Tag Archives: St Patrick’s Day

Just Because I’m Irish

It’s Ireland’s national holiday today, a day off for many who live on the island and a day to celebrate for the many more who live in the USA, Britain, Australia and around the world. Jonathan Richman isn’t Irish, but the Bostonian manages a decent enough Irish accent on his duet with the actress Julia Sweeney from his 1995 album, You Must Ask the Heart. In the song, Julia tries to explain to Jonathan that just because she has Irish ancestry, it doesn’t necessarily mean that she knows the location of every Irish bar in Boston. Flogging Molly are an Irish-American rock band who formed in California in the late 90s and are about to release their fifth studio album this year. The full title of the song below is (No More) Paddy’s Lament and it’s taken from their fourth album, Float (2008). Dublin’s Whipping Boy released three albums between 1992 and 2000. Heartworm from 1995 remains one of the best albums ever released by an Irish act and was the only one I had by the band until I picked up their self-titled third album in a charity shop last week. That’s where I got the Velvet Underground-influenced Pat the Almighty, a song that may or may not be about one of our patron saint’s descendants. Happy St Patrick’s Day to anyone who’s Irish or just loves the country and its people

Just Because I’m Irish – Jonathan Richman with Julia Sweeney

Paddy’s Lament – Flogging Molly

Pat The Almighty – Whipping Boy

Image taken from here

Greetings From Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore


I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy St Patrick’s Day. My own name is Pat, my late father’s was Paddy and my youngest nephew is called Patrick. So, here are a few songs from Irish singers about Pats, Paddys and Patricks as well as one “sung” by a Pat. I’m planning to spend the day absorbing myself in Irish culture. I’m not sure exactly what that’s going to entail, but I’ll let you know how it turns out


Uncle Pat – Ash

Poor Paddy – The Pogues

Paddy Rolling Stone – Shane MacGowan

Rock and Roll Paddy – Shane MacGowan

Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore – Paul Brady

Paddy’s Lament – Sinéad O’Connor

St Patrick’s Day – Damien Dempsey

The Jumbo Breakfast Roll – Pat Shortt

Níl Aon Tinteáin Mar Do Thinteáin Féin*


Seachtain na Gaeilge is taking place in Ireland this week as part of the annual St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. According to its website, “Seachtain na Gaeilge is a non-profit organisation, which promotes the use of Irish language and culture both at home and abroad within a two-week festival held in March every year”. The literal translation of “Seachtain na Gaeilge” is “Irish Week” but in Ireland the concept of time is quite fluid and arbitrary. This year’s celebration of Irish culture began on the 5th of March and will finish on Paddy’s Day. Now, your definition of what constitutes Irish culture depends upon whether you consider yourself to be Irish or not and also upon where you call home. For example, many people who’ve never been to the Emerald Isle will possess an image of the country that has been constructed by Hollywood and the tourist industry. This Ireland is full of green fields, rolling hills and winding roads. The people that populate it are as untamed as their surroundings and filled with Celtic mysticism and Catholic guilt. The men drink far too much alcohol and this usually leads to drunken brawling. The women are just as feisty but are seen as being more religious than their male counterparts and given to having lots of babies

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The Simpsons Love to See You Smile

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This St Patrick’s Day, Sky One screens a special Irish edition of their animated sitcom, The Simpsons. For the first time, this latest instalment will be premiered in the UK and Ireland before being shown in the USA.  The episode, entitled In the Name of the Grandfather, sees Homer and his dad coming to Ireland to run a pub. I’m sure that a few leprechauns will appear as well as cameos from Irish personalities. It seems that animated versions of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová will turn up and Colm Meaney will voice one of the characters.

The Simpsons has been going for nearly 20 years and I used to watch the early seasons and have seen some episodes over the last few years. I watched the film version and it wasn’t bad, considering the difficulty of translating 20 minute storylines into a full-length script. It takes a while to create each new episode, which means that this one will be slightly out-of-date. It was written prior to our current economic woes, so it will comment on the Ireland of the Celtic Tiger. Also, I understand that the quality of the series has faded somewhat, but I’ll be tuning in for a bit of blarney.

And now, a couple of Oscar-winning duets. To celebrate the appearance of Glen and Markéta, I’ve included the title track of their 2006 album, The Swell Season. This was a slow burner, but its songs inspired the film Once, which was built around the songs from the album. The film was also a slow burner, but it built up a following in the States and it was great to see them win the 2008 Academy Award for Best Song with Falling Slowly

The Swell Season – Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová

In 1990, Randy Newman received one of his many Best Original Song Oscar nominations for I Love to See You Smile, taken from the film Parenthood. Later that year, a duet between Homer and Marge appeared on the album, The Simpsons Sing the Blues. This album also contains Homer’s wonderful version of Born Under a Bad Sign and even two hit singles, Do the Bartman and Deep, Deep Trouble. Have a listen to Homer and Marge singing I Love to See You Smile and, hopefully, the episode will bring a few smiles to Irish eyes

I Love to See You Smile – The Simpsons

UPDATE: This Irish instalment of The Simpsons was quite diverting. It took a while to get going and we were already about a third of the way into the show when Homer decided to take his dad to Ireland. Then the leprechauns appeared. And the singing. And the dancing. It was quite funny in places, particularly when it poked fun at certain aspects of Irish culture. There was a brief musical interlude that was lacking in musical quality, but made up for it with a witty lyric. The parts that worked best were those that had a more subtle touch,  usually appearing as visual gags in the background. Thankfully, the cameos were kept to a minimum and Glen and Markéta’s appearance was brief, albeit amusing. Overall, it had its fair share of Paddywhackery, but contained enough authenticity for Irish viewers. Even though it’s a brand new episode, an Irish audience would find many of the references to be outdated. Still, American fans of The Simpsons will most likely enjoy it, even if their knowledge of Irish culture is as rudimentary as their knowledge of culture in general