Tonight’s gig in Mullingar was a great way to kick off 2026 Christy- happy New Year to you & your family
Great gig- as always
Thanks for Rosalita, a great tune we haven’t heard live in a while
Hope to see you in action again shortly
Noel, Sinead & Lucy
Christy's reply
That was a good call out last night…I stumbled at the finale and write the corrected verses below…if only to embed them in my minds
Verse 4
“The years passed over ,behind her closed door
Anita she sank into Prozaac and Gin.
her nights and her days spent in a haze
down that lonesome road thinking what might have been
Rosalita, the dark Senorita,
still waiting to hear from Jack Cambell her man.
He whispers to her, lets ride into the Sunset
Heaven ‘s only one step from the old Rio Grande
Final Chorus.
And way out beyond the Black Mountain
Rosalita and Jack Cambell dance
where troubles and old songs are forgotten and gone
and Dreamers still hold on to Love and Romance……(Sean Mone)
This song of Sean Mone’s goes in deep with me…it says so much in its few verses….it reminds me of what has been endured….it details the horror ande the hope..the rerality and the dreams…
lovely to see you and your family in the front row
Thanks for a great night tonight Christy. What a great start to 2026 for all of who were lucky enough to share the evening with you. I hope you enjoyed it yourself.
Thanks again. Séamus
Christy's reply
It was a great start to the year Séamus
such a great welcome back to Mullingar,
such great audience singing…
and they had the heat on early…fair play to The Park
I’m really looking forward to seeing you again tonight in Mullingar! I recently watched the new documentary on your career and was blown away. What a career you have had, and continue to have.
I recently saw a young folk five-piece called Some One’s Sons play the Mullingar Arts Centre on Stephen’s Night. They played a lot of their own original songs, and really blew us away with Sail on Jimmy and a beautiful rendition of Nancy Spain. What beautiful tributes. You continue to inspire the next generation of performers!
Happy New Year and looking forward to tonight’s gig.
Christy's reply
“Sail on Jimmy” ( aka Irish Pagan Ritual) written by Albert Niland of Mountbellew…
he sent me that great song from San Francisco…hes back home now Thanks Be…a fine song writer and a great musician
Have a gang of Brennans and other relations heading into Mullingar tonight, a great buzz about and a brilliant way to wrap up our Christmas is seeing yourself.
Hi Christy Harry here. Im coming to your gig in mulingar tonight. I saw your documentary on New Year’s Eve, it was very well made. I’m also going to your vicar street gig in February, I can’t wait for that one. I’ve been playing a lot of music lately. I’m doing some more pub gigs and I’ve been busking a lot too. I’ve also started playing with my friend who’s on the drums which has been great. If you get a chance I’ve love if you could play joxer and Spancil hill tonight, no pressure at all though. Thanks Christy, Harry.
Christy's reply
good morning Harry,
good to hear from you, to hear about your gigging and busking…
what songs are you doing these days ?
Is Loughrea a good busking town…
did you ever sing “The Grey Lake of Loughrea”?..
I played a Festival there 40 years ago..
In the GAA field….
Keep up the good work
Wishing you and all the crew a great start to the year of gigs… the snow and ice has put a stop to our plans…. too far and too risky with a bad forecast for the next 48 hours.
Brighter days ahead…. maybe a rematch of Cartlann will soften the blow.
Safe travels to all heading to the middle of the Island.
Christy's reply
Marty…..you made the right decision….we’ll catch up again soon..
Regretfully it took me 30 years to discover you. Now that I have, I listen to you every day and I’m going to spend the rest of my life going to as many of your gigs as I can. It’s nice to be “on tour” with Christy. In the last year I’ve been to see you in Belfast and Trim, and tonight in Mullingar. It’s amazing connecting with different parts of our country through your stories and music.
I would love to hear the song Me and the Rose live. It’s such an exciting story told in the medium of music. I also love how even the great Christy Moore talks about this song, saying it “never even got the courtesy of a rejection slip” when it didn’t make it into the Eurovision, and how you “heard a report that it was played on the wireless once but you never had that fact confirmed.” Those little bits of tidbits make it even better.
Finally, Happy New Year and good luck for your 60th year on the road.
Hi Christy,
My parents and my younger brother and I are coming to your show in Mullingar tonight and we can’t wait!
