Rock Ramblings: A playlist to keep this St. Patrick’s Day rockin’ long into the night

By Medicine Hat News on March 15, 2018.

It’s been a long, cold, snowy, ice-rutty winter — so this year’s St Patrick’s Day (especially being on a Saturday) might be an even bigger pre-spring party! Parties are different things to different people, so whether you’re a handful of pints deep by noon or happy to observe the shenanigans with a Virgin Irish Coffee or two, there’s no denying the proper music will set the mood. We thought we’d make a few suggestions (and you know you’ll be hearing some of these on 105.3 ROCK this weekend).

U2 is obvious. The biggest Irish band. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” pays homage to the 1972 Bloody Sunday incident (28 unarmed civilians were shot by British soldiers in Northern Ireland). For a more uplifting scenario, try “Beautiful Day,” a song that Bono says is about “a man who has lost everything, but finds joy in what he still has.” And the slow, haunting vibe of “With or Without You” might be a good night-ender. Follow that up with another Irish band, The Boomtown Rats and “I Don’t Like Mondays.”

Dropkick Murphys have created an unlikely hockey rink anthem, started in Boston, but many other rinks now also play “I’m Shipping Up to Boston.” Almost any song by these bagpipe-punk rockers would fit the bill. The Pogues are another who could be played all day/night long. What about The Irish Rovers? Songs like “Lily the Pink” and “The Dublin Pub Crawl” have even gotten my dad up to dance the jig. Ahh, for the days when they still had their show on CBC.

You could slow it down with the Muppets’ rendition of “Danny Boy,” obviously made much better when playing the video off YouTube (starring The Swedish Chef, Animal, and Beaker). House of Pain have to be in there for some rockin’ old-school hip hop, I mean their album was called “Shamrocks and Shenanigans.” And even though it’s more ska than Celtic, Buck-o-Nine’s “Irish Drinking Song” seems a fitting addition.

Unfortunately, Ireland lost one of their great vocalists earlier this year with the untimely passing of Delores O’Riordan at the age of just 46. Crank up “Linger” or “Zombie” in her honour.

We wouldn’t be true to our ROCK name if we didn’t suggest some Metallica — their take on the traditional drinking song “Whiskey in the Jar” certainly fits the bill — although, really, you could almost do a full hour of nothing but covers of this Irish classic, also done by The Dubliners and Thin Lizzy just to name a couple.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of Great Big Sea, but if you’re looking for a little CanCon representation “Ordinary Day” will get the pints hoisted high.

“Brown Eyed Girl” is such a classic it could fit almost any occasion (did you know some radio stations banned it back in the day for the line “making love in the green grass”? How times have changed.) Van Morrison’s nickname “The Belfast Lion” makes him a proper fit. For good measure you might also want to toss in one of his lesser known, latter-day ditties “I’m Not Feelin’ It Anymore” — great song.

So whether you wash all of these tunes down with a spiked Shamrock Shake, that new Clamato Verde (yep, green clamato juice is here) or the beer with green food colouring (I’ve never been a big “green beer” guy, but I’ll gladly knock back the pints of Harp, Kilkenny, or Guinness) — have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day and party safely!

Trapper John is on the air 3-7pm weekdays on 105.3 ROCK and 1053rock.ca

11
-10