A Rockin' St. Patrick's Day

For St. Patrick's Day, this is a bit of a departure from the usual format. For your upcoming holiday celebration, here's my Irish Rock playlist. As always, your suggestions are more than welcome.


Damien Dempsey “Wild One”
I first saw/heard Damien Dempsey at a tribute to Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott in New York (15 years ago?). As much as I've like his other work, he's at his very best with this heart-felt and very different version of this Lizzy classic, which I've always believed Lynott wrote about himself.

Thin Lizzy “Fighting”
Black Flag's Henry Rollins has a spoken word CD where he talks at length about Thin Lizzy's dual personalities. There's the hard edge of this tune or “Jailbreak,” songs that are the perfect accompaniment to a hard gym workout. Then, there's the sad beauty of mournful love songs like “Wild One.” There's no other band able to serve both roles so well in an honest way. So many bands go so wrong with the ballads. “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” being but one example.

The Pogues “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah”
A blatent attempt at getting The Pogues into the top of the charts. Didn't work very well, but I still love hearing Shane MacGowan in the attempt.

The Coors “Breathless”
Poor Jim Corr. Part of a million-selling band, but on tour with his sisters. Probably won't be any Rolls-Royces in the swimming pool or TVs out the window with them along.

Glyder “Hazy Shade Of Winter”
There's always the Next Big Thing of Ireland, and Glyder was it for a few weeks last year. They're okay if you're looking for a young rock band who seem to be completely unaware that the 80s, the 90s and the past eight years ever happened. To me, this is their best song (of the three or four I've heard). The Bangles' version is only slightly better.

Wolfstone “Zeto”
If booming power chords mixed with a rocking bag pipe is your thing, you'll love Wolfstone as much as I do.

Thin Lizzy “Roisin Dubh (The Black Rose)”
Lizzy's “Whiskey in the Jar” is almost too obvious a selection for a St. Patrick's rock mix, but “Roisin Dubh” actually outdoes “Whiskey” in fusing big-time rock guitars with traditional elements of Irish folk. As it shifts from a brisk trot to a rapid gallop at the end of its six-minute length, I'm always sprinting on the elliptical machine... no matter how tired I might be.

Billy Bragg “Don't Walk Away Renee”
I saw him open for The Pogues once, so he's Irish enough even if he's not strictly from there. This song will do nothing for your workout, but the line “You have to take the chunky with the smooth, I suppose” has become a key tenet of my philosophy of life. It's also something I repeat to my 10 year old about once a week.

Rory Gallagher “Tatoo'd Lady”
Absolutely brilliant. He left us too soon.

Sinead O'Connor “Nothing Compares To U”
Truth be told, Frank Sinatra was a bully whose condemnation of Sinead's controversial SNL performance was just one added example of him spouting off on subjects he knew nothing about. This song reminds me of a summer day I spent in Norway. Literally every store I walked into that day was playing this song. It all comes flooding back every time I hear it again.

The Undertones “Teenage Kicks”
It's got the sound and feeling of an ancient proto-punk song like “Pushing Too Hard” by The Seeds only more frantic and fresh.

U2 “Bad”
It's about Phil Lynott, you know!

Shane McGowan “Church of The Holy Spook”
I have no idea what this is about. It's Shane at his best, though.

The Cranberries “Salvation”
If you think Delores O'Riordan were somehow lightweight or too poppy for a real rock fan, this song (and a half-dozen others I could cite) will prove you absolutely wrong. Such a wonderful accent, too.

The Saw Doctors “I Useta Love Her”
If I were to make a list of the bands I'd most like to see live, The Saw Doctors would be Top 5 easily. This song has a great line about a guy ogling a girl as she sashays up the church aisle for Communion.

Stiff Little Fingers “Alternative Ulster”
I always loved the name, but never really heard the band until this song came to me via a compilation I picked up at the library. A perfect, three-minute pogo song, and it's got wicked energy that seems to come in equal parts joy and piss-offedness. Plus, it's a more genuine anger than the pose I often sensed behind The Sex Pistols.

The Pogues Featuring Kristy McColl “Fairytale of New York”
Too good a song to be reserved only for Christmas. Make it a St. Patty's tradition, too.

Shane McGowan & The Popes “Victoria”

Wolfstone “Gillies”
Six-and-a-half-minutes long, this is Wolfestone's “Orion,” it's “Fire On High.” A wonderful rock song with a bag pipe carrying the melody.

Tim Bragg “Ode To Phil Lynott”
A beautifully rendered tribute to Phil Lynott

The Cranberries “Zombie”

Eric Bell “Irish Boy”
A beautiful autobigraphical ballad by Thin Lizzy's first guitarist (the one you hear on “Whiskey In The Jar.”

The Boomtown Rates “I Don't Like Mondays”
I grew up in a time when nobody had ever heard of a kid going down to the schoolyard with a gun and shooting everyone. Once it happened, it was so unprecedented the Rats wrote a hit song about the girl with the gun and her lame explanation. The song was a scandal in itself. It all seems 100 years ago now.

Hothouse Flowers “Don't Go”
Back in the late '80s, there was only one band slavishly imitating U2. They didn't make as much of a career of it as Coldplay has, I'll take the original copyists over the late-comers any day.

Dropkick Murphys “I'm Shipping Up To Boston.”
There are so many great Irish bands, I'm not sure why we need Irish-American ones. If we do, this is my favorite.