However, we’re one person short of what we should be. My older brother Jamie Colbourne died suddenly in Perth Australia in August 2025, at only 26yrs old. He was just out for a jog when he collapsed and was gone, they still don’t know what the cause was.
He was a huge fan of yours and we were all supposed to go see you in concert for the first time when he was due to come home in September. This was going to be his first visit home in 2 years, and we were so excited to see him and to all go see you together. He wanted to make sure he got to see you while you were still touring, but he passed before he could.
One of his favourite songs of yours was Beeswing, and it described him so well – he was wild and free, and a mad eejit too but he was living life to the fullest. We played Beeswing and Sail on Jimmy at his funeral, the latter being the final song to send him off. It was the perfect one for it – funny, which was Jamie to a t, and a sad celebration of the life being sent away to a new shore. This has been such an important image for us during this difficult time, the idea that we’re sending away our Jamie with love to a new shore where he’ll be welcomed by new adventure or whatever it is that awaits us.
If you see this and there’s any chance you could give him a shout out tonight or play one of these two songs for him, it would mean the absolute world to us and him. We know he’ll be there with us in spirit anyways, we’re really looking forward to tonight.
Thank you,
Donna Colbourne
Enjoy year 60! I just did the sums and Autumn will mark 55 years since I was gripped by your songs in the Golden Lion ‘floor spot’…it lead to your bookings and Planxty gigs…
I know I’m not the longest haul listener…any takers for the one who is? That’s pre,Autumn 1971…
Enjoy tonight.
Wishing everyone a safe and successful return to the 2026 run of gigs. No doubt some re-emerging, revitalised, and perhaps some new songs to appear on these magic nights… The never ending tour translates in Irish to “Turas gan deireadh”…
Hi Christy,
Thanks b to Mary B.
We dont get The New Yorker delivered much no more.
His Bobness describing Willie Nelson’s voice as
“A warm porch light left on for wanderers who kissed
goodbye to soon or stayed too long …”
Texans still believe they just go up to Willie’s house
when they die. They may be right. They may be wrong.
Also thanks to Rory B
“Whiskey stores are depleted now,
Christmas port a hollow object –
Not even a scent
left in the empty bottle”
Ach a chara, míle buíochas as an gclár speisialta ar TnaG.
Caithfidh muid glaoch isteach an ITMA nuair a bheidh muid suas arís.
Tabhair Aire
Bourkey
Christy's reply
ceapim go bhfuil Zimmy an búachaill is fearr cun cúpla líne a scríobh ar Willie Nelson
Béidir go méidh an bheirt againn istigh san ITMA ag an am céanna
( I’m thinking that Zimmy might be the best man to write a few lines about Willie
maybe the pair of us will be inItma at the sme time )
excuse mo Bhórd na Móna gaeilge
The Bog of Allen Gaeltacht attracted many different dialects
some beautiful poetry landing here of late
Hoping to commence year 60 of the neverending Folk Club Tour in Mystical Mullingar later today
I’ve just rewatched you and Sinead…Lord Baker…controlled voices in perfect sync…stunning…Sinead…such a loss
D
Christy's reply
They made a vow for 7 years
and seven more to keep it strong
sayin if you don’t wed with no other woman
I’m sure I’ll wed with no other man………( John Jacko Reilly)
A fabulous doc…a wonderful legacy from you,superbly captured by ITMA and TG4
The January Man also brought a gem via Rory…his son in law has a pure talent.Thanks for a mighty start to the year with a superb poem
Spirits and temperature raised…
Dave
Christy's reply
Yeah Dave…that Dazzler Murphy can surely turn a phrase…Dazzler & Dylan on the same page..this old platform is buzzin tonight….Suffragette City Abú
Joining the chorus of praise for the TG4 documentary.
Some lovely writing about music and the connection with a guitar in a piece about Willie Nelson just published in the New Yorker.
The journalist asked Bob Dylan to share his thoughts:I asked Dylan about Nelson, he wrote back with a warning:
“It’s hard to talk about Willie without saying something stupid or irrelevant, he is so much of everything.
How can you make sense of him?
How would you define the indefinable or the unfathomable?
What is there to say?
Ancient Viking Soul? Master Builder of the Impossible?
Patron poet of people who never quite fit in and don’t much care to?
