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What to sing St. Patrick's Day karaoke songs
St. Patrick's Day karaoke is a pub singalong with a list. Have an Irish song ready, and a second for when someone takes yours.
The night starts early, the room is loud and forgiving, and the same Irish songs come round again and again. If Whiskey in the Jar is already on the list when you sign up, that is your cue for the backup.
Leave the accent at home. A shaky voice is forgiven on the night; a bad Irish accent gets remembered. The old folk songs work best in a proper Irish pub, where the room knows them. The rock ones and the loud Irish-American ones work anywhere.
Irish acts
Irish bands and Irish voices
The rock and pop side of the night, all by Irish acts — on theme without needing a folk song.
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Whiskey in the Jar
Thin LizzyAn Irish folk song played as rock, and the chorus is mostly nonsense syllables, so nobody can say you got the words wrong.
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The Boys Are Back in Town
Thin LizzyCool, chatty verses and a chorus the whole pub shouts — it wants swagger more than voice.
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With or Without You
U2Starts low and patient and stays there a long time; the one big moment comes late, and you can keep it small.
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Linger
The CranberriesSoft, slow and never loud — the Cranberries song for anyone who knows Zombie is beyond them.
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Brown Eyed Girl
Van MorrisonVan Morrison is from Belfast, so it counts; steady and cheerful, with a wordless singalong near the end.
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Take Me to Church
HozierThe verses are low and slow; the chorus is big and keeps coming back, so it rewards anyone who has saved their voice.
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Mustang Sally
The CommitmentsFrom the Dublin film about a soul band — a gravelly voice suits it, and the room sings the answers back.
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Nothing Compares 2 U
Sinéad O'ConnorSlow and bare with nothing to hide behind; the pub goes quiet for it, so only pick it if you mean it.
Pub songs
The old songs every Irish pub knows
Folk songs a pub has sung for generations — mostly steady, and carried by a room that knows them better than you do.
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The Wild Rover
The DublinersThe chorus has claps built in, and every pub knows exactly where they go.
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Danny Boy
TraditionalSlow and lovely until the high bit near the end — and the room will be quiet enough to hear how that goes.
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Molly Malone
TraditionalShort, sad and slow, and the whole room joins the street-seller's cry in the chorus.
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The Irish Rover
The Pogues & The DublinersFast and packed with words; read ahead on the screen and the room will stamp along.
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Dirty Old Town
The PoguesThe gentlest Pogues song to sing: steady, unhurried, and a rough voice suits it.
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The Fields of Athenry
Paddy ReillySlow and proud, and in an Irish pub the whole room will sing the chorus back at you.
Called every year
Called every year, Irish or not
Some are Irish-American and some aren't Irish at all; the bar calls them every March regardless, so be ready.
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Come On Eileen
Dexys Midnight RunnersNot Irish, but called every year; the trap is where it slows right down and then speeds up, so know it's coming.
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I'm Shipping Up to Boston
Dropkick MurphysBarely two and a half minutes, shouted rather than sung, and the band plays more of it than you do.
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Jump Around
House of PainIrish-American, fast and rapped — but nobody is listening to the verses, they're waiting to jump.
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I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
The ProclaimersScottish, not Irish, and no pub holds that against it; the room takes the wordless bits in the chorus.
two voices singing the same line together, the way the twins who made it do
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Tubthumping
ChumbawambaThe chorus is shouted, not sung, and the verses are short enough to half-talk.
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Galway Girl
Ed SheeranQuick, wordy verses with a fiddle behind them, and a chorus a pub full of people can catch up with.
Know which one's yours next March
St. Patrick's Day is the night a lot of people sing an Irish song for the only time all year, and by the next March nobody remembers whether it went well. Log it on the night: Too high, Just right or Too low, and a star rating.
Tag the pub singalongs Fun — the room enjoyed them whatever your voice did — and keep Skill for the ones you could sing sober on a Tuesday. KaraokeList holds the two apart, so the list tells you which is which when your name is called.
When you want a new one, ask the crystal ball for a reading: songs you don't already have, each with a line on why it should suit you. And if the pub is playing something you can't name, Identify will listen and tell you what it is.
Questions
What are good St. Patrick's Day karaoke songs?
Whiskey in the Jar, The Wild Rover and I'm Shipping Up to Boston are the ones every bar expects. Come On Eileen and 500 Miles aren't Irish, but they get called every March anyway.
What Irish songs are easy to sing at karaoke?
Brown Eyed Girl, by Belfast's Van Morrison, is steady and comfortable. The Wild Rover and Molly Malone are slow and simple, and a pub crowd carries the choruses for you.
Is Come On Eileen an Irish song?
No. Dexys Midnight Runners formed in Birmingham, England, but the fiddles and folk sound mean it gets played every St. Patrick's Day regardless.
What is the Irish song with the claps in the chorus?
The Wild Rover. The chorus leaves a gap after its opening line, and the whole pub fills it with claps.
Know what you’re singing before you’re called.
KaraokeList keeps every karaoke song you can actually pull off — and when the list runs dry, it finds you new ones, each with a reason.
