Sketch Comedy, The Musical

Music is in several FAH sketches - after all the lads came from the only country in the world that has a musical instrument as national symbol. It is established that Foil is a fantastic guitar player (he plays the piano too), Arms is an excellent singer (that man's got some pipes!) and Hog plays the bodhrán with all his heart...and shoulders too (he also plays the guitar, we have seen him playing the drummer and, during the 2020 lockdown, a cereal box as well).

FAH are such good singers that the FAHns have asked them several times to please release an album (just read through some comments to the YouTube videos!). If you want to learn FAH songs, we're working on some lyrics page for this Wiki!

The Ryanair Song
This is a very early FAH song and one of their most popular creations. Originally part of their live show and later turned into a YouTube sketch, they performed it again during their 2014 Vicar Street birthday show (on DVD and also available as a clip on YouTube). They returned to it regularly in the second act of later tours, and gave a rendition as an interlude during several radio interviews as well.

The song is written to the tune of I am a Man of Constant Sorrow, a traditional American Folk song. The staging of the YouTube sketch is inspired by a scene from the Coen Brothers film '''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190590/ O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)]''' – if you have seen the clip with George Clooney as the lead singer of the Soggy Bottom Boys, the references should be obvious. If you read the original lyrics, you will understand why the lads have chosen this song.

Here you can find the chords, it's your choice if you want to sing the original version or the FAH one (wink wink).

The Narcissistic Song Collection
Here we have a series of songs changed by the lads for this sketch (and which one of them is singing): Since there are 58 CDs in this collection, many songs didn't make it into the video. Here's those that were at least mentioned in the writings running at the bottom of the video: Some of these songs (in bold), and a new one (Hello, by Lionel Richie - Hello, is it me I'm looking for), have been used in their live show version (clip from SkiddlyWup), sung by Arms and Hog with Foil on guitar: a selection from 138 songs all about 'me'!
 * We will rock you, by the Queen (I will rock you - Hog)
 * I kissed a girl, by Katy Perry (I kiss myself - Foil)
 * Mambo n°5, by Lou Bega (Mambo n° Me! - Arms)
 * Only you, by The Platters (Only Me - Hog) [[File:Only Me.gif|thumb|247x247px|It is 100% a ghost reference. Nobody ever laughed at it, but i stuck at it, and 6 years later, here we are. [Arms on FAH Twitter account 28/06/2019] (GIF by The Pirate Hobbit)]]
 * Truly Madly Deeply, by the Savage Garden (Trume, Madme, Deepme - Foil)
 * Music to watch girls by, by Andy Williams (Watching me go by - Hog)
 * Nothing compares to you, by Sinéad O'Connor (Nothing compares to me - Arms)
 * Wind beneath my wings, by Bette Midler (I'm your hero - Foil)
 * Say You, Say Me, by Lionel Richie (Say me, say me - Hog)
 * Always on my mind, by Elvis Priesley (I was always on my mind - Arms)
 * I built this city
 * Every breath I take
 * Knowing me, Knowing me
 * I am so beautiful, to me
 * When I'm looking like that
 * I wanna hold my hand
 * My Song
 * Me and my hand
 * We my family
 * Because I'm gorgeous
 * She loves me, yeah yeah yeah
 * If I don't know me by now
 * I actually did it my way
 * I am the Champion
 * Can I feel the love tonight
 * I've got it goin on
 * I am the people
 * I'm your hero
 * I didn't start the fire
 * I make me feel like dancing
 * I'm your sunshine
 * I belong to me
 * Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

And of course we mustn't forget to mention the Complete Insulting Song Collection, including: Out now! (We wish...)
 * Creep, by RADIOHEAD (You don't belong here!)

Clickbait Song
With the music of the popular song Mr Sandman, written by Pat Ballard, the lads cleverly used the story of the original song for their lyrics: a vulnerable person dreaming about things to happen, clickbait aims at this type of person; the request in the original song is asked to the sandman, a mythical character who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes...seems familiar? Smart FAH, very smart.

Here the chords for this song.