Moonshine Philosopher? Tumbleweed singer with a PhD?
Red Bandana troubadour, braids like twin ropes lassoing eternity?
What do you say about a guy who plays an old, battered guitar that he treats like it’s the last loyal dog in the universe?
Cowboy apparition, writes songs with holes that you can crawl through to escape from something.
Voice like a warm porchlight left on for wanderers who kissed goodbye too soon.. or stayed too long.
I guess you can say all that.
But it really doesn’t tell you a lot or explain anything about Willie.
Personally speaking, I’ve always known him to be kind, generous, tolerant and understanding of human feebleness, a benefactor, a father and a friend.
He’s like the invisible air. He’s high and low. He’s in harmony with nature. And that’s what makes him Willie.” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/12/29/willie-nelson-profile
Christy's reply
Who better to ask about Willie….or to ask about anything….
what a beautiful description of that old renegade warbler….
Wiilie and Waylon….What a pair they made
and thank you Hilary so much for sharing this link with us…. I feel blessed to be always part of the whole thing here…so I could watch this documentary which is so great and impressing… so filled with splendid memories, pictures, facts and music… music… music…. so very interesting and touching heart …. my very special moment was just at the beginning …. Lannigan s Ball just you with your magic bodhran … I loved it .. and then followed by all those fascinating stories… what a life… what a huge tresure of memories … thanks a lot for all this!!!
and all the best for this new year to you and your family and your great crew around you … stay healthy and happy and ride on..
I hope we ll soon meet again in good mood and the music will keep out spirits high…
specially me looking very much forward to seeing you in february in Vicar street
God bless
Ursula
Yesterday Christy i popped up to Glesga to see 3yo Connall and 1yo Innes again, for their ‘new year minding’ i bought their dad a £1 LP of bird&country sounds to play before he & Connall nipped out to see the beautiful whole moon. To my delight when i got home, 150 minutes later, my soninlaw Dazzler Murphy had crafted and sent me this gem. So wonderful that i want to share it with you and the 4711ers
“Birds and Other Sounds of the Countryside”
The breeze is delicate,
Cold breath on bare skin,
Unperturbing to the badger,
Thick-coated in piebald,
Skimming through suburban gardens.
Windscreens glisten with frost.
Streetlights murmur.
The blanket of night
And its darkness,
Permeable to the fullness
Of the lunar phase.
For what clouds exist,
Sparse, strung out,
Could be mistaken
For leftover trails
From pyrotechnics
Ignited the evening before,
As the year passed
And Auld Lang Syne
Chapped from each letter box.
The wind dared to lift.
Whisky stores are depleted now,
Christmas port a hollow object —
Not even a scent
Left in the empty bottle.
The festivities are over.
Winter continues,
Binding the past and future
In ice.
The present…
Inside, the turntable revolves
With sounds from the middle distance
And individual performers:
A second-hand, perhaps third-hand vinyl.
Wren, wood pigeon, and jackdaw.
Wading birds of the mudflats.
The outdoors from the comfort
Of an armchair.
One minute twenty-two
Of sedge warbler.
Fifty seconds of wind and rain
Falling on unknown moorland.
It is a new year,
But we can still enjoy
The old ways.
On Monday I’ll return to work,
Agitating a clog
In cast iron,
Hacksawing lead
Burst beneath a tenement,
And it won’t matter the year —
It’s back to normality.
Christy's reply
your girl married well…Dazzler has a cool way with words….I found myself trying to sing it
Christy , inspired by your inclusion of Shane’s work in the ITMA, i listened once again to the Pogues’ first 5 albums yesterday, what a joy.
It brought back so many wonderful memories, seeing them support Declan McManus at the Playhouse with tea trays flailing, then in a rabble gig in Coasters night club, their shaped picture discs of sally maclennane etc, sweat pouring gigs in the Barras, turning up to a ‘Popes’ gig that had been cancelled that day, the stuff of legend.
The songs, so many mammoth songs Transmetropolitan, Boys from the County Hell, Auld Main Drag, broad Majestic Shannon, Philip’s wonderful Thousands are sailing, Sayonara, Fiesta, Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six, Young ned of the Hill….deadoralive how we miss Spider, Jem, Philip, Shane and all who graced their band.
