In retreat from grim news,last night I hit YouTube….found a few class takes of you singing ‘Deportees’…Guthrie words/Hoffman tune,always epic…not sure if you ever gig it,but I like to think it’s played in your work room fom time to time…
Have a good day
Dave
Christy's reply
I first heard that song in St Clare’s Folk Club one Wed night in 1966….it was sung by Tony Downes, one of the resident singers in that club he had a distinctive style of singing and did a great job on “Plane Crash at Los Gatos”….that was my first intro to Woody….I learnt that song and followed on with Sacco &Vanzetti, Ludlow Massacre, 1913 Massacre….Woody’s writing,singing and playing always an inspiration…started singing Sacco again lately…will sing Deportees here this morning on the back of your post
Christy it is 13 years today that the person who took tea with pinochet supped her last cuppa. Good to still be here toasting Victor Jara and the duo’s demise. Rory
Christy's reply
I think of Thatcher & Pinochet,
my mood turns dark and angry,
poisonous bile begins to bubble
I think of Victor Jara
my heart fills with love, sorrow and admiration
“Victor picked up his guitar his voice resounded strong
he sang for his comrades ’til the Guards cut short his song
His Hands were gentle”
Hi Christy,
I had great pleasure of bringing my 18yr auld son tae Vicar Street the other week. It was magnificent! We were stood aside another guy and his son fae Scotland! And heard many Scottish accents on way out.
I know you’ve said your only touring at home just to say Glesga would welcome you with the widest of open arms if ye changed yer mind!
Christy's reply
Thank you Ed….I really appreciate your support, your heart felt words
Christy many thanks for the reply about Sallins.
Yesterday Traveller cd accompanied me to Lochgilphead. Rocky Road has such vibrancy.
Rory
Christy's reply
“Urgency Culture
Information Overload
Hot bed of Nothing”
The “Traveller ” was an interesting project…. 25 years ago Leo Pearson set his boxes up in the Garden room….I sang and played…he recorded, layered, sampled and mixed…..colours were added by Juno Moore, Andy Moore, Donal Lunny, Liam O’Flynn,Dom Muldoon, The Edge, Joe McHugh,Conor Byrne,Wally Page,
“Traveller” was a stand out project for me, unlike anything else , vivid memories…
“They’re coming here to save us
to save the White Babies”
Mention of “Galway Joe” and “Trip to Jerusalem” got me there Christy! Its actually been on my mind for a while! I’m holding on to the “innocent humour” its too good not too!
On another note a great new doc has been launched about O’Donoghues! Very emotional to hear Johnny Moynihan speak!
Sorry to hear of the passing of Terry “Cruncher” O’Neill. Saw him perform Brian Moores one man play “Paddy On The Road” a few times. A fine singer and performer.
Christy's reply
RIP Terry….
Our paths crossed over the years…
I’m remembering the first time we met….
I heard from Pam Brighton who told me about the play they were rehearsing in Belfast….She invited me to visit the rehearsals ….
Cant remember where or when but I remember meeting Terry, Brian Moore and Pam….it was awkward for Terry, having me sitting there as he played the songs…but it passed off well and we had some good banter….
I never got to see the play but heard good reports….
a write up from An Pobhlacht 2002
2 May 2002 Edition
Resize: A A A Print
No Ordinary Man: Telling Christy’s story
Paddy on the Road
Dubbeljoint
Directed by Pam Brighton
Written by Belfast singer songwriter Brian Moore, Paddy on the Road explores the times and music of the much loved Christy Moore, charting his life from a bank clerk in Kildare, through his first forays into folk singing and performing in England to his return to Ireland. The playwright sets out to explore Moore’s impact on the folk music scene and on political life in Ireland.
Put like that, it all seems very straightforward and almost predictable, but anyone who has any knowledge of Christy Moore will know that his is a life that has been far from predictable or straightforward.
The script is superb, especially given that this is the first time Brian Moore has written a play and under the direction of Pam Brighton the drama moves along at a great pace.
It is amazing just how much, musically and politically, is covered in this play. However the performance put in by Terry ‘Cruncher’ O’Neill is phenomenal. Cruncher has had minor roles in most of Dubbeljoint’s productions over the years, but this was his first major part, and in a one-person show to boot. His performance can’t be praised enough.
That this play was written is a sign of the respect people throughout the country have for Moore. That his impact on the political life of Ireland is being assessed while he is still alive is also an indication of the effect his performances and songs have had on the political life of the country.
