"The Ballad of Ronnie Drew" is a single by U2

U2

U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...

, The Dubliners

The Dubliners

The Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...

, Kíla

Kíla

Kíla are an Irish folk music/World music group, originally formed in 1987 in the Irish Language secondary school, Coláiste Eoin in Co. Dublin. Kila's blend of Irish traditional music and World Music with a modern rock sensibility is generally credited with breathing new life into contemporary Irish...

, and "A Band of Bowsies". The single was recorded as a charitable project, with proceeds going to the Irish Cancer Society - owing to Ronnie Drew

Ronnie Drew

Joseph Ronald "Ronnie" Drew was an Irish singer and folk musician who achieved international fame during a fifty-year career recording with The Dubliners. He was born in Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin...

's condition of cancer. It was recorded at Windmill Lane on 14 and 15 January 2008. "The Ballad of Ronnie Drew" is available as a CD in Ireland only.

Glen Hansard

Glen Hansard

Glen Hansard is the Academy Award–winning principal songwriter and vocalist/guitarist for Irish group The Frames and one half of folk rock duo, The Swell Season...

's vocals on the record were recorded over the telephone, and not in person, as he was in the United States of America for the 80th Academy Awards

80th Academy Awards

The 80th Academy Awards ceremony honored the best films in 2007 and was broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on ABC beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST/8:30 p.m. EST, February 24, 2008 . During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Academy Awards in 24...

.

Track listing

Contributing artists

• Mary Black
  Mary Black
  Mary Black is an Irish singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both folk and contemporary material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland, and in many other parts of the world....
  
  
• Paul Brady
  Paul Brady
  Paul Joseph Brady is an Irish singer-songwriter, whose work straddles folk and pop. He was interested in a wide variety of music from an early age...
  
  
• Moya Brennan
  Moya Brennan
  Moya Brennan, born Máire Ní Bhraonáin , also known as Máire Brennan , is an Irish folk singer, songwriter, harpist, and philanthropist who began performing professionally in 1970, when her family formed the band Clannad, and is now widely considered as the "First Lady of Celtic Music"...
  
  
• Chris de Burgh
  Chris de Burgh
  Chris de Burgh is a British/Irish singer-songwriter. He is most famous for his 1986 love song "The Lady in Red".-Early life:...
  
  
• Paddy Casey
  Paddy Casey
  Patrick "Paddy" Casey is an Irish singer-songwriter from Dublin. Paddy was discovered by Sony A&R Scout Hugh Murray at the International Bar in Dublin, while performing at the singer/songwriter night hosted by Dave Murphy...
  
  
• Andrea Corr
  Andrea Corr
  Andrea Jane Corr is an Irish musician, songwriter and actress. Corr debuted in 1990 as the lead singer of the Celtic folk rock and pop rock group The Corrs along with her three elder siblings Caroline, Sharon, and Jim...
  
  
• Mary Coughlan
  Mary Coughlan (singer)
  Mary Coughlan is an Irish jazz and folk singer and actress. She has received great acclamation in her native country, for her emotional and heartfelt jazzy musical renditions.-Background:...
  
  
• Damien Dempsey
  Damien Dempsey
  Damien Dempsey is an Irish singer and songwriter who mixes traditional Irish folk with contemporary lyrics to deliver social comment on the positive and negative aspects arising from Ireland's Celtic Tiger society.-Early life:...
  
  
• Christy Dignam
  Christy Dignam
  Christy Dignam is the lead singer of the popular Irish rock-band Aslan. His career of over twenty-five years has been characterized by numerous successes on the Irish charts as well as recurring problems with drug addiction and recovery.-Life:...
  
  
• Gavin Friday
  Gavin Friday
  Gavin Friday is an Irish singer and songwriter, composer, actor and painter.-Career:Gavin was born in Dublin and grew up in Finglas, a neighbourhood located on Dublin's Northside...
  
  
• Bob Geldof
  Bob Geldof
  Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...
  
  
• Glen Hansard
  Glen Hansard
  Glen Hansard is the Academy Award–winning principal songwriter and vocalist/guitarist for Irish group The Frames and one half of folk rock duo, The Swell Season...
  
  
• Robert Hunter
  Robert Hunter (lyricist)
  Robert C. Hunter is an American lyricist, singer-songwriter, translator, and poet, best known for his association with Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead.-Biography:He was born Robert Burns in San Luis Obispo, California...
  
  
• Ronan Keating
  Ronan Keating
  Ronan Patrick John Keating is an Irish recording artist, singer-songwriter, musician, and philanthropist. Keating debuted on the professional music scene alongside Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch and Stephen Gately, in 1994 as the lead singer of Boyzone. His solo career started in 1999, and...
  
  
• Kíla
  Kíla
  Kíla are an Irish folk music/World music group, originally formed in 1987 in the Irish Language secondary school, Coláiste Eoin in Co. Dublin. Kila's blend of Irish traditional music and World Music with a modern rock sensibility is generally credited with breathing new life into contemporary Irish...
  
  
• Christy Moore
  Christy Moore
  Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts...
  
  
• Shane McGowan
• Mundy
  Mundy
  Mundy is an Irish singer-songwriter. 'Mundy' is a nickname given to Enright, as it not only refers to his name Edmund, but it is how he pronounces the word "Monday".-Biography:...
  
  
• Joe Elliot
• Eleanor McEvoy
  Eleanor McEvoy
  Eleanor McEvoy is one of Ireland's most accomplished contemporary singer/songwriters. McEvoy composed the song Only A Woman's Heart, title track of A Woman's Heart, the best-selling Irish album in Irish history.-Biography:...
  
  
• Sinéad O'Connor
  Sinéad O'Connor
  Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
  
  
• Declan O'Rourke
  Declan O'Rourke
  Declan O'Rourke is a 33 year old platinum record singer/songwriter from Dublin, Ireland.-Career:At the age of 13, when living in Australia with his family, O'Rourke was given his first guitar by a priest in Kyabram who recognised his potential and love for music, hence the title of his debut album...
  
  
• Duke Special
  Duke Special
  Duke Special, real name Peter Wilson, is a songwriter and performer based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A piano-based songwriter with a romantic style and a warm, distinctly accented voice, he has a distinctive look, with his long dreadlocks, eyeliner and outfits he describes as "hobo chic"...
  
  

Chart information

Chart (2008)	Peak Position
Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...	1