Rory
Christy's reply
There was a time in my life when I could listen to 5 albums in a night….but I nevr got any work done…
the first time I heard Shane sing was on a Juke Box ion The Kilburn High Road before a gig in The Gaumont when Planxty played a gig with Doc Watson
Hello Christy, I have been watching the documentary about you. It is beautiful, and moving too. I am sure you have a strong woman beside you. Thanks for sharing the link so we can also watch abroad.
Ps what happened in Switzerland reminds me your song They never came home. So sad…
Christy I must mention Paula Meehan , she gave a great insight into your writing style, her poem “The Statue of the Virgin at Granard Speaks” is a very powerful piece of work.
To a better year than the past,
To a kinder day than the last
Love Fin
Hi Christy, I just wanted to say that the documentary film was brilliant to watch , a little bit of everything. I found the ending very profound and insightful. “ Rocket on a one way trip to Mars”, I tell ye that’s a great writing Git.
I had me tayto, double decker and club orange all on the coffee table New Year’s Eve, like I was at the picture house beside the “green snot river”.Lovely to hear Wally mentioned and I wholeheartedly agree with you on your point made. I passed the TG4 onto my good friend George Doyle from Rhode Island, he was a good mate of Rory Gallagher’s .
If you ever do another “ Gathering “ in Lisdoonvarna will ye give this Lily ballad singer the heads up, I hopefully will see you at the end of August, Kieran Kelly and myself are chatting about doing a Back Yard gig and maybe another venue for a Woman’s Aid gig around that time.
I seen your eyes well up for the loss of Ann Rose Lovett when you sang but I also saw that smile that came over you talking about her and I’m sure she is hugging you, it was a beautiful moment Christy.
“I started hallucinating, the mushrooms were kicking in”
Christy I wish Val , yourself and all the family the very best in 2026 .
Turnips and Hay , Love Fin
Christy's reply
We’ve talked for 10 years about another Lisdoon gathering..
that last one was legendary…not many people know this but the tall lad outa The Script was there…….a Kneecap was there too in a pram…Rev Willie McCrea was dressed us as a nun but was twigged when he could not say the second half of the Hail Mary
Tonight’s gig in Mullingar was a great way to kick off 2026 Christy- happy New Year to you & your family
Great gig- as always
Thanks for Rosalita, a great tune we haven’t heard live in a while
Hope to see you in action again shortly
Noel, Sinead & Lucy
That was a good call out last night…I stumbled at the finale and write the corrected verses below…if only to embed them in my minds
Verse 4
“The years passed over ,behind her closed door
Anita she sank into Prozaac and Gin.
her nights and her days spent in a haze
down that lonesome road thinking what might have been
Rosalita, the dark Senorita,
still waiting to hear from Jack Cambell her man.
He whispers to her, lets ride into the Sunset
Heaven ‘s only one step from the old Rio Grande
Final Chorus.
And way out beyond the Black Mountain
Rosalita and Jack Cambell dance
where troubles and old songs are forgotten and gone
and Dreamers still hold on to Love and Romance……(Sean Mone)
This song of Sean Mone’s goes in deep with me…it says so much in its few verses….it reminds me of what has been endured….it details the horror ande the hope..the rerality and the dreams…
lovely to see you and your family in the front row
Thanks for a great night tonight Christy. What a great start to 2026 for all of who were lucky enough to share the evening with you. I hope you enjoyed it yourself.
Thanks again. Séamus
It was a great start to the year Séamus
such a great welcome back to Mullingar,
such great audience singing…
and they had the heat on early…fair play to The Park
Hi Christy,
I’m really looking forward to seeing you again tonight in Mullingar! I recently watched the new documentary on your career and was blown away. What a career you have had, and continue to have.
I recently saw a young folk five-piece called Some One’s Sons play the Mullingar Arts Centre on Stephen’s Night. They played a lot of their own original songs, and really blew us away with Sail on Jimmy and a beautiful rendition of Nancy Spain. What beautiful tributes. You continue to inspire the next generation of performers!
Happy New Year and looking forward to tonight’s gig.
“Sail on Jimmy” ( aka Irish Pagan Ritual) written by Albert Niland of Mountbellew…
he sent me that great song from San Francisco…hes back home now Thanks Be…a fine song writer and a great musician
Howaya Christy. Hope you had a nice Christmas.
