CoronaVinyl Day 200 (I): The Unicorn by The Irish Rovers

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

Just like we did on the first day of CoronaVinyl, just over ten months ago, on our 200th edition of CoronaVinyl, we're going with an Irish group.  It just happened to work out that way, as today's CoronaVinyl category is "I," and I only have one album by an "I" artist that I haven't yet featured on CoronaVinyl.

It's The Irish Rovers' first studio album, 1967's The Unicorn.  The Irish Rovers were comprised of guys from both Northern Ireland and the Republic, although they formed in Canada and gained popularity by playing various folk clubs in California.  They are credited with popularizing traditional Irish music in North America.

The Unicorn was their highest-charting album in the U.S., reaching #24 on the Billboard album chart.  Most of the songs are traditional Irish folk songs, although there are a few that aren't, including the title track, which was written by Shel Silverstein and originally recorded by Silverstein on a his own 1962 folk album.  The lyrics were also written out in Silverstein's classic 1974 book Where the Sidewalk Ends.  The Irish Rovers' version was their biggest hit internationally, reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 (their biggest hit in the U.S.), #2 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, #4 on the Canadian pop chart, and #5 on the Irish pop chart.  The songs are definitely the kind of songs you would want to include on a St. Patrick's Day party playlist -- well, in years in which you aren't limited in your partying by a pandemic.

The band has continued to make music over the last five decades (and had a second Top 40 hit in the U.S. in 1980 with the country folk song "Wasn't That a Party"), even releasing an album last year, although The Unicorn remains their biggest album. 

Favorite song from Side 1:  "The Orange and Green"

This song is a funny folk song about an Irish lad whose dad was a Protestant (Orange) and mother was Catholic (Green).  Hilarity ensues, as his father calls him William and his mother calls him Pat.  There is no mention of whether he was killed by a car bomb planted by the IRA or the UDA.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "The First Love in Life"
This one is about traveling around Ireland and spending all your money having a good time because "my first love in life is the pure whiskey."  I get it.