Drinking Song

Drinking songs are convivial songs performed for communal singing in taverns, pubs and social gatherings, built around choruses that a whole room can join. Verses are typically carried by a lead singer while the company answers with the refrain, and texts praise drink itself, toast absent friends, recount comic misadventures or lament the morning after. The repertory is largely traditional and anonymous, carried by groups such as *The Clancy Brothers* and *The Dubliners*, though written songs in the idiom, from music-hall numbers to *The Pogues*, enter the same circulation. Simple melodies, few chords and repetition are functional requirements, not limitations.