Songs for the Elderly
This set of songs can be found in their recorded live show Oink and can be seen in the clip from the same show on YouTube. Here a list of the original songs in order:
 * I still haven’t found what I’m looking for (U2)
 * Everybody hurts (R.E.M.)
 * Stayin' alive (Bee Gees)
 * Stairway to heaven (Led Zeppelin)
 * I just called to say I love you (Stevie Wonder)
 * Rapper's delight (The Sugar Hill Gang)
 * My name is (Eminem)
 * U Can’t Touch This (MC Hammer)
 * Party rock anthem (LMFAO ft. Lauren Bennett, GoonRock)
 * Killing in the name (Rage Against The Machine)

Keyboard Commando
This cover of Ed Sheeran's song “Shape of You” can be seen in the show Craicling and in a clip on Youtube. As pointed out by Someone on Youtube, regarding Arms singing, the transition from head voice to mixed voice to chest voice is basically flawless. Someone went further and explained that “when you're singing, the sound can resonate in your chest or in your head. Chest voice is usually quite similar to your normal speaking voice, head voice is typically the type of singing you would use for higher notes. Everyone has a breaking note, so the note where they have to switch from chest to head voice. To make this transition less notable, you can use mixed voice, so as the name suggests, a mix of both head and chest voice. A lot of people are not good enough at singing to make this transition very well. Whereas, in my opinion, Arms did a fantastic job in doing so”. We all agree with that. [for the music lovers, further explanation about falsetto, head voice and flageolet can be found in this video from the Australian songwriter Caleb Coles]. You can find the chords for this song here

On Patreon, during the live stream on 22 October 2020, for the first Hog Show, the lads did some reading of some sketches that were "thrown in the bin". Hog delighted us with one of those song versions... the "more juvenile one", as he has pointed out.

Lanyard Guy (2016)
Written for their 2016 show DoomDah, the tune here is based on another American song that is also featured in the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? (here you have the clip from the film). The original song is Down in the River to Pray, FAH version has more rhythm and is also available in the bonus material section on the Oink DVD.

On 22 August 2015, while at the Edinburg Fringe Festival for SkiddlyWup, Arms tweeted:

"'Oh you have a lanyard, you must be very important #Edfringe'"

The experience that moved him to send out this tweet was no doubt still on his mind while thinking of sketches for their next show. After all, we know Arms holds grudges...

The Irish Farmer (series)

 * Irish Farmer Vs Universal Music
 * Ho Hey by The Lumineers
 * Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars
 * Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-A-Lot
 * Who Let The Dogs Out by Baha Men
 * Shotgun by George Ezra
 * Milkshake by Kelis
 * Bad Guy by Billy Eilish
 * Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus


 * Irish Farmer Behind Famous Pop Songs
 * Someone you loved by Lewis Capaldi
 * Get busy by Sean Paul
 * Slow hands by Niall Horan
 * Steal my girl by One direction
 * I want it that way by Backstreet boys
 * Dance monkey by Tones and I
 * The two following songs were later added to a cutting room floor upload on the FAH Patreon page, Extra Songs from your Favourite Farmer:
 * I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift
 * Drop It Like It's Hot by Snoop Dogg


 * LOST FOOTAGE PROVES Irish Farmer wrote famous pop hits
 * Chandelier by Sia
 * Low by Flo Rida
 * Rolling in the Deep by Adele
 * Hotel California by Eagles
 * Royals by Lorde
 * All of Me by John Legend
 * I Just Can't Get You Out of My Head by Kylie Minogue
 * Insomnia by Faithless
 * All These Things That I've done by The Killers
 * TRIVIA:
 * This Irish Farmer Sketch was really appreciated by FAHns all over the world and inspired many to do different things: see what FAHnvidder Heleendje did here or see the next picture

One new FAHn went on a mission to share the newest video in this series in the comment section of all these videos, fair play Samantha!! Take a look at this snapshot of her brilliant work.

For the last sketch of the greatest musician of all times a.k.a. Mr O' Connaill, we have collected some interesting comments on different social media about this video (apologies for the very low photoshop skills)

Matt Warehouse
A FAH version of the KC & The Sunshine Band's hit That's The Way (I Like It), sung by Hog.

The One Stop Wedding Shop
A FAH version of We didn't start the Fire by Billy Joel, sung by Hog.

