# Rock Songs With Bagpipes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 23, 2008, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459 "2008-07-23T05:39:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/21 "2008-07-23T12:38:51Z")
And here I thought Big Country was an archtypical one hit wonder. Ignorance fought! ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/59ef9b/32.png) [@FlyingRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRat)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/22 "2008-07-23T12:42:33Z")
[QUOTE=Koxinga] Ah, but then I discovered [this video](http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wk25TuaCwk&feature=related), seeing it for the first time in ~25 years. Neat Celtic sounding guitar effects in that one, too. [/QUOTE] If you like that one, check out [One Great Thing](http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=D-IhhSfPrHc&feature=related). That song kicks ass. (Even more so with the morris dancers!) ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/23 "2008-07-23T12:55:33Z")
[QUOTE=FlyingRat] If you like that one, check out [One Great Thing](http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=D-IhhSfPrHc&feature=related). That song kicks ass. (Even more so with the morris dancers!) [/QUOTE] Great song - great video. It really brought a smile to my face. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/24 "2008-07-23T13:26:04Z")
Nothing to add but a joke Why do bagpipe players march when they play? To get away from the noise ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/25 "2008-07-23T13:27:42Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] I was going to say [Run Runaway](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09CuKZp4UZA) by _Slade_, but they’re pretty heavily obscured. [/QUOTE] That was going to be mine, too. I’m wondering if the bagpipe sound we hear on that and the other guitar-originating “bagpipes” mentioned above is because the music has that Celtic “reel” rhythm to it and we associate that with pipes? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/26 "2008-07-23T13:59:20Z")
The aforementioned Dropkick Murphys have quite a few songs with pipes. Check out the albums “The Meanest of Times” and “The Warrior’s Code.” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/27 "2008-07-23T14:14:14Z")
Rod Stewart, “Rhythm of My Heart.” Not my favorite song, but a good use o’ the pipes. A sidenote: My sister graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Andrew Carnegie’s bequest to the school was on the condition that it always offer a bagpipe-performance major; sometimes no one majors in it, sometimes only one or two people, but it’s always offered (the WSJ had an article on it a few years back). Also, a bagpiper always leads the academic procession at commencement at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/28 "2008-07-23T14:19:49Z")
OP checking in. I can’t access the youtube links from work, but will check them out tonight. I love Big Country! It always sounded like pipes to me. Hey, what about Nazareth? Didn’t they have some pipey-sounding songs? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/29 "2008-07-23T15:48:27Z")
[QUOTE=MadTheSwine] Nothing to add but a joke Why do bagpipe players march when they play? To get away from the noise [/QUOTE] Wombat’s law: Every time people who enjoy bagpipe music start a thread, some thread-shitter will show up and start the bagpipe jokes. _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/30 "2008-07-23T15:55:02Z")
[QUOTE=InvisibleWombat] Wombat’s law: Every time people who enjoy bagpipe music start a thread, some thread-shitter will show up and start the bagpipe jokes. _sigh_ [/QUOTE] Eh. Pipers probably originated most of the bagpipe jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/31 "2008-07-23T16:11:37Z")
“Out Like A Lamb” by Happy Rhodes (from her album Equipoise) has bagpipes in it. It’s about her father, who was a huge fan of bagpipes. From her bio: > [@](#): > > Music was an early inclination, as were dance and art. Her father, Vernon H. Rhodes Jr., exposed Happy to his very eclectic musical tastes early on. She would sit on the floor in front of his console stereo and listen to Switched-On-Bach until she could sing along with every note. “I remember some Saturday mornings I’d wake up to Bagpipe music BLARING through the house and that meant that he’d be listening to his whole collection all day… I loved walking around the house, singing along with every record or reel-to-reel tape.” ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/32 "2008-07-23T18:58:25Z")
“Jump Around” -House of Pain, an Irish-style hip-hop group in the early '90s. (Does that count, even though it’s not quite “rock”?) ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/33 "2008-07-24T01:14:36Z")
Not sure if this counts as ‘rock’, but FWIW Sting uses Northumbrian smallpipes several times. For example, “Island of Souls” (from _The Soul Cages_) opens with a moving pipes solo by Kathryn Tickell. She’s also credited on _Ten Summoner’s Tales_ and _Mercury Falling_, but offhand I can’t recall which tracks she played the pipes on. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/34 "2008-07-24T01:49:09Z")
If you’re interested in expanding your horizons to jazz, you should know about [Rufus Harley](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufus_Harley). Years and years ago, a friend of mine came across an LP in a cutout bin with picture of a black guy with dreadlocks wearing a kilt and playing the bagpipes. IIRC, on one side of the album Rufus plays sax, and on the other bagpipes. He plays mostly jazz standards, backed by a small ensemble. On hearing a jazz rendition of “Chim Chim Cheree” played on bagpipes, most people go through several distinct phases: shock, amazement, laughter, growing discomfort, and distress. Prolonged exposure can lead to insanity. (This was clearly the effect it had on Rufus, as indicated by the bizarre rants documented in the [video tribute](http://www.amazon.com/Pipes-Peace-Rufus-Harley/dp/B000X25FUA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1216863768&sr=8-3) to him released earlier this year.) Nevertheless, he recorded with artists such as Laurie Anderson, Herbie Mann, and Sonny Rollins, and toured all over the world for decades, often giving fans miniature Liberty Bells, the symbol of his native Philadelphia. His early Atlantic albums are available in [a boxed set](http://www.amazon.com/Courage-Atlantic-Recordings-Rufus-Harley/dp/B000PBSPGK/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1216863768&sr=8-1). He died in 2006, at the age of 70. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/35 "2008-07-24T02:19:52Z")
Look for McQuaig, a Canadian rock band who I used to see in Yellowknife and Western Canada quite a bit - Johnny McQuaig plays pipes like a wildman. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/36 "2008-07-24T02:31:25Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] “Jump Around” -House of Pain, an Irish-style hip-hop group in the early '90s. (Does that count, even though it’s not quite “rock”?) [/QUOTE] Here’s that song in Irish (Gaelic) by American comedian, Des Bishop, ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/R4LCpzNQW58/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/R4LCpzNQW58?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/37 "2008-07-24T02:51:12Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] That was going to be mine, too. I’m wondering if the bagpipe sound we hear on that and the other guitar-originating “bagpipes” mentioned above is because the music has that Celtic “reel” rhythm to it and we associate that with pipes? [/QUOTE] Mine, too! ---
**Author:** ![wheelie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b4bc9f/32.png) [@wheelie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheelie)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/38 "2008-07-24T04:05:10Z")
[Come Talk To Me](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAmMw1GSrtY) by Peter Gabriel starts with bagpipes. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/39 "2008-07-24T04:22:20Z")
“Sleep the Clock Around” by Belle & Sebastian. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459/40 "2008-07-24T04:49:31Z")
[QUOTE=MadTheSwine] Nothing to add but a joke Why do bagpipe players march when they play? To get away from the noise [/QUOTE] And how does posting a tired, lame and insulting joke help to answer the OP’s interesting question? If you’ve got nothing of any value to contribute, why don’t you just stay out of the thread? Me, I was going to mention Mull of Kintyre, and would also second **Invisible Wombat’s** mention of Enter the Haggis - they’re a great rock - piping band. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-bagpipes/457459.md?page=3)