Sham rock and pop: The MOST IRISH SONGS EVER!!!

We're known for bursting into song at the drop of a hat - or a pint - and we’re also the only country with a musical instrument as our national emblem. Well, clear the chairs and mind the dresser - here are the MOST Irish songs of all time

The Fields of Athenry - all Irish people. Ever

It’s no surprise that this tear-jerking tale of defiance amid tragedy has become Ireland’s unofficial national anthem. It can be heard on surging soccer and GAA terraces alike which attests to its unifying power. Written by the late Pete St John, who only passed away last week, it tells the tale of a desperate man driven to theft (returning the favour, in other words) during the Irish Famine. Paddy Reilly perhaps sang the definitive version but when ever and wherever you hear it, Irish eyes are crying.

Rafferty's Motor Car - Val Doonican

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The pride of Waterford lays on the Blarney thick and fast on this novelty hit. It’s an ode to a wonder jalopy that is forty shades of green, has triangular wheels, but with a gallon of stout in the tank, it does 90mph. Complete with horn blasts and chirpy guitars, it’s a sweet ride. The late Val specialised in dinky novelty songs (see also McGinty’s Goat) and this one goes like the clappers.

The Hucklebuck - The Royal Showband

Jazz and R&B dance tune The Hucklebuck has been around a loooooong time. 1949 to be exact. That’s when Paul Williams and His Hucklebuckers first inspired the dance craze. It’s an infectious cracker recorded by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Louis Armstrong to er, Crystal Swing but for us the only version worth cutting a rug to is Brendan Bowyer and The Royal Showband’s excitable 1964 version. Altogether now, "Wiggle like a snake, Waddle like a duck . . . "

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Roam - Scary Éire (explicit lyrics)

Paddy Enemy, anyone? "Born in The Coombe, not born in Jamaica . . . " This is a typically noisome and NSFW serving of hip-hop coddle from mad, bad and dangerous to know Irish music pioneers Scary Eire. A stream of consciousness of Paddy patois, it’s got Luke Skywalker, it’s got Éamon de Valera, it’s got Paddington Bear, it’s got a lot of bad language and all set to a cracking old skool drum track. Needless to say, RTÉ is not responsible for the content of grubby Irish hip-hop acts.

Seven Drunken Nights - The Dubliners

We may be known for eh, liking a drink with our meal, but this tale of a seven-day bender really is having several too many. Dating as far back as the 1760s when it was entitled The Merry Cuckold and the Kind Wife, this bawdy ballad was translated into several languages before the bould Dubliners recorded the definitive version in 1967.

It tells the tale of a gullible - if not hallucinogenic - drunkard who falls in the door every night after a skinful to see mounting evidence of his wife’s infidelity, only to swallow her increasingly outlandish explanations.

Ronnie Drew and the lads took it to No 7 in the UK charts in 1967 and appeared on Top of the Pops. RTÉ clutched its pearls to their starched collars and banned it from their airways but that didn’t stop it becoming a No 1 smash here. I’ll drink to that!

Alan Corr @CorrAlan2

Sham rock and pop: The MOST IRISH SONGS EVER!!!

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