The drama conveys that Moore is driven by his desire to see justice done and wrongs righted. It also showed the breadth of his political willingness to support campaigns against injustice throughout the world.
One of the songs sung during the play, Allende, was written in support of the people of El Salvador who were struggling against a corrupt and murderous regime that was backed financially and politically by the US.
It will, no doubt, be for his support of the H Block prisoners that Moore will most affectionately be remembered by republicans. While dealing with this period of our recent history, the script was woven with anecdotes recounting the contacts Moore had with H Block prisoners, notably Bik McFarlane. This added an authentic and very personal touch.
Another H Block prisoner who developed a very close friendship with Christy Moore is Colm Scullion from Bellaghy, County Derry. Scullion supplied Bobby Sands with the local information he used in penning the song McElhatton; the famous South Antrim poitín maker. As we all know, Christy sings the song with great relish.
Scullion saw Paddy on the Road in Bellaghy last weekend and was impressed. He said he had spoken with Moore about the play. “Before I tell you about the play I want to thank you, Christy,” he said. “I want to thank you for all you done for us”.
Scullion was expressing the sentiments of the prisoners in the H Blocks and Armagh, but that thanks could also include all the people of Ireland on whose behalf Moore gave so much.
The play encapsulates that sense of struggle and the doubts and internal conflicts that it threw up for Moore and it’s all the richer for those insights.
BY PEADAR WHELAN
Paddy on the Road tour
Thursday 2 May – Cullyhanna, Armagh – 30863 0320
Friday 3 May – St Matthews Hall, Short Strand – 028 9050 1700
Saturday 4 May – The Dairy Farm, Twinbrook – 028 9060 4004
Sunday 5 May – New Lodge, Belfast – 028 9074 2255
Wednesday 8 May – The Bullion Room, The Hackney Empire – London
Thursday 9 May to Sunday 12 May – The Bullion Room, The Hackney Empire – London
Sunday 19 May – St John’s Art Centre, Listowel – 00353 6822566
Saturday 25/Sunday 26 May – The Pavillion, Dún Laoghaire – 012312929
Hi Christy,
Hope you enjoyed The Easter and are feeling well.
TnaG had another excellent documentary last night.
About the travelling people – their stories and songs.
Catch it if you can … Great to see the gigs going so well
and the set lists been posted …
Bright Blue Rose and The Contender featuring again.
Happy to see another date added to The Hanger for
The Autumn renewal. We’ll be there for sure.
Love the little gems you drop when replying to posts.
Without Bill Leader Planxty wouldn’t have come together.
Or how Bobby Sands used to sing Timothy Evans in the blocks.
I came across Reflections on the 1981 Hunger Strike recently.
The story by Pedram Moallemian:
The Night We Named Bobby Sands Street always gets me.
We can forgive but we’ll never forget.
Tabhair Aire
Bourkey
Christy's reply
We loved the TG4 Traveller Film….some great footage and powerful performances…. ( catch it on the TG4 player)
I still recall the first time I met Bill Leader for that Transatlantic audition….thanks be that Nat Joseph did not sign me for his label…had he done so,”Prosperous” album would not have been recorded….it was that album that allowed me to return home, to hook up with Donal, Andy & Liam….that led to the formation of Clad , that brought us together….so much has evolved since…..
I first heard the name Bobby Sands circa 1978 …on successive nights in Derry and Bellaghy I recieved “Back Home in Derry” and “McIlhatton”….I was doing a series of “Smash H.Blocks” gigs with Tom Cahill & Bobby Murray…..those were very difficult times for all concerned….anti H Block activists were being murdered in the North …were being constanlty harrassed in the South…..
recently I got a call-out for “The Contender” and took a chance…as it concluded “Bright Blue Rose” came to mind and I chanced it….it kinda worked and I’ve repeated the linkage….I’ve never actually rehearsed it…lets see what evolves….
same thing with “Johnny Boy” into “Ride on”…….Gary Moore into Jimmy Mack…
“Lisdoon” into “Tell me Ma”….all soldered together in the heat of the moment..
for me, these are magic moments, nothing planned,
I love returning to The Hanger…crossing the fast flowing Claddagh and the coast road out to Salthill….the back of O’Connors, Club Cleo and the old Dance Hall…so many nights recalled, faces remembered…..Johnny Mulhearn’s “Hard Cases” and ” Continental Ceili” sum it up…. Galway Joe Dolan’s “Foxy Devil” and “Trip to Jerusalem” also in the mix (the latter has lost its innocent humour of late)…. I heard both these songs from Gerry Joyce one Sunday lunch time session back in 1972…after a hairy night with Planxty out in Teac Furbo …we slipped out to The Poitín Still in Spiddal for a hair-of-the-dog in Johnny Kelly’s….Gerry was playing a stormer
Dear Christy
Oh the Easter snow it has faded away….
