Whiskey of the Damned channels Pogues on ‘Róisín’
Earlier this week, British TV personality Richard Osman hosted a social media competition: “The World Cup of Christmas Songs,” to determine the most wonderful holiday tune of all time.
Naturally, there are lots of quality contenders, but in the end the victor was “Fairytale of New York” by Celtic punk band the Pogues.
Eoin McCarthy, the native Irishman who fronts Milwaukee’s own Celtic punk band Whiskey of the Damned, would have to agree.
“That song is basically the most punk rock Christmas song ever,” he said.
It also inspired Whiskey’s own original holiday tune, “Róisín,” which roughly translates to “Lady of the Rose” in Gaelic. Although if you watch the band’s exclusive Holiday Sound Check performance of the song at
jsonline.com/music, you’ll realize “Roisin” isn’t exactly rosy.
Who’s Who: Marco Conley (violin); Brian Link (accordion); McCarthy (vocals and guitar); Matt Schuetz (bass); Andrew David Weber (drums)
When “Róisín” was recorded: Conley: Nov. 19, 2015.
McCarthy: We were basically sitting around and (local music scene mainstay) Biju Zimmerman was like, Hey, do you want some studio time to record a Christmas song?” I wrote a song that night.
Schuetz: It was more like, “Hey, I wrote this Christmas song that we’re going to play, it’s pretty easy.” Then you changed it six times. We all learned it on the spot when he hit record.
Sample lyrics: McCarthy: “I’ve slept in Stephen’s Green homeless/ Busked there for over a year/And laid my head by the railroad track/And drifted off to sleep.” There is an actual railroad track and I used to sleep next to that track.
The meaning behind “Róisín”:
McCarthy: The concept of the song is about a guy who leaves Ireland and leaves the love of his life thinking he’s going to make fortune and fame in America, and it doesn’t obviously turn out that way. He goes back to Ireland for Christmas and she’s already moved on with her life, so now he’s a useless piece of nothing. When I wrote the song, I had just broken up with a girl that I thought I would spend the rest of my life with.
Ninety-nine percent of Christmas songs are happy-go-lucky, but there is another side of Christmas, and it’s not the happy side. Sometimes you have a (expletive) Christmas. My fondest Christmas memory is getting in a fist fight with my dad. He threw a barstool at my face.
Schuetz: It really helped with your looks.
McCarthy: There wasn’t a chance in hell I would write a happy Christmas song. But I (expletive) love Christmas music. I love show tunes to begin with, and Christmas music is show tunes with a red ribbon.