In medieval Europe, the only free passage of information was music and the songs of the bards.
Who was hiding information in the lyrics of the songs.
Many stories, such as Robin Hood’s, even if slightly misleading, were spread through music and bards.
Even today, that information travels at unprecedented speed, a song is able to convey even the very knowledge itself.
The Australians The Rumjacks honor their Celtic roots.
Not only with their music and with the right quantitative assessment of alcoholic products from Ireland and Scotland …
But also with a lot more information, included in the lyrics of their songs.
Their first success and second single from “Gangs of New Holland” (2010), “An Irish Pub Song“, no doubt spoil what the listener will hear.
Its lyrics, however, were not meant to become a song.
As frontman Frankie McLaughlin states in an interview, the song began as a poem, a few years before they formed the band with Gabriel (Whitbourne: Guitars).
When they came to existence as a band, then the guitarist suggested making it into a song.
As the singer says, he had originally recorded it, in a different version, for himself alone.
The idea came after a meeting with an Irish friend.
His friend had invited him to go to a new pub, which had opened near the place they were staying.
The store advertised that it had disassembled the entire Irish pub.
When it closed down in Dublin, it was taken, literally, to Sydney.
When they went they were denied entrance, as the place had a dress code and the two friends were far from dressed accordingly!
As it turned out, they were not particularly honest in their advertising.
Frankie’s experiences in this area have continued.
One day he was there with other workers and contractors, all of them Irish. None of them was working because it was raining.
Near them was an elderly couple who were eating at that time.
As all the Irish and their Scottish friend and colleague (Frankie) started singing traditional songs in their home country.
The couple enjoyed it, but not the waiter, who advised them to stop, otherwise, they would get thrown out.
Something that eventually happened.
And the thought of the song’s creator was: The Irish got thrown out of an Irish pub because they behaved like Irish people.
But the singer, in a spirit of search, did his own personal research.
He was looking for Irish pubs in the most bizarre places in the world. He confesses he has also found one on a Himalayan mountain.
Upon his discovery, speaking to other members of the band, he proudly stated that this song would become their first success because the whole world knows what they are talking about.
Indeed, Irish pubs exist in almost every city in the world.
Although his words proved prophetic, he did not wish to become a “prophet”.
The video for the song, created by Nathan Macdonald of Fatboy Films Australia, went viral almost immediately.
As the singer reveals, in another interview, it gets a peak of views at around March 17th.
It is St. Patrick’s Day, Ireland’s national holiday, which is a cultural and … an alcoholic event in almost every country in the Western world.
The song is generally catchy, though it does mock some parts of the self-titled Irish Pub.
But it addresses everything that people consider Irish… big green hats, small pointed shoes, and of course… beer and whiskey.
The song offers through its lyrics and food for thought for… informatics.
Specifically, we identified a few such points:
“The only ‘craic’ you’ll get is a slap in the ear,” the word craic defines action and fun, sometimes together.
“A hurling stick & a shinty ball,” where the shinty ball, though Scottish, refers to a game similar to lacrosse.
There are many similarities between the Scots and the Irish, though the former has an appeal to the invention of new exciting games such as curling.
“Caffreys, Harp, Kilkenny on tap,” famous Irish beer brands are listed here.
“Kara-farkin-oke nights,” firkin, is a corruption of a word often used by a drunk or even very pissed off person.
“And who’s hot is Ronnie Drew?“:
It’s not hard for someone to find out as Ronnie Drew is none other than The Dubliners actor and singer, who passed away on August 16, 2008.
“Oh top o ‘the mornin’, Garryowen“:
Garryowen is an Irish town near Limerick, also home to a very successful rugby team that has given its name to a very high ball play in the sport, the garryowen kick.
But Garryowen (air) is also music for a very fast Irish dance, often used in celtic punk, even in some Commonwealth countries.
“Failte, Slainte, Pog ma thon,“: Here we searched in Scottish Gaelic, where Failte means welcome, Slainte means “in good health” and “Pog ma thon” simply means… kiss my ass.
“The Liffey never ran so shallow,” here refers to one of Dublin’s rivers.
With a little study of the lyrics, everyone can gain some knowledge of what to do in a real Irish Pub.
Always, of course, great care has to be taken in imitations, which are many.
