This is a traditional Irish song, with spoons and everything. Its sound quality appears poor when played on something other than a turntable at 45 rpm. I don't think of myself as being of Irish ancestry, so this didn't really do much for me.
The Abbey Tavern and the Abbey Tavern Singers were from Houth, a suburb of Dublin. They became prominent when the Carling brewery company used "Off To Dublin In The Green" in an international advertising campaign. The song became an unexpected hit in Canada, reaching #2 and selling almost 150,000 copies. It also reached #94 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song contained a reference to joining the IRA, so the group, trying to be as non-sectarian as possible, recorded "Captain of the Gallant Forty Twa" as the flip side; this was a song that was popular with Protestant Orangemen. This also appeared in beer commercials.
The band became popular enough to tour North America in 1967 and to release several albums, the last of which was in 1970. They then returned to the Abbey Tavern and went back to being its house band. A version of the Singers was performing at the tavern as recently as 2013.
Created October 2, 2026.