For many of us, St. Patrick’s Day is just another excuse to forget about our commitments to work or school and spill beer on each other. Madisonians will be the first to join the festivities when a vaguely ethnic tradition (and let’s be real, stereotype) condones it, but too often the holiday’s raison d’etre gets lost in the shuffle of green beer and leprechaun costumes. It’s the one day of the year where everybody claims to be Irish, attempts impromptu serenades of “Danny Boy,” and pretends that they can hold their Irish Car Bombs-and we all know how that story ends.

But St. Patrick’s Day was made by Irish people for Irish people, and I’ll be damned if another one goes by without sharing a little bit of the musical tradition of the people who made all this mid-March debauchery acceptable. Here’s a collection of songs that you’re not likely to hear at your average Madison bar, and even if you did odds are you wouldn’t be able to remember them, anyway.

1. Black 47 – “Funky Ceili (Bridie’s Song)”

By now Irish-Americans have carved out their place pretty solidly in the middle class, moving out of the Bronx or Southie and into the suburbs. But New York’s Black 47 dwells in the newfound identity millions found when they came across the Atlantic, and “Funky Ceili” is representative of their narrative style and incorporation of unorthodox sounds. It’s not all salt-of-the-earth diaspora woe, though, and you’ll be sloshing your Guinness in no time.

2. The Saw Doctors – “I Useta Lover”

The Saw Doctors deal in simpler, folkier themes and “I Useta Lover” is one man’s musings of old flames which made it to number one on the Irish charts. It’s an easy sing-a-long and the Galway accent is unmistakable when lead singer Davy Carton reminisces, “I useta see her up in the chapel when she went to Sunday mass/ And when she’d go to receive I’d kneel down there and watch her pass/ The glory of her ass!”

3. Gaelic Storm – “Nancy Whiskey”

No surprise that a song so titled would be a St. Patrick’s Day hit, but Gaelic Storm remains off the shamrock radar for a lot people the other 364 days of the year. You may remember them, however, as the band who played “An Irish Party In Third Class” in “Titanic.” Whether you know them or not, “Nancy Whiskey” will incite a barrage of synchronized foot-stomps as the barmaids portion out the Jameson.

4. Dropkick Murphys – “Rocky Road To Dublin”

I generally dislike most of Dropkick Murphys’ sped-up renditions of the Irish classics; they sound like the Wolfe Tones on methamphetamines and something tells me that even James Connolly would find them too abrasive. But “Rocky Road To Dublin,” rapid and heavy as it is, is balanced by a rolling melody that doesn’t slaughter the original and justifies the cover.

5. Flogging Molly – “Within A Mile Of Home” (Live)

Like the Charlie Daniels Band, Flogging Molly finds a way to make the fiddle badass by pairing it with themes of drunken revelry. “Within A Mile Of Home” is off the beaten path of FM tracks, and the live version has the controlled chaos of their bigger hits “Drunken Lullabies” and “Black Friday Rule,” but its reflective tone makes it a little more fitting for St. Pat’s.

6. The Chieftains – “Live From Matt Molloy’s Pub”

Unfortunately the jigs and reels of traditional Irish music fell out of the spotlight as America’s love affair with “Riverdance” fizzled, but luckily St. Patrick’s Day affords us the opportunity to revisit the beauty of bodhr?ns and tin whistles. “Live From Matt Molloy’s Pub” is forceful and driving, and the louder the better. But please, for the sake of your limbs, do not confuse yourself with Michael Flatley by busting out your personal version of “Riverdance” on the barroom floor.

7. Pat McCurdy – “Sex And Beer”

Pat McCurdy isn’t an Irish musician per se, but he’s from Milwaukee and judging by his name I thought it would be fine to include him on this playlist. “Sex And Beer” is his best, a simple reminder not to take ourselves too seriously because, after all we only need two things in life to be happy. He also plays every Tuesday at the Regent Street Retreat. Here’s a clip:

8. The Clancy Brothers – “Beer, Beer, Beer”

The Clancy Brothers’ music is much more stripped down than the rest of the songs on this list, but what they might not have in instrumentation they make up for in brogue. I don’t think the title leaves much doubt in the theme department, and it’s one of those songs that’s better to be yelled than sung.

9. The Pogues – “Sally Maclennane”

To be fair, The Pogues is a mixed group of Irish and English musicians, but as “Sally Maclennane” reveals they’ve got a sound that makes bending border rules okay. The tin whistle and accordion are in full bloom here and in a lot of ways it’s a rallying cry for another round of shots.