Far Out 40: The ultimate Irish anthems playlist
Saint Patrick’s Day has arrived once again, which normally signals the excuse for most people in the United Kingdom and Ireland to get as drunk as is humanly possible. The Guinness taps of pubs across this part of the world will be flowing all day and night, matched, of course, with a few tots of Jameson’s or Bushmill’s whiskey.
As with many of our favourite celebratory days of the year, Saint Paddy’s Day takes its origin from religion. The day is always held on the 17th of March, which is the traditional death date of the foremost patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick, and it was made into an official Christian feast day back in the early 17th Century.
To celebrate St Patrick’s Day 2023, we’ve compiled a playlist of the best musical offerings the Emerald Isle has ever given us. We’ve got the likes of the two best Irish rock bands of all time, U2 and Thin Lizzy, led by the inimitable frontmen Bono and Phil Lynott, although the two certainly differ in their approach to lyric writing.
Elsewhere, we see the beloved typically Irish bands The Pogues and The Dubliners, who bring an undeniable sense of Irishness to the proceedings, leaning on the old folk songs of yore. Stiff Little Fingers meanwhile brought a punk sensibility to Ireland, and Sinead O’Connor topped the charts with a track borrowed from Prince.
There is, of course, room for new acts from Ireland to state their respective cases, and we’ve picked out Fontaines D.C. and Just Mustard to be thrown into the mix. Van Morrison is another truly legendary Irishman, so be sure to find plenty of his best songs in our selection, too.
Check out the complete playlist below.
The ultimate Irish anthems playlist:
- U2 – ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’
- Fontaines D.C. – ‘Jackie Down The Line’
- Thin Lizzy – ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’
- My Bloody Valentine – ‘Sometimes’
- U2 – ‘Pride’
- Passengers – ‘Your Blue Room’
- Ash – ‘Girls From Mars’
- Fontaines D.C. – ‘Boys In The Better Land’
- The Dubliners & The Pogues – ‘The Irish Rover’
- The Cranberries – ‘Dreams’
- The Pogues – ‘Dirty Old Town’
- Van Morrison – ‘Into the Mystic’
- My Bloody Valentine – ‘When you Sleep’
- Stiff Little Fingers – ‘At the Edge’
- The Waterboys – ‘Fisherman’s Blues’
- Just Mustard – ‘Deaf’
- The Corrs – ‘Runaway’
- The Cranberries – ‘Linger’
- Sinead O’Connor – ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’
- Gary Moore & Phil Lynott – ‘Parisienne Walkway’
- Stiff Little Fingers – ‘Alternative Ulster’
- Rory Gallagher – ‘I Fall Apart’
- Thin Lizzy – ‘Jailbreak’
- Van Morrison – ‘Moondance’
- Enya – ‘Orinoco Flow’
- Rory Gallagher – ‘A Million Miles Away’
- Dropkick Murphys – ‘I’m Shipping Up To Boston’
- U2 – ‘One’
- The Dubliners – ‘Raglan Road’
- The Waterboys – ‘We Will Not Be Lovers’
- The Boomtown Rats – ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’
- The Undertones – ‘Teenage Kicks’
- Ronnie Drew & Shane McGowan – ‘The Rare Auld Mountain Dew’
- Them – ‘Gloria’
- Whipping Boy – ‘When We Were Young’
- The Stunning – ‘Brewing Up a Storm’
- Microdisney – ‘Birthday Girl’
- Van Morrison – ‘Brown Eyed Girl’
- Hothouse Flowers – ‘Don’t Go’
- Phil Lynott – ‘Old Town’
