U2 frontman Bono picks his favourite Irish songs
Whatever the world thinks about the marmite band of U2, it’s an undeniable fact that Bono is one of the most well-known and successful Irish musicians in history. His face and his songs have become synonymous with his homeland, with the sounds and sights of Dublin regularly finding their way into his music. Ireland also infiltrates his music taste as he shared a playlist of his all-time favourite songs from Irish artists.
“In Ireland everyone treats us for what we are. Human beings, musicians and Irish,” Bono once said. As a band, they remain forever enamoured with their home country. Even now, as some of the most famous musicians on the planet, they still keep their roots firmly planted in Dublin, returning home to Ireland after every huge world tour. “I always want to come home to Dublin. This is my home,” he said.
“I speak for the others when I say we are proud to be Irish,” he added. This is a common thread weaves between the work of so many Irish acts. Even when criticising the social or political state of their home, artists like Sinead O’Connor, the Pogues and The Cranberries still imbued their music with the beloved traditions and sounds of their home, honouring its culture. Even modern acts like CMAT or Fontaines D.C keep a distinct Irishness in their work, keeping their place of origin close to their musical heart.
Bono shows that in his music taste, too, as his playlists are packed out with Irish acts, brimming with talent from his homeland. For a relatively small island, both the Republic and Northern Ireland have created more than their fair share of stars. With each year, a new star seems to burst from the various local scenes through the many counties as if talent is in the water over there. Sure, there are the legends, but even today, Ireland is at the forefront of fresh ones to watch.
Bono is plugged into that. When building his ‘Full Irish’ playlist for RTE he struggled to not include “everything from the Fontaines”. He also includes tracks from other up and comers like The Murder Capital, Soak, Sorcha Richardson and his son’s band, Inhaler.
He also shouts out the artist who is perhaps Ireland’s biggest and brightest recent export into the world of global stardom. “What about Hozier,” Bono said, claiming to be utterly taken by surprise by the artist’s power and talent. “He lives down the road, the quietest storm that blew into town,” he said, picking out ‘Take Me To Church’ as one of his essential Irish hits.
But alongside tracks from new artists, he naturally had to include some of Ireland’s most legendary children as he says he’s always “going back to the great Shane MacGowen, it’s timeless.” He also gives nods to idols like, “Van Morrison. Thin Lizzy. Damien Rice. Glen Hansard.”
With tracks from other acts like The Undertones, The Dubliners, Snow Patrol, The Boomtown Rats and plenty more Irish acts from all eras, genres and scales, Bono truly covers the whole spectrum of Irish talent.
Bono’s favourite Irish songs:
- Horslips – ‘Dearg Doom’
- Van Morrison – ‘Gloria’
- Gilbert O’Sullivan – ‘Get Down’
- Thin Lizzy – ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’
- The Undertones – ‘Teenage Kicks’
- Stiff Little Fingers – ‘Alternative Ulster’
- The Boomtown Rats – ‘Neon Heart’
- The Radiators – ‘Songs of the Faithful Departed’
- The Blades – ‘Downmarket’
- Sinead O’Connor – ‘Nothing Compares 2U’
- Virgin Prunes- ‘Caucasian Walk’
- The Golden Horde – ‘Friends In Time’
- Ash – ‘Shining Light’
- Aslan – ‘This Is (Live at Vicar Street 1999)’
- Something Happens – ‘Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello’
- The Pogues – ‘A Rainy Night in Soho’
- Clannad – ‘Theme from Harry’s Game’
- Christy Moore – ‘North and South of the River’
- The Dubliners – ‘Springhill Mining Disaster’
- The Cranberries – ‘Linger’
- Republic of Loose – ‘Comeback Girl’
- Glen Hansard & Market Irglova – ‘Falling Slowly’
- Hothouse Flowers – ‘Love Don’t Work This Way’
- Andrea Corr – ‘Time Enough for Tears’
- Damien Rice – ‘I Don’t Want to Change You’
- Hozier – ‘Take Me to Church’
- Dermot Kennedy – ‘Outnumbered’
- Snow Patrol – ‘Run’
- SOAK – ‘Everybody Loves You’
- Sorcha Richardson – ‘Ruin Your Night’
- Fontaines D.C. – ‘Boys In The Better Land’
- The Murder Capital – ‘More Is Less’
- Inhaler – ‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’
- Imelda May – ‘Black Tears’
- Picture This – ‘Take My Hand’
- Scary Éire – ‘The Dole Q’
- Elma Orkestra & Ryan Vail – ‘Am I Sad?’
- Jacknife Lee – ‘I’m Getting Tired with Beth Ditto and Earl St. Clear’
- St Francis Hotel feat Waterstrider – ‘We Fall Together (We Fall Apart)’
- Paul Brady – ‘The Island’
