Name your three favourite songs by... [Simon and Garfunkel]

[Truthsayer]

Grace
On the one road
Streets of New York.

Two songs I can't  listen to from the Tones .  Joe Mc Donnell, so dull and dreary. And streets of NY -  probably  because I hate anything  Bagatelle ever did. Can't hack that song.  and how many Irish people  have an Uncle Benji ffs?

The Ballad of Joe McDonnell is hardly going to be upbeat. It is about a man and his comrades who died on hungerstrike...

[weareros]

Grace
On the one road
Streets of New York.

Two songs I can't  listen to from the Tones .  Joe Mc Donnell, so dull and dreary. And streets of NY -  probably  because I hate anything  Bagatelle ever did. Can't hack that song.  and how many Irish people  have an Uncle Benji ffs?

There was a time in Ireland when Benjy and his wife Maggie were the subject of every conversation, particularly when they decided to use contraceptives. The Riordans. But point taken!

[Blowitupref]

Grace
On the one road
Streets of New York.

Two songs I can't  listen to from the Tones .  Joe Mc Donnell, so dull and dreary. And streets of NY -  probably  because I hate anything  Bagatelle ever did. Can't hack that song.  and how many Irish people  have an Uncle Benji ffs?

Each to their own, Streets of New York probably my favourite of the three I've named.

Benjamin is a well-known name in Ireland, and is often shortened to Ben or Benjy.

[Brendan]

Think the Wolfe Tines were the first CD album i ever got,

Broad Black Brimmer
Streets of New York
Come out ye Black and Tans

[AustinPowers]

Grace
On the one road
Streets of New York.

Two songs I can't  listen to from the Tones .  Joe Mc Donnell, so dull and dreary. And streets of NY -  probably  because I hate anything  Bagatelle ever did. Can't hack that song.  and how many Irish people  have an Uncle Benji ffs?

The Ballad of Joe McDonnell is hardly going to be upbeat. It is about a man and his comrades who died on hungerstrike...

It's not the words , it's the tune itself.

had someone like Seamus Heaney  read the words as a  poem , I'm sure it would have  been a masterpiece 

[gallsman]

It's not the words , it's the tune itself.

had someone like Seamus Heaney  read the words as a  poem , I'm sure it would have  been a masterpiece

Utter nonsense. Nobody has ever suggested the Warfields should be winning songwriting awards. Well, maybe balladmaker.

Benjamin is a well-known name in Ireland, and is often shortened to Ben or Benjy.

There's a difference between being well-known and being commonplace.

[Truthsayer]

Grace
On the one road
Streets of New York.

Two songs I can't  listen to from the Tones .  Joe Mc Donnell, so dull and dreary. And streets of NY -  probably  because I hate anything  Bagatelle ever did. Can't hack that song.  and how many Irish people  have an Uncle Benji ffs?

The Ballad of Joe McDonnell is hardly going to be upbeat. It is about a man and his comrades who died on hungerstrike...

It's not the words , it's the tune itself.

had someone like Seamus Heaney  read the words as a  poem , I'm sure it would have  been a masterpiece

Agree with you on the words... very powerful and moving.
For me that and The Galtee Mountain Boy two best Irish ballads..

[Blowitupref]

There's a difference between being well-known and being commonplace.

It's a well known and commonplace name.

The Central Statistics Office who tracks baby names in Ireland

Benjamin has been a consistently popular name.  Over the years, its popularity has fluctuated but remained strong, often ranking in the top 20-30 boys' names. For instance, in recent years, it's been given to roughly 200 babies annually, based on CSO data

[thewobbler]

Joe McDonell meanders a little, tries a little too hard but it's a powerful song, especially when drawn out as slowly as possible.

It's hard not too sing along with the Wolfe Tones, but it's not my cuppa tea.

[AustinPowers]

Joe McDonell meanders a little, tries a little too hard but it's a powerful song, especially when drawn out as slowly as possible.

It's hard not too sing along with the Wolfe Tones, but it's not my cuppa tea.

Say what you like  about them , but they have some great  ballads. And not just the republican  ballads.

And First of May is a better  version than the bee gees .

[tonto1888]

The helicopter song
Flight of earls
Broad black brimmer

[Captain Obvious]

They deserve great credit for going as long as they have however the last few years has been their most popular period in their 60 year history.

I attend one of their gigs myself about a decade ago in a local pub and it did not sell out, in recent years they have sold out big arenas and the crowd of mainly young ones in Electric Picnic that turned up to the tent far exceeded expectations.

The three for me

Boston Rose
Let the people sing
Streets of New York

[gallsman]

There's a difference between being well-known and being commonplace.

It's a well known and commonplace name.

The Central Statistics Office who tracks baby names in Ireland

Benjamin has been a consistently popular name.  Over the years, its popularity has fluctuated but remained strong, often ranking in the top 20-30 boys' names. For instance, in recent years, it's been given to roughly 200 babies annually, based on CSO data

Dunno where you're getting your data (sounds like a ChatGPT job tbh) but according to the CSO itself, amongst boy's names with three or more occurrences, since records began (or since when they're available) in 1964, it has cracked the top 50 precisely once, coming 50th in 2020. It didn't crack the top 100 until 1992. Over the whole 61 year period, its average rank has been 112th. The highest number of babies ever named Benjamin was in 2007, with 145, so no idea where "roughly 200 babies annually" comes from. Possibly combining Benjamin with any and all variants of Ben?

It rose in popularity particularly through the Celtic tiger years, but has more or less plateaued, or even declined somewhat in popularity, since the mid noughties.

By definition, it is not commonplace.

Anyway, using a more "appropriate" name wouldn't have made a difference to the song.

[AustinPowers]

They deserve great credit for going as long as they have however the last few years has been their most popular period in their 60 year history.

I attend one of their gigs myself about a decade ago in a local pub and it did not sell out, in recent years they have sold out big arenas and the crowd of mainly young ones in Electric Picnic that turned up to the tent far exceeded expectations.

The three for me

Bolton Rose
Let the people sing
Streets of New York

thats a new one! 

[Captain Obvious]

thats a new one! 

I'll blame predictive text for that one.