics to Anywhere Is are in English, and were written by Irish writer, poet, and longtime Enya-collaborater Roma Ryan. Enya was raised in the Irish-speaking region of Gweedore on the Atlantic coast of Donegal, and remains the best-selling Irish solo artist of all time.
Breathless by The Corrs was released as the first single from their third album In Blue (2000). The song was co-written by Robert John “Mutt” Lange, who has also worked with Shania Twain, Bryan Adams, and Def Leppard, and went to number one in the Czech Republic, Finland, Poland, and the U.K., where it remains their only chart-topper to date. Breathless also peaked at number 34 in the U.S. (their only U.S. top-40 hit), and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. The Corrs are an Irish family band made up of siblings Andrea, Sharon, Caroline, and Jim Corr from Dundalk in County Louth, and to date have sold over 40 million albums worldwide.
Hozier & Fontaines D.C.
Work Song is the fifth single from Hozier‘s 2014 self-titled debut album, and was co-written and co-produced by Rob Kirwan. It is a gospel-blues-influenced song that draws on the cultural legacy of “work songs”; a piece of music closely connected to a form of work which is either sung during that work or takes the form of work as its subject. Work songs are often protest songs, and are historically linked both to African-Americans during the slave trade and sailors (in the form of sea shanties). Hozier‘s eponymous debut album has been certified 6x platinum in Ireland, and contains the global hit Take Me To Church that propelled the County Wicklow native to fame.
Fontaines D.C. released Starburster as the lead single from their fourth studio album Romance (2024). The single was the band’s first entry on the UK Singles Chart (peaking at number 57), and receieved critical acclaim and placed on several publications’ year-end lists including Business Insider, Consequence, The Guardian, The Independent, and NME. Starburster was nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance at the 67th Grammy Awards, and featured as part of the official soundtrack for EA Sports FC 25. The song was inspired by a panic attack that lead singer Grian Chatten suffered at London’s St Pancras Station. Fontaines D.C. are and Irish band formed in Dublin in 2014, and took their name from Johnny Fontane – a fictional singer and movie star (and godson of Vito Corleone) in The Godfather. The “D.C.” in their name stands for Dublin City.
Boadicea
Our soundslike this week took a look at the sample history of Enya‘s 1987 song Boadicea, which has featured on songs by The Fugees, Crimson Glory, and Mario Winnans…
Irish Quiz
For our quiz this week, you heard famous Irish songs (backwards) – guess the artist and song!
As always, find the show and blog at joebennett.net/5live, with occasional Instagram extras at @joebennettmusicology. With a new show comes a new Spotify mega-playlist, which contains all songs featured on the show:
And you can still listen to our old mega-playlist here.
- Words: Joe Bennett, John Pierce O’Reilly
- Audio production: Joe Bennett, Rafi Waters
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