Everybody’s Favorite Irish Drinking Songs Band At Red Square March 17, 2012

Words by Tim Lewis.

This is my favorite St Patrick’s Day tradition.  Every year an assortment of Burlington musicians get together and play some Irish drinking songs.  They cleverly call themselves Everybody’s Favorite Drinking Songs Band.  Songbooks are handed out and everyone is encouraged to sing along.  Hot potatoes are tossed to the audience, and green trinkets are given away as well.  It’s pretty fun and usually wraps up pretty early.

I had to work Saturday, but got out at 3, since they usually go on around 5.  Nice, plenty of time.  A few days before the show, I realized they were going on at 2 and another band would be on at 5.  Grrrr.

I got out of work and sailed downtown on a warm sunny day.  I walked in and they were playing Bleep You I’m Drunk.  I settled in as Becky was ready to give away a green teddy bear.  She called me out as I walked in, and handed me the bear.  Cool.  I had a bit of green with me anyway, but the bear put it over the top.

The bear and I sang a few songs with the band.  We sang Dirty Old Town.  We sang Beer, Beer, Beer.  We sang In Heaven There is no Beer.  We sang loudly and enthusiastically.

Unfortunately, the band were almost done when I arrived.  They singled out one of the many guitar players to salute.  The rest of the guitar players started a bit of For Those About To Rock…then Becky sang a song about the Irish.  I know, that really narrows it down, doesn’t it?  They wrapped the night with Whiskey in A Jar.  What a fun song to sing.  I can never get the mush-a-ring part, but Diane and Becky do it so well, I just skip to the next line.

And that was it.  Five or so songs over 20 or 30 minutes.  It was a lot of effort to get down there for so little, but I’m so glad I made the effort.

I thought maybe everyone would head to the OP for after show drinks, so I wandered over.  The bear found a nice riding spot in my coat jacket.  I’m sure there is a picture or two out there in the world.

While I never did run into the band, I did find a fun new person to talk with.  That’s the great thing about Burlington, there are wonderful people all around just waiting to be met.

This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.