What is America?
A FAH version of American Pie by Don McLean, sung by Foil.

Border Control (2013)
Arms shows off how well he can hit the high notes (he reaches B5 in his falsetto register) in this Arabic sounding song of his own (party improvised) composition. In his reply to a comment on YouTube, in which someone requested the name of the song, Arms said that he made it up. The 'lyrics' are gibberish as well.

There are a couple of versions on record (the 2014 Vicar St DVD clip has been put on YouTube) but the sketch dates back from 2013 or even earlier! Compare this one with the SkiddlyWup bonus material if you own the DVD!

The Drunken Monks (2018)
Written for their 2018 show Craicling, this sketch shows how talented our three favourite Irish lads are: a funny Gregorian Chant, a three part harmony tune sung by three young monks coping with the monastery life... in their own way.

The years young Arms and Hog have spent in a choir really pay off here and Foil did great too, as shown by the enthusiastic comments under this video - all praises for the singing skills of our FAH: “Foil is a cracking bass.”, “That switch from chest to head voice by Arms towards the end is so flawless I keep on replaying it”. But what has blown FAHns' minds is Hog and his SooOOOOoooooOOOOOooooooorry: “34 seconds worth!”, “That "sorry" was impressive!”, “Hogs lung capacity is through the damn roof!!”, “Hog is pardoned for past, present and future with a single sorry”. Is there a trick here? Did they use some looped audio there? The FAHndom is divided and, as far as we know, FAH have not officially said anything about it - but Hog decided to play this part again in the outro for When People Talk to their Children about You Some trivia:


 * This comment and FAH reply about how they had the idea for this sketch: COMMENT How do you think of these things. Are ye like watching tv and someone jumps up and goes monks that would be some craic. FAH Playing with reverb before a gig one time
 * Dame Emma Thompson likes this sketch!!



Hard to Break Free From a Union (2019) - aka The Brexit Song
Written for their 2019 show Swines - Foil came up with the idea for the lyrics and he was helped then by the other two - it was turned into a YouTube sketch, complete with costumes and a pub setting (premiered on 6 February 2020). According to FAH, the fact that this song had been performed on stage before becoming a YouTube video, it has helped them a lot in nailing the lists of countries pretty quick. The song became also part of FAH top 10 sketches of 2020 video, where Arms explains why he's "playing" the tin fiddle, where they tell us how Foil learned all the countries' names and who played the bodhrán before Hog (spoiler here).

The Brexit song was virtually applauded on FAH's social accounts, with many FAHns also telling about their struggle to get the song out of their head - the word "catchy" doesn't cover! Among some of the comments, we have chosen 2: the first one points out a teeny tiny mistake in the lyrics "Nobody's grandson will pay to see something in the British Museum lads, it's free!"; the second one, a praise about the famous quick lists of names "Eminem breaks world record for most words/syllables in a minute. Foil arms and hog: hold my beer".

Some trivia:


 * About the lyrics: there is a verse missing in the YouTube video - one that the lads perform during the live show - i.e. the Scottish verse --> William Wallace he tried and he died/ The vote for independence denied/ Andy Murray is only British/ When he's on the winning side.
 * About the video: if you haven't notice, Arms downs a pint of Guinness while Foil is quickly naming all the countries. Arms admitted on some comments that wasn't supposed to happen and that later he had to wait ages before driving home.
 * One of the many musical talented FAHns, Gen, added some other instruments to this song. This version was approved by the lads and you can find it on Gen's YouTube channel here
 * On Foil Arms and Hog Patreon channel, there is an acapella solo version of this song, by Arms.
 * On January 14th 2021, FAH were part of episode 4 of 'VISION', "a six-part online series hosted by Tommy Tiernan that celebrates the magic of Vicar St, the wonderful people who work there and who add so much to its personality and, most importantly, it celebrates Irish artists and reminds us of their brilliance and importance." They performed this song on the Vicar Street stage again - still with an imaginary tin whistle.