Have a gang of Brennans and other relations heading into Mullingar tonight, a great buzz about and a brilliant way to wrap up our Christmas is seeing yourself.
All the best,
Nollaig
Welcome home Nollaig
Hi Christy Harry here. Im coming to your gig in mulingar tonight. I saw your documentary on New Year’s Eve, it was very well made. I’m also going to your vicar street gig in February, I can’t wait for that one. I’ve been playing a lot of music lately. I’m doing some more pub gigs and I’ve been busking a lot too. I’ve also started playing with my friend who’s on the drums which has been great. If you get a chance I’ve love if you could play joxer and Spancil hill tonight, no pressure at all though. Thanks Christy, Harry.
good morning Harry,
good to hear from you, to hear about your gigging and busking…
what songs are you doing these days ?
Is Loughrea a good busking town…
did you ever sing “The Grey Lake of Loughrea”?..
I played a Festival there 40 years ago..
In the GAA field….
Keep up the good work
Wishing you and all the crew a great start to the year of gigs… the snow and ice has put a stop to our plans…. too far and too risky with a bad forecast for the next 48 hours.
Brighter days ahead…. maybe a rematch of Cartlann will soften the blow.
Safe travels to all heading to the middle of the Island.
Marty…..you made the right decision….we’ll catch up again soon..
Dearest Christy,
Regretfully it took me 30 years to discover you. Now that I have, I listen to you every day and I’m going to spend the rest of my life going to as many of your gigs as I can. It’s nice to be “on tour” with Christy. In the last year I’ve been to see you in Belfast and Trim, and tonight in Mullingar. It’s amazing connecting with different parts of our country through your stories and music.
I would love to hear the song Me and the Rose live. It’s such an exciting story told in the medium of music. I also love how even the great Christy Moore talks about this song, saying it “never even got the courtesy of a rejection slip” when it didn’t make it into the Eurovision, and how you “heard a report that it was played on the wireless once but you never had that fact confirmed.” Those little bits of tidbits make it even better.
Finally, Happy New Year and good luck for your 60th year on the road.
All the best,
Mannix
Hi Christy,
My parents and my younger brother and I are coming to your show in Mullingar tonight and we can’t wait!
However, we’re one person short of what we should be. My older brother Jamie Colbourne died suddenly in Perth Australia in August 2025, at only 26yrs old. He was just out for a jog when he collapsed and was gone, they still don’t know what the cause was.
He was a huge fan of yours and we were all supposed to go see you in concert for the first time when he was due to come home in September. This was going to be his first visit home in 2 years, and we were so excited to see him and to all go see you together. He wanted to make sure he got to see you while you were still touring, but he passed before he could.
One of his favourite songs of yours was Beeswing, and it described him so well – he was wild and free, and a mad eejit too but he was living life to the fullest. We played Beeswing and Sail on Jimmy at his funeral, the latter being the final song to send him off. It was the perfect one for it – funny, which was Jamie to a t, and a sad celebration of the life being sent away to a new shore. This has been such an important image for us during this difficult time, the idea that we’re sending away our Jamie with love to a new shore where he’ll be welcomed by new adventure or whatever it is that awaits us.
If you see this and there’s any chance you could give him a shout out tonight or play one of these two songs for him, it would mean the absolute world to us and him. We know he’ll be there with us in spirit anyways, we’re really looking forward to tonight.
Thank you,
Donna Colbourne
Hi Christy
Enjoy year 60! I just did the sums and Autumn will mark 55 years since I was gripped by your songs in the Golden Lion ‘floor spot’…it lead to your bookings and Planxty gigs…
I know I’m not the longest haul listener…any takers for the one who is? That’s pre,Autumn 1971…
Enjoy tonight.
Dave
Wishing everyone a safe and successful return to the 2026 run of gigs. No doubt some re-emerging, revitalised, and perhaps some new songs to appear on these magic nights… The never ending tour translates in Irish to “Turas gan deireadh”…
Hi Christy,
Thanks b to Mary B.
We dont get The New Yorker delivered much no more.
His Bobness describing Willie Nelson’s voice as
“A warm porch light left on for wanderers who kissed
goodbye to soon or stayed too long …”
Texans still believe they just go up to Willie’s house
when they die. They may be right. They may be wrong.
