Song Lyric Sunday: Guide You Up To Heaven

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For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday Jim’s post Spirits invites us to play a song that mentions drinks or cocktails, as suggested by Di of the pensitivity101 blog. I had a pretty wide field from which to choose for this, as drink – and its joys and disappointments – has been the theme of many fine songs (and plenty of crap ones too). I decided in the end to go with a couple from a band that may well be new to you, unless you recall seeing them on my blog before.

I played this first one just five months back in a non-SLS post, but the song and video are a lot of fun so I thought I’d give it another spin:

That all happens at a fair old lick so you might need the lyrics to help you:

Was rolling out one eveningI came down too for longI walked into a dimmed pubAnd suddenly I sawHer cheeks, they were so rosyAnd golden was her hairShe had to be an Irish girlShe looks so goddamn fair
 
She took me by her lovely hand and whispered in my ear“I’ll guide you up to heaven if you order me a beer”Seconds later I found myself beside this pretty lassA wanting thought in my head and an ale in my glass
 
Hey dear, come on, won’t you spend a night or two?One for me and one for youThe truth is she will fill you up and just ask you to payBut I drink my pint in safer thoughts, ’cause that’s my Irish way
 
When I was a little drunk, I went to take a pissWhen I came back, I saw two girls having a French kissThe girls, they waved me nearerCould this really be?The Irish way is finally dawning on me
 
When we drank our final pint, the girls ask me to payThey promised me to meet outside at lower castle’s wayWhen they left, I took the bill, the girls have set me upThey left me with an empty purse and sick to the gut
 
Hey dear, come on, won’t you spend a night or two?One for me and one for youThe truth is she will fill you up and just ask you to payBut I drink my pint in safer thoughts, ’cause that’s my Irish way
 
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Tim Herbrig / Ben Römer
 
That was The O’Reillys and the Paddyhats, in their “Irish Folk Punk” style, giving us an idea of being Irish though no doubt mug tourists of most nationalities have probably fallen victim to con tricks like that. The band have been around since 2011, with only a few changes in membership over that time, and are still going strong: they have recently completed a tour of several European countries, including the one from which they come – Germany. The song first appeared on their second album, Sign Of The Fighter, which came out in February 2017. The tourist and the two girls in the video are actors, but the barman is a band member who goes by the stage name of Ian McFlannigan, and you catch glimpses of the others – the group around the table early on is them. I would tell you more but it is more than fifty years since I finished my German A-level course and their Wikipedia page is beyond my capabilities! What I can gather is that all of them have adopted Irish names, but the page does tell you their real ones. They are a fun band, and this is typical of their songs: I like them a lot and so apparently do many others as that video has more than 25m views, and another of theirs has north of 54m.
 
This one, in fact. Another song about the evils of booze, but having done beer this one is about whiskey (note the Irish spelling!). This is a slightly earlier offering of theirs, in the days when they had Emily O’Farrell (allegedly) as their fiddle player, since replaced by Mia Callaghan (aka Jessica Kohlmetz in real life). This is another really good video that tells a story around the song:
 

I also played that one earlier this year, in a Tuesday Tunes post, but both of them are new to my SLS collection. This was from their debut main label album Seven Hearts One Soul, which was released in 2016. Deutschepedia doesn’t show it as having charted in their native Germany, though several of their more recent records have. It’s a fun song and video, and as I’m a fan of their German/Irish folk/punk style I just had to play it: especially good if you are a tatts fan (which I’m not, but she wears them well). The band are currently on tour again and are actually in the UK at present: they played in Southampton last night, and will be at Swansea, Sheffield and Clitheroe this coming Thursday, Friday and Saturday. If you live anywhere near these you’ll have a great evening  at the shows. They also have a new album coming out in December, and have released the first track from it as a single: you can find it here – it’s a real rabble rouser of a protest song.

That would be it for today, but there’s something nagging away at me: how could I play a whisk(e)y song without the best one ever? So as a bonus, here it is:

And that is definitely my final tune for this SLS episode! See you again for Tuesday Tunes, if we have all sobered up by then 🍺🥃

 

49 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday: Guide You Up To Heaven”

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  8. Being part Irish, I really enjoyed your post today Clive as I know how much the Irish love drinking. During Prohibition here in the US, my grandmother made beer in the bathtub, and nobody was allowed to take a bath till the brew was done fermenting.

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  10. Pingback: Song Lyric Sunday: Spirits – Lines by Leon: Leon Stevens, Science Fiction Author and Poet

    • Thank you, Christine. It’s the typical stereotype, isn’t it! The beauty of this lot is that they are German, part of a movement that is strong in much of Europe and elsewhere. I wrote a piece about it some months back, which was when I played the first of these.

      The Thin Lizzy one has long been a favourite of mine. There’s a great version by The Killdares too.

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  13. Excellent tunes, all three, whether drinking to or just listening to. The Irish Way gave me a good laugh and I realized it’s been a very long time since I’ve been to an authentic Irish pub, what with covid and surgery and grandkids, oh my! I’m going to have to fix that!

    Whiskey in the Jar is a song I’ve loved forever and not surprised to see in on someone’s list; it almost made it onto mine but ever since one of my readers made a snarky remark about me posting too many videos, I’ve made a deliberate effort to cut back …. something else I need to fix because I’m not usually easily intimidated! Oh, BTW, that’s how we spell whiskey here in the States …. with an e.

    A fun read, Clive. I wonder how many of us will get through these posts without reaching for a tasty beverage! 🥤 😊

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