Just Irish Music

“ Whiskey in the Jar ” is one of the most beloved and widely performed traditional Irish folk songs, immortalized by generations of singers from the hills of Kerry to the pubs of Dublin — and far beyond. Known for its rollicking melody and defiant lyrics, the song tells the tale of a highwayman who robs a military officer and is later betrayed by his lover. Sometimes set around Kilgary Mountain (or Kilmagenny, depending on the version), the story follows the classic theme of rebellion, romance, and betrayal. The protagonist, often referred to as a bold Irish rover or a highwayman, steals gold from a British officer — typically “Captain Farrell” — only to be turned in by his sweetheart, Molly or Jenny. In many renditions, her betrayal leads to his capture or death, though some versions allow him to escape. What makes “Whiskey in the Jar” endure is its infectious chorus and the blend of humour, tragedy, and pride. The title line — “Musha ring dum a doo dum a da” — is instantly recogni...

The Maid of Mourne Shore — An Irish Ballad of Love, Loss & Departure The Maid of Mourne Shore is one of Ireland’s most tender and bittersweet traditional ballads — a song of unreturned love and exile set along the beautiful, windswept coast of County Down. Its verses combine the quiet poetry of the countryside with the ache of separation that echoes through so many Irish songs. The story follows a young man who wanders the hills and dales by Mourne’s fair shore , remembering days of youth spent fishing and courting. When he visits his beloved to ask her heart, she gently turns him away — her promise already given to a sailor boy across the sea. Though the rejected lover warns that the sea may take her sailor, she stands firm in loyalty: “If the sea proves false to me, no other lad I’ll enjoy.” The song then shifts from affection to farewell. The young man bids goodbye to Lord Edmund’s leafy groves and the linen greens of the Mourne countryside — scenes of peace and industr...

Who is Ireland's Enemy..Not Russia, France nor Austria — Ireland’s Cry of Wrath and Memory Not Russia, France nor Austria is one of the fiercest patriotic poems ever composed in the Irish tradition — a thunderous indictment of England’s centuries of conquest and cruelty in Ireland. Written in the voice of the dispossessed and the dead, it spares no detail and softens no truth. The poem begins with a striking declaration: Ireland’s suffering did not come from distant empires. “ Not Russia, France nor Austria — they forged for her no chains. ” Her destroyer was closer to home. Across each verse, the poet calls out the long litany of wrongs: the murder of Shane O’Neill , the poisoning of Owen Roe , the slaughter of priests, children, and innocents, and the burning of villages from Clare to Donegal . It’s a roll call of grief stretching over “twice four hundred years,” until, as the poet writes, “every blade of Irish grass was wet with blood and tears.” Yet behind the rage lie...

The Vow of Tipperary — A Defiant Ballad of Ireland’s Rebel Heart The Vow of Tipperary is one of the great rebel anthems of 19th-century Ireland — a proud declaration of independence born from betrayal and courage. Its verses call out from Carrick streets to the Shannon shore , summoning the sons of Tipperary to stand as one and cast off the yoke of empire. The song opens as a rallying cry that sweeps across the Irish landscape — from Slievenamon to Galtymore , from Longford Pass to Ballindeary — every mountain and field answering the call. It unites a people long divided by poverty and politics beneath one simple, sacred promise: “Never to list in British ranks.” In just a few verses, the ballad captures centuries of struggle. Ireland’s young men had fought in Britain’s wars — on European battlefields and distant colonies — shedding their blood for a crown that rewarded them only with tyrant laws and eviction from their own homes. When they returned to Tipperary, they found h...

Gráinne Mhaol’s Lament — A Satirical Visual Chronicle of Ireland’s Occupation Gráinne Mhaol’s Lament re-imagines the life and legend of Gráinne Ní Mháille (Grace O’Malley) — Ireland’s fearless “Pirate Queen” of the 16th century — through the lens of satire and sorrow. Rather than the usual heroic ballad, this modern lament becomes a visual and musical chronicle of Ireland’s long occupation: proud, defiant, and bitterly aware of the cost of resistance. Born into the chieftain family of Umhaill in County Mayo, Gráinne commanded ships and men at a time when women were expected to obey rather than lead. She traded, raided, and fought to preserve Irish autonomy along the western coast while Elizabethan forces tightened their grip on the land. In legend she became the embodiment of Irish defiance — a woman who would parley with a queen yet never bow to one. In Gráinne Mhaol’s Lament , that defiance is refracted through art and irony. The song and imagery weave together scenes of bu...

Skibbereen — An Irish Famine Ballad of Loss, Exile & Eviction Skibbereen stands among the most heartbreaking of all Irish ballads — a father’s story told to his son about why they left their homeland. It is a song born from the Great Famine (An Gorta Mór) of the 1840s, when hunger, eviction, and exile scarred every parish in Ireland. In the ballad, a young man asks his father why they now live in exile. The old man answers with quiet pain: their home in Skibbereen, County Cork was destroyed, their crops failed, and their people starved while landlords seized the land. Soldiers came “to drive us from our home,” and his wife — the boy’s mother — died in the chaos that followed. Every verse deepens the tragedy. The father’s memories are not just personal; they are the voice of an entire nation cast adrift. The famine years saw more than a million Irish people die, and another million forced to sail for America, never to return. Through the song’s haunting refrain — “And th...