The Top Lyrical Irish Songs

Since I grew up in a double Irish household (emigrees on both sides of my family had traveled to the US to escape the Great Potato Famine), we were taught many, many tunes that originated in the Emerald Isle. When I was a child, my parents watched The Lawrence Welk show faithfully. Every St. Patrick's Day the in-house Irish Tenor, Joe Fenney, would serenade them with one or more of these songs. An Irish Tenor has a particularly lovely upper vocal range. My mother would practically swoon when she heard Joe Feeney sing.

At my mother's wake, she had the sheet music for "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" set up in her coffin. That's devotion.

#1-"When Irish Eyes are Smiling"
Both the tune and the lyrics are lilting and lyrical. The tempo is very close to a waltz feeling. "When Irish Eyes are Smiling, Sure 'tis like a morn in spring; with the lilt of Irish Laughter, you can hear the angels sing". Please note that humility is not a hallmark of Irish songs. In my experience, only Texans seem to have more ego about where they are from and who they are. Anyway, this is also my favorite since it is at least a little upbeat. Many lyrical Irish songs are melancholy.

#2-"Oh Danny Boy"
Here is the perfect melancholy Irish song, often heard at funerals. "Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling". I wondered about those "pipes". In my younger days I thought they meant bagpipes - which I thought were exclusively Scottish. Not so. The Royal Hibernians, a traditional Irish musical group that can be found in any decent St. Patrick's Day Parade, wear kilts and play the bagpipes and drums. The "pipes" can also be the pan flute - a high pitched, difficult to play ancient instrument with a haunting sound, made better-known by James Galway.