Songwriters

Ireland has long list of brilliant songwriters

Ireland has produced some brilliant songwriters who have provided the world with some of its greatest lyrics and most beautiful melodies.

Music is all about performance so it’s not surprising that when we hear a great song, our attention is usually taken up entirely with the singer and the band. But, of course, great songs don’t just appear from nowhere.

Someone had to write them. Even songs we consider as purely traditional still had to begin with the painstaking efforts of one brilliant individual, even if their work is later adapted and modified over time.

The unsung heroes behind the songs

All too often, these supremely talented writers get overlooked, which is why Irish Music Forever has introduced a section devoted to highlighting the work of the unsung heroes behind the songs.

Over the coming months we’ll be featuring some of the greatest songwriters of all time.

We begin with two hugely successful artists, one who spent all his life in Ireland and one spent most of his life in America.

Ethna Carbery – author of Roddy McCorley

Percy French – Mountains of Mourne

John Keegan Casey – The Rising of the Moon

Samuel Lover - prolific songwriter of the 18th century

Patrick Joseph McCall – Irish songs of rebellion

James Thornton – When You Were Sweet 16