Also thanks to Rory B
“Whiskey stores are depleted now,
Christmas port a hollow object –
Not even a scent
left in the empty bottle”
Ach a chara, míle buíochas as an gclár speisialta ar TnaG.
Caithfidh muid glaoch isteach an ITMA nuair a bheidh muid suas arís.
Tabhair Aire
Bourkey
ceapim go bhfuil Zimmy an búachaill is fearr cun cúpla líne a scríobh ar Willie Nelson
Béidir go méidh an bheirt againn istigh san ITMA ag an am céanna
( I’m thinking that Zimmy might be the best man to write a few lines about Willie
maybe the pair of us will be inItma at the sme time )
excuse mo Bhórd na Móna gaeilge
The Bog of Allen Gaeltacht attracted many different dialects
some beautiful poetry landing here of late
Hoping to commence year 60 of the neverending Folk Club Tour in Mystical Mullingar later today
I’ve just rewatched you and Sinead…Lord Baker…controlled voices in perfect sync…stunning…Sinead…such a loss
D
They made a vow for 7 years
and seven more to keep it strong
sayin if you don’t wed with no other woman
I’m sure I’ll wed with no other man………( John Jacko Reilly)
Hi Christy
A fabulous doc…a wonderful legacy from you,superbly captured by ITMA and TG4
The January Man also brought a gem via Rory…his son in law has a pure talent.Thanks for a mighty start to the year with a superb poem
Spirits and temperature raised…
Dave
Yeah Dave…that Dazzler Murphy can surely turn a phrase…Dazzler & Dylan on the same page..this old platform is buzzin tonight….Suffragette City Abú
Joining the chorus of praise for the TG4 documentary.
Some lovely writing about music and the connection with a guitar in a piece about Willie Nelson just published in the New Yorker.
The journalist asked Bob Dylan to share his thoughts:I asked Dylan about Nelson, he wrote back with a warning:
“It’s hard to talk about Willie without saying something stupid or irrelevant, he is so much of everything.
How can you make sense of him?
How would you define the indefinable or the unfathomable?
What is there to say?
Ancient Viking Soul? Master Builder of the Impossible?
Patron poet of people who never quite fit in and don’t much care to?
Moonshine Philosopher? Tumbleweed singer with a PhD?
Red Bandana troubadour, braids like twin ropes lassoing eternity?
What do you say about a guy who plays an old, battered guitar that he treats like it’s the last loyal dog in the universe?
Cowboy apparition, writes songs with holes that you can crawl through to escape from something.
Voice like a warm porchlight left on for wanderers who kissed goodbye too soon.. or stayed too long.
I guess you can say all that.
But it really doesn’t tell you a lot or explain anything about Willie.
Personally speaking, I’ve always known him to be kind, generous, tolerant and understanding of human feebleness, a benefactor, a father and a friend.
He’s like the invisible air. He’s high and low. He’s in harmony with nature. And that’s what makes him Willie.”
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/12/29/willie-nelson-profile
Who better to ask about Willie….or to ask about anything….
what a beautiful description of that old renegade warbler….
Wiilie and Waylon….What a pair they made
Hello Christy
and thank you Hilary so much for sharing this link with us…. I feel blessed to be always part of the whole thing here…so I could watch this documentary which is so great and impressing… so filled with splendid memories, pictures, facts and music… music… music…. so very interesting and touching heart …. my very special moment was just at the beginning …. Lannigan s Ball just you with your magic bodhran … I loved it .. and then followed by all those fascinating stories… what a life… what a huge tresure of memories … thanks a lot for all this!!!
and all the best for this new year to you and your family and your great crew around you … stay healthy and happy and ride on..
I hope we ll soon meet again in good mood and the music will keep out spirits high…
specially me looking very much forward to seeing you in february in Vicar street
God bless
Ursula
She stepped out and I stepped in again
Yesterday Christy i popped up to Glesga to see 3yo Connall and 1yo Innes again, for their ‘new year minding’ i bought their dad a £1 LP of bird&country sounds to play before he & Connall nipped out to see the beautiful whole moon. To my delight when i got home, 150 minutes later, my soninlaw Dazzler Murphy had crafted and sent me this gem. So wonderful that i want to share it with you and the 4711ers
“Birds and Other Sounds of the Countryside”
The breeze is delicate,
Cold breath on bare skin,
Unperturbing to the badger,
Thick-coated in piebald,
Skimming through suburban gardens.