Mummy (2019)
Written for their 2019 show Swines, the song is a duet mainly between a mum and her son, about their relationship. In this musical sketch, Arms plays the piano and Foil the guitar. The song do not have a YouTube version and currently the lads are still touring with Swines (2022), after the pandemic stop. For obvious reasons, we cannot and don't want to say more - but if you are really curious about this song, why don't you join the lads on Patreon? They have recorded, in their office, a rehearsal of "Swines" and posted it there.

WARNING: don't write spoilers!

Why The Hell Did Lockdown Have To End? - aka the Lockdown Song (2020)
Written in 3 days for their first post-lockdown sketch. This fantastic, beautifully layered song premiered on 25 June 2020. It had to be recorded after office hours so as not to disturb the accountants and other office personnel in their block.

Trivia:


 * One of the talented musical FAHns, Gen, have posted on YouTube a video where she had added some instruments to this song. The video was approved by the lads - Arms also commented on the last Patreon live-stream of 2020 that he particularly loves the violins. You can find this amazing improved version here
 * Arms confirmed in a comment on YouTube that the cosy dressing gown he is wearing in this video has a hood and deep pockets
 * Talking about the "35 more verses of this song", one of the lads said in a comment that most of them were terrible (we don't believe that). Will we hear those verses some day? Who knows. In the meantime, under their video on YouTube, they commented that there was a verse about going back to "the traffic, the parking, the stress".
 * Arms - probably - wrote in a comment that during the lockdown they did mostly "Computer games and writing". (Well, this is not exactly about this sketch, but..)



Honest Christmas Song (2020)
Premiered on 17 December 2020, with this song we see the return of The Quarantines (the band from Why The Hell Did Lockdown Have To End). Well, we see the return of Arms with the dressing gown anyway (although, in a comment to the video, he admitted it wasn't as cosy as the last one). The original title "Write a Christmas Song and Never Work Again" was changed, after few hours, due to a comment under the video "Finally, an honest Christmas Song" - it seems they liked it as a better title. The lads wrote it in a week and received many compliments on crossed platforms - FAHns, of course, asked for an album to be released and FAH have given really good news: the lads plan to release the album and put some songs on Spotify for spring 2021 (Foil and Arms have both other songs in their pockets to be used). The text of the song lists all the characteristics of every Christmas song ever written and sung.The Great Educators have even used a word that we don't think has ever been used in a song: juxtapose. Arms admitted he kept banging on about that particular word ("I think I offered four different options. Lads probably rolling there eyes at some point haha"). He has also said that he had previous versions with suppose and repose, but then Foil came to the rescue with Lows. A little gem about one line: “I´ll write a song like White Christmas, to make my Christmas green" is the favorite line of one of FAH's mothers. Can you guess which one? (our bet is on Arms' mum). You may also remember that FAH posted an Instagram story about them discussing on a sax solo. We know now they were referring to the over-enthusiastic saxophone of this song - Arms mentioned in a comment that as soon as he noticed the presence of this instrument in a Christmas song, he started hearing it EVERYWHERE. He also confessed he thought that "it's just the mouth trumpet but dirtier". Also, when someone, in a comment, has pointed out that "the (mouth) saxophone solo was nowhere near gratuitous enough", Arms replied "I know. I really wanted 30 seconds, but the lads said it was a bit much"

Now, a couple of funny facts about the video:
 * Hog was so excited mid drumming, he just got up and ran into the costumes room putting on the big giant 50.
 * Singing the line "It'll worm it's way into your brain", Arms is really showing off his crazy eyes. He revealed he had so many crazy eyes takes to choose from that it even creeped him out editing.
 * On April 8th 2021, Arms commented under their "Vaccination Song" video: "That christmas song did (stuck into the head) for me for about 6 weeks..."

Give us the Vax! (The Vaccination Song) (2021)
On April 8th 2021 the lads gave us a new song that some FAHns have considered "The Lockdown Song segue": [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiEP6UZ8X_4 Give us the Vax! (The Vaccination Song)].

FAH "lashed together in a few days" and said it "was a lot of fun to do". It seems the shooting took so many takes that they were exhausted (we always appreciate their commitment). Someone on Instagram found the music familiar, but Arms - most likely - responded “I think we made it up... you never know, do you?”. This time we see Hog as lead singer and playing a guitar, Foil at the guitar and Arms allowed to play the bodhrán again (“The key is to bide your time until the bigger boys have to play their fancy instruments, then you POUNCE”).

