Just Irish Music

Rain On Kilmainham – A Ballad for the Fallen of 1916 In the grey hours of the morning on May 3rd, 1916, the stone walls of Kilmainham Gaol bore witness to something Ireland would never forget — the execution of the leaders of the Easter Rising. No cheers. No fanfare. Just rain tapping gently on rusted gates, as if the sky itself mourned what was about to unfold. “Rain On Kilmainham” is not just a song. It’s a **ballad woven from silence, sorrow, and the unyielding spirit of rebellion. Every word carries the echo of a name once called in the yard. Every image remembers what so many were meant to forget. This cinematic tribute reimagines the final moments of Pearse, Connolly, and their comrades through a Film Noir lens — stark shadows, cold stone, the chill of inevitability. But within that darkness, there is light: candles in cell windows, flags flying low in defiance, the whisper of rebel lore passed from child to child. From Cell to Execution Yard The opening scenes show the pri...

The Echo of Sixteen — A Ballad Remembering the 1916 Rising The Echo of Sixteen is an original Irish ballad that honours the leaders, volunteers, and ordinary citizens who stood against the British Empire in the Easter Rising of 1916. It is a song set not in myth, but in the real streets of Dublin — where history shifted in smoke, blood, and fire. The ballad opens with the city stirring to rebellion in Easter Week. From the soot-blackened tenements to the granite pillars of the General Post Office , the Citizen Army and Irish Volunteers raised the green flag and claimed the right of a nation to exist. The song invokes the names that still command reverence — Patrick Pearse , James Connolly , Thomas MacDonagh , Joseph Plunkett — but it never forgets the unnamed men, the young messengers, the women who ran dispatches under fire, and the civilians caught in the crossfire. They were the people who, in that moment, believed Ireland could be free. The verses echo the devastation of t...

  Finnegan’s Wake — A Comic Masterpiece of Irish Wit Finnegan’s Wake is one of Ireland’s most beloved and light-hearted ballads — a song that turns tragedy into laughter. It tells the story of Tim Finnegan, a Dublin labourer with a fondness for whiskey, who falls from a ladder to his apparent death. At his wake, the mourners drink, fight, and spill whiskey over his body — only for Finnegan to spring back to life with a roar for another drop. Originally written in the mid-1800s, the song became a favourite in Irish pubs and music halls across the world. Its chorus, “ Whack fol the dah! ”, captures the humour and resilience that run deep in Irish storytelling — the ability to face hardship with a grin and a glass raised high. Finnegan’s Wake reminds us that in Irish music, even death can be outwitted by laughter, community, and LYRICS Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin Street A gentle Irishman mighty odd He’d a beautiful brogue so rich and sweet To rise in the world he carried a ho...

This song is about the crisis in Dublin today. “The Cold Streets of Dublin” is a traditional-style Irish ballad that gives voice to those too often ignored — the men, women, and children living without a home in Ireland’s capital. While tourists stroll Grafton Street and the lights of new development glow across the Liffey, thousands sleep rough in alleyways, doorways, or overcrowded hostels. This song tells their story — quietly, honestly, and without judgment. Homelessness in Dublin has reached alarming levels. As of 2024, official figures show over 13,000 people experiencing homelessness across Ireland, with the majority concentrated in the capital. Behind those numbers are real people — young people escaping violence, older men left behind by the system, families forced into hotels because of rent hikes and housing shortages. The reasons are many, but the outcome is the same: cold streets, long nights, and a society that walks past. This ballad was written not just to lament, b...