Windscreens glisten with frost.
Streetlights murmur.
The blanket of night
And its darkness,
Permeable to the fullness
Of the lunar phase.
For what clouds exist,
Sparse, strung out,
Could be mistaken
For leftover trails
From pyrotechnics
Ignited the evening before,
As the year passed
And Auld Lang Syne
Chapped from each letter box.
The wind dared to lift.
Whisky stores are depleted now,
Christmas port a hollow object —
Not even a scent
Left in the empty bottle.
The festivities are over.
Winter continues,
Binding the past and future
In ice.
The present…
Inside, the turntable revolves
With sounds from the middle distance
And individual performers:
A second-hand, perhaps third-hand vinyl.
Wren, wood pigeon, and jackdaw.
Wading birds of the mudflats.
The outdoors from the comfort
Of an armchair.
One minute twenty-two
Of sedge warbler.
Fifty seconds of wind and rain
Falling on unknown moorland.
It is a new year,
But we can still enjoy
The old ways.
On Monday I’ll return to work,
Agitating a clog
In cast iron,
Hacksawing lead
Burst beneath a tenement,
And it won’t matter the year —
It’s back to normality.
your girl married well…Dazzler has a cool way with words….I found myself trying to sing it
Christy , inspired by your inclusion of Shane’s work in the ITMA, i listened once again to the Pogues’ first 5 albums yesterday, what a joy.
It brought back so many wonderful memories, seeing them support Declan McManus at the Playhouse with tea trays flailing, then in a rabble gig in Coasters night club, their shaped picture discs of sally maclennane etc, sweat pouring gigs in the Barras, turning up to a ‘Popes’ gig that had been cancelled that day, the stuff of legend.
The songs, so many mammoth songs Transmetropolitan, Boys from the County Hell, Auld Main Drag, broad Majestic Shannon, Philip’s wonderful Thousands are sailing, Sayonara, Fiesta, Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six, Young ned of the Hill….deadoralive how we miss Spider, Jem, Philip, Shane and all who graced their band.
Rory
There was a time in my life when I could listen to 5 albums in a night….but I nevr got any work done…
the first time I heard Shane sing was on a Juke Box ion The Kilburn High Road before a gig in The Gaumont when Planxty played a gig with Doc Watson
Hello Christy, I have been watching the documentary about you. It is beautiful, and moving too. I am sure you have a strong woman beside you. Thanks for sharing the link so we can also watch abroad.
Ps what happened in Switzerland reminds me your song They never came home. So sad…
heartbreaking to hear about this tragedy
Christy I must mention Paula Meehan , she gave a great insight into your writing style, her poem “The Statue of the Virgin at Granard Speaks” is a very powerful piece of work.
To a better year than the past,
To a kinder day than the last
Love Fin
A young Man fell in love with truth
Hi Christy, I just wanted to say that the documentary film was brilliant to watch , a little bit of everything. I found the ending very profound and insightful. “ Rocket on a one way trip to Mars”, I tell ye that’s a great writing Git.
I had me tayto, double decker and club orange all on the coffee table New Year’s Eve, like I was at the picture house beside the “green snot river”.Lovely to hear Wally mentioned and I wholeheartedly agree with you on your point made. I passed the TG4 onto my good friend George Doyle from Rhode Island, he was a good mate of Rory Gallagher’s .
If you ever do another “ Gathering “ in Lisdoonvarna will ye give this Lily ballad singer the heads up, I hopefully will see you at the end of August, Kieran Kelly and myself are chatting about doing a Back Yard gig and maybe another venue for a Woman’s Aid gig around that time.
I seen your eyes well up for the loss of Ann Rose Lovett when you sang but I also saw that smile that came over you talking about her and I’m sure she is hugging you, it was a beautiful moment Christy.
“I started hallucinating, the mushrooms were kicking in”
Christy I wish Val , yourself and all the family the very best in 2026 .
Turnips and Hay , Love Fin
We’ve talked for 10 years about another Lisdoon gathering..
that last one was legendary…not many people know this but the tall lad outa The Script was there…….a Kneecap was there too in a pram…Rev Willie McCrea was dressed us as a nun but was twigged when he could not say the second half of the Hail Mary