“Whiskey in the Jar” is a famous Irish traditional song, set in the southern mountains of Ireland, with specific mention of Cork and Kerry counties, as well as Fenit, a village in Kerry county.
It is about a highwayman, or perhaps a footpad, who is betrayed by his wife or lover, and is one of the most widely performed traditional Irish songs. It has been recorded by numerous professional artists since the 1950s. The song first gained wide exposure when the Irish folk band, The Dubliners, performed it internationally as a signature song, and recorded it on three albums in the 1960s. Building on their success, the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy hit the Irish and British pop charts with the song in the early 1970s. The American metal band Metallica brought it to a wider rock audience in 1998, and won a Grammy for the song in 2000 for Best Hard Rock Performance. It is sung with many variants on locations and names; In typical songbook fashion, the Grateful Dead version begins:
