Songs For Them To Cover

There hasn’t been a thread such as this in a long time, and, with theories of a new album amok, this might be a fun thread to create.

I’m definitely more of a fan of Celtic Woman’s folk side, so that’s what most of my ideas for their songs are. But everyone on this forum has different musical experiences, which is part of why these sorts of threads are so much fun! Since we don’t know much about how Eiméar will fit in, I’m mostly not going to specify who would be covering what song, unless it’s an instrumental or the song is just too perfect for someone (usually Muirgen, as she’s my favourite member).

Anyway, here’s some of my favourites for them to cover:

-The Foggy Dew (Irish rebel song)
-Aililiú na Gamhna (Irish-language traditional song; you may recognise it from Órla’s The Water Is Wide. No matter who’s singing, Kate absolutely must be playing harp on this number.)
-On Raglan Road (Irish poem most commonly set to the traditional air “The Dawning of the Day”, which CW covered on Postcards, as I’m sure most, if not all, of you know. I think this would work best as a solo with Kate on violin.)
-The Rocky Road To Dublin (Irish traditional, could work as a song or a fiddle instrumental for Kate)
-So Early In The Spring (English traditional, my favourite version is a capella, which might work best for Caitríona as she’s trained in an a capella tradition. But CW could make many things work.)
-Citi na gCumann (traditional Irish instrumental, you might also recognise this from Órla’s Lore. Could work on harp or fiddle.)
-Brian Boru’s March (Irish traditional tune. Best played on harp—speaking from experience!)
-My Johnny Was A Shoemaker (English traditional if I recall correctly.)
-Na Buachaillí Álainn (Irish-language traditional. Also performed by Órla on The Water Is Wide)
-Wexford Lullaby (this song was actually written by classical guitar legend John Renbourn, but set to the music of The Wexford Carol, which is probably pretty recognisable to most of ye. It’s actually been covered by a lot of artists, so I don’t see it as too odd for them to cover it.)
-I Will Find You (Clannad. I think CW covering this could be a good tribute to Moya Brennan, whose success is probably in part why later groups like Celtic Woman have been as successful as they were. I was honestly kind of disappointed that all CW did was just post an Instagram story honouring her, especially when they put out a whole article honouring Paddy Moloney—another incremental figure in popularising Irish music—when he died. I think this would do well as a Muirgen solo, as her emotive voice suits the song, but it could also work well performed by all members. Also, fun fact: the performance of the song live from Christ Church Cathedral features Rebecca Winckworth, as she was with ANÚNA at the time.)
-A Maid In Bedlam (traditional English. Méav covered this on Silver Sea.)
-Chì Mì Na Mòrbheanna (traditional Scottish, best known in English as The Mist Covered Mountains of Home.)
-Cumha Eoghain Rua Uí Neill (Turlough O’Carolan, the famous blind harpist who wrote many of the most beloved Irish harp pieces. I recently went to a harp camp and he was constantly mentioned, even to those not as familiar with Irish folk music.)
-Cucanandy (Slip jig. Could work for either harp or fiddle.)
-The Swallowtail (another slip jig, this one sounds heavenly on a fiddle. This is a personal favourite of mine that I think deserves more recognition.)


Anyway, these were some of my favourites. I also loved many of the new songs we got from the New Era tour—especially Muirgen’s Róisín Dubh!—and hope we can see those in the future. Jolene would also be a very timely song for them to cover. RIP Dolly Parton! 🥀🕊️💖

What are some songs ye think CW should cover?

I will read thru your post shortly. It's neat how you put Foggy Dew at the top of your list. As you probably know, here are some of the lyrics to Galway Shawl (PFI).

I played "The Blackbird" and "The Stack of Barley",
"Rodney's Glory" and "The Foggy Dew",

Also, Lynn sings a very soothing version of Raglan Road on "Celtic Heart" from Tim Janus (PBS special).

I'm not recommending this song, but I am curious if CW could pull it off. I heard CT cover it, and they did a good job.
- Gaudete : "Gaudete" is a sacred 16th-century Christmas carol that means "rejoice" in Latin.

I will read thru your post shortly. It's neat how you put Foggy Dew at the top of your list. As you probably know, here are some of the lyrics to Galway Shawl (PFI).

I played "The Blackbird" and "The Stack of Barley",
"Rodney's Glory" and "The Foggy Dew",

Also, Lynn sings a very soothing version of Raglan Road on "Celtic Heart" from Tim Janus (PBS special).

I'm not recommending this song, but I am curious if CW could pull it off. I heard CT cover it, and they did a good job.
- Gaudete : "Gaudete" is a sacred 16th-century Christmas carol that means "rejoice" in Latin.

That’s a good observation! However, I think the “Foggy Dew” mentioned is the traditional reel instead of the poem, which was set to the same air as the Moorlough Shore. There’s some other cases of songs sharing names with tunes (in Irish music, a tune is an instrumental and a song has lyrics), such as The Wind That Shakes The Barley, which is both a reel and a poem set to music. (On that note, that would also be a great song for CW to cover, especially sung by Muirgen, although I’m unsure if CW would cover a song with those darker themes. That was something I had to keep in mind when making this list.)

Gaudete could be interesting…two other Christmas songs that I think would be good for them to cover are Noël Nouvolet (may be misspelled) and Good King Wenceslas. And while it may be a bit too soon to cover a Mairéad Carlin solo, it could also be fun to see a version of Emmanuel in its original Latin.