One of the jokes in this song, the holidays to Aldi one, was from Arms. He commented under this video: "It was a joke i kept pedaling to my neighbours through lockdown, they're probably sick of it by now!". He clearly likes this line as he kept on answering to comments about it (FAHn: “What part did you go?” - Arms: “I just love frozen food for a winter break and then new world wines for the summer”/ “Beautiful this time of year”). On the 30th April 2021, Hog released a video on Patreon with some of the verses that didn't make it (we're sure it was a hard choice, as the new verses are goooooood).

The Outro here is a gem too: Foil shows once again what a great guitar player he is (a moment that ChristineTheRa1 described as "Foilissimo" on Twitter). There are loads of comments about this, from FAHns in awe and from FAH themselves. Here a small collection from the lads/Arms:


 * "He loves it, so do we!"
 * "The only opportunity he has to show off apart from the sound check before gigs"
 * "He's lovin it, and fair play, it's not often we let him off the leash with that thing!"

Someone suggested this too: "Foil must perform a guitar solo on your next live show. MUST". Arms's answer was "I'll see if i can write something for it, good idea".

Once again, FAHns asked for a FAH songs album... Arms' words: “We're gonna do it. We've got a few more songs unrecorded, and we're gonna write a few more”/ “In the making!”. Let's keep our finger crossed fellow FAHns!

Another great collaboration between FAHns, Gen and J [Gimme That Please on YouTube, check out on this account for other FAH inspired songs] give us a new version of this song with more instruments - you can watch it here

The January Blues (2022)
Premiered on Foil Arms and Hog social media/channels on the13th of January 2022, is a song about... well, that unmotivated feeling of achieving unprobable goals, set resolutions that will be hardly followed, all at the beginning of each year. But, as Arms commented “You gotta have dreams” (he also admited he had failed some of the resolutions but he also has few last ones standind). Speaking of Arms commenting, he wrote that he woke up at 7:50 am to answer to the FAHns questions under the video – thank you Armsington.

Of course, comments about a FAH album or, at least, a Spotify playlist have been written – this could be on the list of 2022 resolutions, as Arms have replied to FAHn. For this performance, each one of them sing some verses, which are obviosly hilarious. The instrumental part, though, has received some praises too. Foil here is beautifully playing the guitar, Arms is at the piano (he admited he practiced till 11 pm on Tuesday night - “I really tried, but it's a bit all over the place to be honest” - fair play to you sir). But it's Hog's performance with the harmonica that... well hogged all the attention (a “virtuoso performance”, Arms has called it – on a side note, FAH also sung and played this song on Patreon during the first live shows after the video premiere, and Hog was definitely improving).

The song was, in FAH words, a struggle to get together and “cobbled together over two days, especially since January is ending soon”. The end of this song was mostly made up by Hog (Arms thought Flango only had the first of the last verses and then improvised – comment: “Syracure!! Great rhyme” FAH: Getting desperate he was”). As for the Blues Doomdah at the end of the video, folks, you have to know Foil insisted (and we thank him). Arms also said they had few extra verses, we all hope they will be used at least in a Patreon video.

Trivia:


 * Prop and background in this video is, of course, Hog's work, a.k.a. The Prop Whisperer.
 * As for the costumes, here some comments from Arms about them: Foil is not wearing shorts (because he had to change ad the shot was too low) and not wearing a cap because, accordig to Arms, “The best ones were taken”. Hog brought his own suit.

SPECIAL MENTION: SQUATTERS TITLE CREDITS
In 2020 FAH uploaded the first episode of Squatters, their own sitcom. This was just an introduction of the story and the characters, but in 2021, when they filmed and released the second episode, they did a proper title credits (graphic from @Heleendje): guitar played by Foil and tune sung by Foil too. Down here you can watch Heleen's video and, if you like, you can visit our Squatters page.

FAH songs Transcribed
Do you want to play some of the Foil Arms and Hog songs and don't know where to look? For those interested, visit our page FAH songs Transcribed & Adapted by FAHns here (page FAH approved). Some FAHntastic musical talents in the FAHndom have come to the rescue ;)