Three Records by Planxty lead me to A NEW GAME

Planxty The Well Below The Valley
Planxty Cold Blow and the Rainy Night
Planxty [Untitled first album]

My beloved bought these to play on her new iPod. Rather than talk about the music and all that on them, I will instead introduce you to THE PLANXTY DRINKING GAME. The rules for this are simple:

• If the song mentions a soldier, take a drink
  
• If the song mentions a beggar, take a drink
  
• If the song mentions a young lady being relieved of her maidenhead, take a drink
  
• If the song mentions a young lady being relieved of her maidenhead by a soldier, empty your glass
  
• If the song mentions a poor Irish emigrant pining for his home, take a drink
  
• If the protagonist of the song beats the shite out of someone, take a drink
  
• If Andy Irvine sings about how sad he is because some stage of his life has passed, take a drink
  
• If the song is called "As I roved out" take a drink

And so on. Actually, these records are great, featuring excellent playing and excellent choice of tunes, mostly trad arrrrrs but the occasional Andy Irvine composition. And they also do well-known Provie classic 'Only Our Rivers Run Free', which is not actually from time immemorial but was written only the other day by some whiny nornie. I should not actually mock the old 'Only Our Rivers Run Free'… not merely do I value my kneecaps, it is also a rather gentle and affecting tune, not like the come-all-ye-s one normally associates with Irish patriotism. One great thing about this tune is that it makes its way into a RuneQuest scenario; I think it is in one of the Sun County or Shadows on the Borderlands books, though I am open to correction. These records merge into each other, so I have difficulty recommending one over another. The Well Below The Valley maybe wins thanks to the title track, a song that is musically charming and easy on the ear, while lyrically it is about incest and infanticide.