Song of the Day 3/17: The Dubliners, “The Auld Triangle”
An Irish air to accompany the consumption of the green-tinted beer sure to flow copiously in Trolley Square today.
Like a lot of Irish folk songs, this one isn’t as old as it sounds. It became widely known in 1954, when Irish writer Brendan Behan used it to open his play “The Quare Fellow,” set in Dublin’s Mountjoy Gaol, where he was imprisoned for several years for his activities in the Irish Republican Army. While Behan is frequently listed as its author, he always gave credit to a friend, Dick Shannon (Shannon’s family noted that the credit did not extend to royalties). The triangle of the title was used to signal the time for activities in the prison.
“The Quare Fellow,” Behan’s first play, was set on the day of a prisoner’s execution. The Republican of Ireland didn’t ban capital punishment by statute until 1990, but the last execution came in 1954. The tune itself gained much wider circulation after it was recorded by Luke Kelly and the Dubliners in 1967.
Various Irish vocal groups recorded it during the 1970s, but after the Pogues covered it in 1984 it wasn’t heard much until the Coen Brothers included it in their 2013 movie “Inside Llewyn Davis.” The Punch Brothers sang it at a concert featuring the film’s music.
In 1960 Brendan Behan sang it himself on an LP, “Brendan Behan Sings Irish Folksongs and Ballads.”
Behan was only 41 when he succumbed to his alcoholism in 1964. He didn’t drink green beer, though — his favorite tipple was a cocktail of sherry and champagne.
A jaunty Irish tune to celebrate the holiday, to be sure! (And a cocktali recipe from the immortal Brendan Behan to boot!)
I certainly won’t be anywhere near Trolley Square tonight, but I doubt anyone still tints beer green these days. (Though I remember quaffing some back in the day.)
I’m sure you know this, but others of your faithful readers may not: The term “green beer” has nothing to do with its color. Back in the days before artificial refrigeration, lager beer had to be matured in cool caves and cellars. But the supply of finished beer was inadequate to meet the demands of the holiday, so kegs of not-fully-matured — or “green” beer — had to be tapped to slake the thirst of the revelers.
Slainte!