The two Galway Girls
- Steve Earle’s “Galway Girl” (2000): written by the American singer-songwriter Steve Earle and recorded with Irish accordion star Sharon Shannon. Made famous in Ireland by Mundy and Sharon Shannon’s 2008 version, which spent five weeks at number one.
- Ed Sheeran’s “Galway Girl” (2017): a completely different song, recorded with the Irish trad band Beoga, with a video starring Saoirse Ronan.
- The verdict: in Ireland, there’s only one real Galway Girl. Ask anyone in a pub which one.
Two hugely popular songs, both called “Galway Girl”, both about falling for a woman in the west of Ireland, written 17 years apart by two men who aren’t Irish. It’s caused more pub arguments than almost any other question in Irish music. Here they both are, so you can decide.
Steve Earle’s Galway Girl, the original
American country and folk singer Steve Earle spent time in Galway and wrote “Galway Girl” about a girl with “eyes of blue” he meets in the city. He recorded it in 2000 with Sharon Shannon, the brilliant accordion player from Co. Clare, and it appeared on his album Transcendental Blues.
It became a favourite in Irish pubs, and it was sung in the 2007 film P.S. I Love You. But it truly took off in 2008, when the Offaly singer Mundy recorded it with Sharon Shannon. Their version went to number one in Ireland, stayed there for five weeks, became the most downloaded song in Ireland that year and went on to become one of the best-selling singles in Irish chart history. The video above is the two of them live at the Oxegen festival in 2008, with a field full of people singing every word.
Ed Sheeran’s Galway Girl
Nearly 20 years later, Ed Sheeran, whose grandparents were Irish and who spent childhood summers in Ireland, released his own “Galway Girl” on his 2017 album ÷ (Divide). It’s a different song: a story about meeting a fiddle-playing Galway girl in a bar, built on a pop beat with real trad playing from the Co. Antrim band Beoga.
The video, shot in Galway, stars Saoirse Ronan as the Galway girl, dancing through the city’s pubs and streets at night. It was a massive hit around the world, and it brought tourists flooding to Galway to find the pubs from the video. Read more in our post on 10 things you might not know about Ed Sheeran.
So which one is the real Galway Girl?
Ask in an Irish pub and you’ll probably be told the Steve Earle one, especially the Mundy and Sharon Shannon version, which has been a staple of every wedding, céilí and late-night session since 2008. But Ed Sheeran’s version introduced Galway to millions of people who’d never heard of it, and plenty of Galway businesses are very glad he did.
Our advice: learn the words to both. You’ll hear them both before the night is out.
Galway Girl FAQ
Who wrote the original Galway Girl?
Steve Earle, who released it in 2000 with Sharon Shannon.
Who sang the Galway Girl that went to number one in Ireland in 2008?
Mundy and Sharon Shannon.
Who is in Ed Sheeran’s Galway Girl video?
Saoirse Ronan. The video was filmed in Galway.
Is Ed Sheeran’s Galway Girl a cover?
No. It’s a different song with the same title.
More Galway and Irish music
- The Galway girls who Irish danced to Shape of You
- 20 million people fell in love with Galway
- How to pronounce Saoirse
- Ireland’s Eurovision winners
Featured image: still from the official Galway Girl video on Ed Sheeran’s YouTube channel.
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