Why do many think "Wagon Wheel" is an Irish song?

Chivito550

I saw the other night it was named Ireland's greatest ever country song at the Irish Country Music Awards. For all the other nominations the songwriter and artist were mentioned but in the case of Wagon Wheel only the artist got named. Surely a red flag even for the uninformed.

We have enough fantastic music in this country, across many genres. There's no need to be claiming a song that is quite clearly not an Irish song.

The song originated from a Bob Dylan demo (which is believed to have come from elsewhere). Old Crow Medicine Show finished off the song and were the first to record it in its current form. The original is vastly superior to Nathan Carter's version.

Nathan Carter isn't even the only one to cover it. Darius Rucker has a far more successful cover of the song.

The amount of people who think it is Irish is absurd. A real pet peeve of mine.

Why are we claiming this song?

Nekarsulm

Because people are too lazy or too stupid to care. The type of shyte that 99% of Irish musicians peddle and call " country music" is so woefully bad , that it doesn't deserve to be listened to.

Riesen_Meal

Are we trying to claim this turd as ours?

Smh

NIMAN

I listened to the Darius Rucker and OCMS versions there.....and although they are better than Carters version, they aren't great either.

Its a bit of a turd of a song.

BuilderPlumber

This song may not be the best song but the fact that it is better than 99.99% of the drivel that poses as Irish country music today tells us it clearly is not written by some modern Irish clown. Compared to drivel like 'Leigh Ann wants to dance', 'Do dat diddly ding dang' and 'The farmer wants a wife', 'Wagon wheel' is a step upwards anyway.

This song is being claimed as one of our own because the mindset in RTE and the like is so limited and they have a poor understanding of music both from here and elsewhere. Other songs too have been 'claimed' as Irish down the years and are not. Examples:

'I waited as long as I can' (1952) by Hylo Brown. This bluegrass song was covered and renamed by many Irish singers as 'Say you love me' and/or 'I've waited for you' without giving credit to the original writers despite it being exactly the same song.

'The Galway girl' by Steve Earle. Many assume this to be an Irish song and the likes of Mike Denver use it as a concert anthem. It was written by American singer songwriter Steve Earle originally.

In such cases, the Irish media do not even want to hear about the original versions of the songs. Hylo Brown for example was never mentioned and rather conveniently, he died in January 2003 just around the same time as his song became an uncredited standard with Irish acts. Hylo's original version along with other bluegrass versions are much better than any of the Irish versions too.

George White

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

This song may not be the best song but the fact that it is better than 99.99% of the drivel that poses as Irish country music today tells us it clearly is not written by some modern Irish clown. Compared to drivel like 'Leigh Ann wants to dance', 'Do dat diddly ding dang' and 'The farmer wants a wife', 'Wagon wheel' is a step upwards anyway.

This song is being claimed as one of our own because the mindset in RTE and the like is so limited and they have a poor understanding of music both from here and elsewhere. Other songs too have been 'claimed' as Irish down the years and are not. Examples:

'I waited as long as I can' (1952) by Hylo Brown. This bluegrass song was covered and renamed by many Irish singers as 'Say you love me' and/or 'I've waited for you' without giving credit to the original writers despite it being exactly the same song.

'The Galway girl' by Steve Earle. Many assume this to be an Irish song and the likes of Mike Denver use it as a concert anthem. It was written by American singer songwriter Steve Earle originally.

In such cases, the Irish media do not even want to hear about the original versions of the songs. Hylo Brown for example was never mentioned and rather conveniently, he died in January 2003 just around the same time as his song became an uncredited standard with Irish acts. Hylo's original version along with other bluegrass versions are much better than any of the Irish versions too.

Another song in the "best Irish country song" list, One Day At A Time was written by Kris Kristofferson, ferchrissakes, and popularised almost simultaneously alongside Gloria's version by a Scot, Lena Martell.

Carter is overrated. His Daniel O'Donnell/Eoin Maclove appeal is the fuel for his mania. He's an okay entertainer, but I find him annoying, his weird Scouse/Nordie accent especially, like a character from Bread.

Of course, Galway Girl isn't an Irish girl. No Galwegian would say day-i-a-i-a! It's lazy Oirish-pandering songwriting.

BuilderPlumber

George White wrote: »

Another song in the "best Irish country song" list, One Day At A Time was written by Kris Kristofferson, ferchrissakes, and popularised almost simultaneously alongside Gloria's version by a Scot, Lena Martell.

Carter is overrated. His Daniel O'Donnell/Eoin Maclove appeal is the fuel for his mania. He's an okay entertainer, but I find him annoying, his weird Scouse/Nordie accent especially, like a character from Bread.

Of course, Galway Girl isn't an Irish girl. No Galwegian would say day-i-a-i-a! It's lazy Oirish-pandering songwriting.

One Day At A Time is not really even a country song. It is a gospel song. Kris Kristofferson sang it first and he wrote it AFAIK.

Nathan Carter is not the worst of them but he is overrated/overhyped. Tubridy probably encourage him to talk the way he does. By main problem with Nathan Carter is all those inferior idiots who think they can outdo him. They only succeed in being very poor imitators.

