The Dubliners According to Jutze
Last month, Barney McKenna died. He was the last surviving founding member of the Dubliners. His banjo playing on tunes like “Farewell to Ireland” helped make me discover and cherish Irish folk music in the first place. I’m certainly not the person to write a thorough history of the band. Instead, I have a remark and a song list.
The Dubliners are one of the few established bands whose studio albums have not been (re-)released on CD. There is only a vast number of compilations. A few contain full albums, but most feature what are supposed the greatest hits. I’ve begun collecting the original albums a while ago. The early works contain some of the famous songs, but I find myself liking the albums from the 70s better. Especially “Now” is a wonderful album. If you are looking for a decent compilation of Dubliners songs, I recommend you look for “20 Greatest Hits Vol. I” and “20 Greatest Hits Vol. II” as they contain most of the popular tunes as well as most of the really good songs. Some songs on there are edited, though, for unknown reasons.
Below is the list of my personal favourite songs – very subjective and somewhat intentionally leaving out the more rowdy drinking songs. Also, “The Parting Glass” (1968, from “Drinkin’ & Courtin'”) would be an equally touching closing number, but since “Louse House” is the last song on “20 Greatest Hits Vol. II” I somehow consider it the best closing track.
- The Rocky Road to Dublin (1964, from “The Dubliners”)
- Farewell to Carlingford (1975, from “Now”)
- The Mero (1979, from “Together Again”)
- The Lifeboat Mona (1975, from “Now”)
- The Town I Loved So Well (1973, from “Plain and Simple”)
- The Irish Rover (with the Pogues) (1987, from the single “The Irish Rover”)
- Lord of the Dance (1975, from “Now”)
- The Sick Note (live 1983) (1985, from “Live in CarrĂ©)
- The Lark in the Morning (1975, from “Now”)
- Donnegal Danny (1973, from “Plain and Simple”)
- Louse House at Kilkenny (1972, from “Double Dubliners”)