At best, they're truly useful, like with The Book of Luvely Irish Recipes Yer Ma Useta Make When You were a Little Gurrier, which offers a selection of tempting dishes to make. At worst, they're a mere curiosity, like with The Book of Deadly Irish Quotations Some Smart Fecker in the Pub is Always Blatherin' on About and The Book of Feckin' Irish Slang That's Great Craic for Cute Hoors & Bowsies, both of which offer a taste of Irish culture without much substance behind them.

But the only book in Colin Murphy and Donal O'Dea's Feckin' Book series that truly disappointed me was this one. The Book of Irish Songs Yer Oul' Fella Always Sang When He was Jarred at a Hooley is the one I expected to enjoy the most, because I'm in an Irish band and am always on the lookout for new songs to learn, but there's not much here of interest.

The book includes the lyrics to 27 songs. No melody or musical information that might help someone learn the music, just the words. Each is prefaced with a sentence or two that's meant to be funny.

"Danny Boy" -- "When me Auntie Maureen used to sing this -- Ireland's favourite song of love and death -- it never failed to bring a tear to me eye. I swear, her voice really was that bad."

"The Irish Rover" -- "This is one of those tunes that when your Da or your uncle starts crowing it at the hooley after the wedding, it seems to last forever, or at least as long as it took the Irish Rover to wander the high seas. And all the while you're left standing there, stupid false grin on your gob, pretending to tap your foot to the tune and dying to go to the bar for a pint. So remember, as soon as it stops, it's time to abandon ship."

"Raggle Taggle Gypsy" -- "This is the one where everyone knows the tune, but only one die-hard knows all the lyrics and everyone else joins in irritatingly on the last three words of each verse."

This set of four books has no real practical reason for existing beyond filling space in a Celtic-themed gift shop, but the other three books offered some level of entertainment and, in some cases, usefulness. The Book of Irish Songs falls flat.