Galway Girl is a stage Irish pandering song and Steve Earle wrote it for that purpose. He knew the Irish media machine would not support anything else by him. You could say Johnny Cash did the same with 40 Shades of Green.

George White

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

One Day At A Time is not really even a country song. It is a gospel song. Kris Kristofferson sang it first and he wrote it AFAIK.

Nathan Carter is not the worst of them but he is overrated/overhyped. Tubridy probably encourage him to talk the way he does. By main problem with Nathan Carter is all those inferior idiots who think they can outdo him. They only succeed in being very poor imitators.

Galway Girl is a stage Irish pandering song and Steve Earle wrote it for that purpose. He knew the Irish media machine would not support anything else by him. You could say Johnny Cash did the same with 40 Shades of Green.

Nathan Carter's boyfolk successors are the Brucealikes of Irish country music. They are the Bruce Lis, the Bruce Les, the Dragon Lees, but unlike them, they're not even enjoyable in a so-bad-it's-good way. Excruciating.

hungry hypno toad

I like the Jammie ones.

BuilderPlumber

George White wrote: »

Nathan Carter's boyfolk successors are the Brucealikes of Irish country music. They are the Bruce Lis, the Bruce Les, the Dragon Lees, but unlike them, they're not even enjoyable in a so-bad-it's-good way. Excruciating.

There is some woeful drivel out there especially from the Donegal environs. These Nathan Carter clones along with the likes of these Ritchie Remo and Marty Mone who sing about tractors are very poor. They show how unoriginal these guys are. They are typically ex boyband or boyband influenced singers and acts hence boyfolk. They often look like poor clones of Nicky Byrne too. They sing about tractors and Cotton Eyed Joe to make themselves appear 'country' but they are not.

George White

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

There is some woeful drivel out there especially from the Donegal environs. These Nathan Carter clones along with the likes of these Ritchie Remo and Marty Mone who sing about tractors are very poor. They show how unoriginal these guys are. They are typically ex boyband or boyband influenced singers and acts hence boyfolk. They often look like poor clones of Nicky Byrne too. They sing about tractors and Cotton Eyed Joe to make themselves appear 'country' but they are not.

They're not country. There's a sort of Irish version of scrumpy and western, a sort of off-Brand Wurzels, i.e. trying to make a career off novelty songs yet without trying to be a novelty. They don't seem to know they're novelty songs.

UrbanSprawl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Xiq3EgSPU

BuilderPlumber

George White wrote: »

They're not country. There's a sort of Irish version of scrumpy and western, a sort of off-Brand Wurzels, i.e. trying to make a career off novelty songs yet without trying to be a novelty. They don't seem to know they're novelty songs.

These acts are desperate drivel. Acts like Matthews, Remo and Mone attempt to mix modern boyband influenced singing with comedic rural lyrics. They seem to be trying to be a blend of singers like Richie Kavanagh (who imo is genuinely funny and is a nice singer and a good musician who can tap into rural comedy well) and boybands but sung in the latter modern style.

George White

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

These acts are desperate drivel. Acts like Matthews, Remo and Mone attempt to mix modern boyband influenced singing with comedic rural lyrics. They seem to be trying to be a blend of singers like Richie Kavanagh (who imo is genuinely funny and is a nice singer and a good musician who can tap into rural comedy well) and boybands but sung in the latter modern style.

Yes, that's what I meant by sub-Wurzels, i.e. the likes of I am a Cider Drinker and Combine Harvester, comic rural songs, except they're trying to be heartthrobs by singing stuff that is traditionally sung by funny-looking, funny-sounding middle-aged blokes with interest in comedy/novelty.

BuilderPlumber

George White wrote: »

Yes, that's what I meant by sub-Wurzels, i.e. the likes of I am a Cider Drinker and Combine Harvester, comic rural songs, except they're trying to be heartthrobs by singing stuff that is traditionally sung by funny-looking, funny-sounding middle-aged blokes with interest in comedy/novelty.

It seems that the promoters of poor music (Tubridy, Glor Tire, local radio, etc.) be it modern country drivel or modern pop drivel have noted that there is a gullible audience in Ireland that will follow the media blindly. They have exploited this and have given the worst possible music support.

This is inherently wrong because good music could get the same support and surely if performers of this drivel can make a living out of being in 'music', proper singers can do the same. I know of plenty talent out there who could do with the break but will never get it because the media are obsessed with poor fare always.

George White

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

It seems that the promoters of poor music (Tubridy, Glor Tire, local radio, etc.) be it modern country drivel or modern pop drivel have noted that there is a gullible audience in Ireland that will follow the media blindly. They have exploited this and have given the worst possible music support.

This is inherently wrong because good music could get the same support and surely if performers of this drivel can make a living out of being in 'music', proper singers can do the same. I know of plenty talent out there who could do with the break but will never get it because the media are obsessed with poor fare always.

It's bizarre -trying to keep an industry known for songwriting via terrible novelty songs.