Just Irish Music

The Night Before Larry Was Stretched — A Gallows Ballad of Wit, Grit, and Irish Black Humour “The Night Before Larry Was Stretched” is one of Ireland’s most unique and compelling traditional ballads. A product of early 19th-century Dublin street balladry, this song stands apart from the usual sorrowful laments of Irish rebel tradition. Instead of weeping over a doomed hero, it gives us Larry — a condemned rogue, full of wit and mischief, facing his final hours with a mix of gallows humour, bravado, and undeniable charm. The ballad is set in a prison cell on the eve of Larry’s execution. His friends have come to visit, to drink, smoke, and say farewell. What follows is a vivid, humorous, and strangely human portrait of a man who knows the rope is ready for him at dawn — yet refuses to let despair take hold. He jokes, he drinks, he reminisces. Larry isn’t just a prisoner; he’s a symbol of the Irish spirit — defiant even in the face of death. This version remains true to the tone of t...

Lanigan’s Ball is one of the liveliest and most comical songs in the Irish folk tradition — a whirlwind of music, dancing, and pure mischief. Written in the 1850s by the Irish songwriter Dion Boucicault , it tells the story of young Lanigan , a proud Dubliner who throws a grand party after returning home from a trip abroad. Determined to impress the neighbours, he “borrowed the company’s hall” and set out to host the greatest dance the town had ever seen. The song is set to a fast, playful rhythm that captures the chaos of the evening — fiddles flying, feet stamping, tempers flaring, and laughter echoing through the hall. As the verses unfold, the guests dance wildly, fights break out, bottles clink, and poor Lanigan’s grand night spirals into hilarious bedlam. By dawn, the once-fancy gathering has turned into a tangle of bruised egos and broken furniture, yet no one regrets a moment of it. Like many Irish comic ballads, Lanigan’s Ball carries more than humour — it celebrates t...