St. Paddy’s day happens to be right around the corner and also the best minor holiday of the year. Fact. Wearing green, bullying people for not having any spirit, pretending that it’s suddenly important that once upon a time our great great uncle came almost from Ireland and that we are therefore clearly Irish - what more could a person want? Well as it happens, my mother and father are both tremendous fans of Irish folk music and, being their loving daughter, so am I. In the light of the upcoming festivities, I’ve decided to divulge some of my wealth of information about the best music from here to the Emerald Isle (or at least to the nearest “Pub.”)

Firstly, “Irish Folk music” is not Enya. Folk does not mean melodic. Ed Sheeran and his parting glass are fine and dandy, but he was born in England and is actually British. Listening to him is not listening to Irish music, especially not Irish PUB music, which is what we really want. For artists that actually can be, blanket statement, considered Irish Music try looking for more of the Clancy Brothers, Tommy Makem, Pogues variety. Some of us may be more familiar with Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys, who are technically American. And the Blaggards are even from Texas, so, represent.

Secondly, the best song is actually The WIld Colonial Boy. There is no room for debate.

Aside from that, there are no rules! 8tracks, my personal favorite website possibly ever, has about a thousand wonderful mixes and I do not doubt that Spotify will likewise jump on the bandwagon and pump out some collections of their own. You’re quintessential jams are going to have to be the aforementioned favorite, The Irish Rover, The Liar, The Moonshiner, and Drunken Sailor, with the obvious addition of anything that sounds like musical rebellion against an authoritarian British rule. My personal advice is to go for The Pogues in all things, and then the Clancy Brothers, and you can’t go wrong.

Lastly, as a general word of advice, the correct terminology should be “St. Paddy’s”, or “St. Pat’s,” not “St. Patty’s.” Patty is feminine, diminutive of “Patricia.” Paddy is loosely short for Patrick. As Americans who cannot physically pronounce a hard ‘t’ sound in the middle of a word to save the flag or Uncle Sam (because let’s be real here,) the difference is really only made when put to writing. That being said, “Paddy” also became something of a slur back in the days of “Irish Need not Apply” and could still instigate some anger if used incorrectly, so also don’t pretend to be an authority on the etymology of the name for March 17th because an article written by a vaguely Irish girl on the interwebs taught you something.

And that’s that! Go forth, wear green, listen to actual decent music, and have fun! (Also, we should all probably have our own viewings of the Boondock Saints, but that’s another story.)