TOMORROW? WELL, TOMORROW 'TIS A GREAT DAY FOR THE IRISH

St. Patrick's Day -- March 17th -- honors the patron saint of Ireland and is celebrated on the reputed anniversary of his death.  It takes less of a religious aspect in America where we honor St. Patrick and all things Irish with corned beef and cabbage, soda bread, the wearing of the green, parades, and green beer.  And, of course, music, both traditional and modern -- some of which was never traditionally Irish but has been coopted over the years.

I can proudly claim a smidgeon of Irish blood from my maternal grandfather, a red-headed Irisher named Bernard Francis Ford.  (The rest of my family was boringly Yankee, with a dash of French f rom my paternal grandmother, Corrine Fecteau.)  Kitty's family, however, was blazingly Irish on her father's side.  Her grandfather, John Keane (please get the pronunciation right; it's KANE, not KEENE), was one of three brothers, all of whom secretly absconded from County Cork on the same evening for reasons best not explained; one went to Canada, one went to Australia, and the third -- Kitty's grandfather -- to America.  (A  number of years ago I actually met one of the Australian cousins, a charming priest who pronounced the family name KINE (Australian-style).

Needless to say, I have been inundated with Irish music all my life, and even more so after marrying Kitty.  Some of it is rousing, some of it outrageous, some heart-breakingly poetic, some fiercely patriotic, and some just plain maudlin...and I love it all.  Note that much of Irish music is about fighting and drinking, which is probably as it should be; romance often seems to come in a distant third.  **sigh**

"When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" -- Kate Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiG9cfsHQjE

"My Wild Irish Rose" -- Chauncey Olcott

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q63NgVClfkA

"Danny Boy" -- The Leprechaun Brothers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q63NgVClfkA

"The Wild Rover" -- The Dubliners

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_4KboYi40I

"Gentle Annie" -- Tommy Makem (few have combined poetry with music as well as Makem)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrIXPQ-Vspk

"Red Is the Rose" -- Liam Clancy and Tommy Makem (one of my absolute favorite songs, perhaps because it reminds me so much of Kitty)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KPfB_PRYlY

"Four New Fields" -- Tommy Makem & Liam Clancy (perhaps THE Irish patriotic song)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d30rpdvtiA

"The Rising of the Moon"  -- Nia Casaidigh (a classic Irish rebellion song)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0zBlHlnR4Y

"Kevin Barry" -- Sean Brady (about an Irish martyr)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN7FxDNxRXo

"The Rose of Tralee" -- John McCormack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjhVYn_Y9M

"Galway Bay" -- Bing Crosby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt7NdiFeYJA

"Did Your Mother Come from Ireland?" -- Gracie Fields

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtoR6D9W124

"Sweet Rosie O'Grady" -- Maude Nugent (who wrote the song in 1896)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv99NelFj7o

"Harrigan" -- George M. Cohen (who was American as can be, but never forgot his Irish roots)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmPBl-XbM-8

"McNamara's Band" -- The Irish Rovers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=101Y0sh2Lfg

"Who Threw the Overalls in M0rs. Murphy's Chowder?" -- The Maxwell Girls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES_Mb43WCUg

"Black Velvet Band" -- Celtic Thunder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZqlrLTBMjg

"I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" -- The Irish Tenors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvC1zaxRM8o

"The Wild Colonial Boy" -- Barley Bree

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6lcdFqz-Xw

"Dirty Old Town" -- The Pogues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s11BuatTuXk

"Off to Dublin in the Green" -- The Dubliners

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8uiHsk2asw

"When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich -- Ella Logan (from Finian's Rainbow)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRoA3AIm1RI&list=PLm2VYZ13BllCE6afI-8vw366_0NwCn1K3&index=11

May your thoughts be as glad as the shamrocks, may your heart be as light as a song, may each day bring you bright, happy hours, that stay with you all the year long...