A song associated with Belfast has been included among Ireland’s entries in an EU Songbook collecting some of the best-known tunes associated with European Union member states.
Nine years in the making and published on Tuesday, the project saw 17 music academies across the EU work with Danish-based non-profit group the European Union Songbook Association to compile a list of songs to represent each country.
A shortlist for each country was then put to a public vote, before the final 164 songs were revealed.
Traditional children’s song ‘I’ll Tell Me Ma’ is one of the six Irish songs chosen for inclusion in the book, which has also been released as a smartphone app.
The Cork School of Music and Limerick-based arts organisation Sing Ireland worked to choose Ireland’s entries, which also include the ballad ‘Grace’, written by Sean and Frank O’Meara; folk classic ‘Whisky in the Jar’, which dates back to the 17th century; ‘Song for Ireland’ by June and Phil Colclough; and religious hymn ‘Ag Críost an Síol’ by 19th century Waterford priest Fr Michael Sheehan.
‘I’ll Tell Me Ma’ is mostly associated with Belfast, and is best known with the lyric “she is handsome, she is pretty, she is the belle of Belfast city”.
It is believed the tune of the song may have originated in England before being adopted in Ireland in the early 20th century, where it became popular as a street song sung by children.
It is also sometimes associated with Dublin, and the lyric changed accordingly.
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The songbook states: “The song is well-known in Ireland, with either Belfast or Dublin named as the city depending on which part of Ireland it is sung.”
Among those to have released versions of the song are Van Morrison and The Chieftains, on their 1988 collaboration album ‘Irish Heartbeat’.
Ten years later, Belfast band Sham Rock released a popular dance version of the song that reached number 13 on the UK singles chart.
Although the north officially left the EU in 2020 along with the rest of the UK, it effectively remains part of the EU’s Single Market under the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The UK was originally included in the EU Songbook project, which was launched in 2015 before the vote to leave the European Union.
In a nod to the British departure from the union, the songbook app contains just one song under the category ‘UK( Brexit), ‘Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot’, better known as ‘Auld Lang Syne’, which was sung by members of the European Parliament in 2020 the day before the official date of Brexit.