Happy St. Paddy’s Day!

Just popping in to wish you all a Happy St. Paddy’s Day with an offering of some of my favorite Irish folk songs as an apology for having been so absent lately. Things have been crazy, and I’ve been dealing with some personal and family stuff, and blah blah blah, excuses, excuses. So here! Irish Music!

First and Foremost, we have The Holy Ground by the Dubliners’ (my favorite Irish folk band, like EVER).

And next, another Dubliners’ song – The Rising of the Moon, which is a song that recounts a battle during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.*

And I’ll leave you with one with a more local twist – The Sons of the Molly Maguires by the Irish Balladeers (although my favorite version is the Ghost of the Molly Maguires by Hair of the Dog, but I couldn’t find it on Youtube – it’s available on Spotify though, so check it out!). The Molly Maguires were a secret society in Ireland and the USA that are best known for their (violent) involvement in labor activism in the Northeastern Pennsylvania Anthracite Coal regions. Their exact legacy is debated by historians, with the group being viewed as domestic terrorists at worst, and working class activist heroes in a time of increased violence at best. You can read more about them here (Wikipedia page), here (explorepahistory.com), and here.*

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

*You know I couldn’t let this post go without at least one History tidbit – it’s one of the reasons I love Irish music so much!