We had it here on Friday and again this morning, amidst the occasional ray of sunshine.
Oh the music when Seamus he did play….
Rory
Christy's reply
Mick Clifford: Sallins Inquiry gig a sold-out show of solidarity
Nearly 50 years on, the Sallins Inquiry Now gig marks a renewed call for justice
Mick Clifford: Sallins Inquiry gig a sold-out show of solidarity
‘A packed house was in attendance on a night heavy with yearning for accountability. A grievous wrong had been done to young men way back then, but an injury was also inflicted on a State purporting to uphold democracy.’
A Paddywagon was parked up across the road from Vicar Street.
Some of those attending the gig at the music venue observed it wryly, as if time had travelled back to the old days. Others couldn’t rid themselves of an itch of suspicion that the special branch has been resurrected.
It’s difficult to believe that the presence of a garda van outside a gig remembering garda brutality was anything more than a complete coincidence. After all, the brutality in question was from nearly 50 years ago. The notion that danger to peace or State security lurked among the pensioner-heavy attendance would be ludicrous.
Still, sometimes you don’t know what to believe.
Tickets for the Sallins Inquiry Now gig on Sunday evening were long sold out. With a line up that included Christy Moore, Damien Dempsey, John Spillane, and Kila, it couldn’t have been otherwise. Michael D Higgins sent his best wishes.
A packed house was in attendance on a night heavy with yearning for accountability. A grievous wrong had been done to young men way back then, but an injury was also inflicted on a State purporting to uphold democracy. Half a century on there remains a sense of unfinished business, wounds yet to heal.
State must come to terms with its own miscarriages of justice
Sallins arrests
Quick recap for anybody under 50. In the early hours of March 31, 1976 the Dublin-Cork mail train was robbed at Sallins, Co Kildare.
Paramilitaries were suspected of the heist that yielded an estimated £200,000.
Gardaí believed the job was carried out by what was perceived to be the armed wing of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP).
Learn more
Dozens of IRSP members were rounded up. A number of them, including Nicky Kelly, Osgur Breatnach, and Brian McNally, received severe beatings in custody after which they signed confessions to a robbery they didn’t commit.
All three were convicted, but Kelly went on the run before the verdict, having lost faith in the justice system. Breatnach and McNally spent seventeen months locked up in Portlaoise prison until released on appeal.
Kelly came home from the USA but was unsuccessful with his appeal. He endured a hunger strike and four years in prison before being released on compassionate grounds.
The whole case represented one of the worst miscarriages of justice ever witnessed in the State, implicating police, the judiciary, and ultimately government. It has never been fully investigated.
Breatnach has long conducted a campaign for an inquiry which has received wide support. His brother Cormac Juan, a musician of some repute, put together the gig to remember and to campaign further.
Christy Moore was alive to the injustice when the whole thing was going on. He wrote a song about Kelly, The Wicklow Boy, while Kelly was still incarcerated.
“The first time I sang it was at the gates of Portlaoise Prison with Donal Lunny,” Moore said. “Many years later Nicky Kelly told me that he heard it (inside).”
On Sunday Christy sang it again, demonstrating that his passion has weathered well down all the decades. His performance received the acclaim of the night.
Poet Paula Meehan read accompanied by Com MacCon Iomaire on violin. Her poem From Source To Sea deals with the physical scars inflicted by torture. She told the audience that “the scars of Sallins are within”.
Journalist Patsy McGarry, who wrote a book on the case, recounted that during the original trial at the Special Criminal Court, one of the judges repeatedly fell asleep.
When this was raised it was rejected by the court which found judge John O’Connor was not asleep. The High Court and Supreme Court confirmed the ruling.
In fact, the man was dying and he had been falling asleep, yet nine judges concluded that he was wide awake at all times, as if those attending the court were not to believe what was before their eyes.
Gene Kerrigan remembered his co-author Derek Dunne on the definitive book about Sallins, Round Up The Usual Suspects, a classic of the genre. John Spillane came on stage, head down like a man snooping around looking for a place to start.
His performance was, as it always is, engaging. Conscious that he was a Cork man in the heart of Dublin he introduced a song he penned about the city, Full Moon in Finglas, which went down a treat.
Conscious that he was a Cork man in the heart of Dublin John Spillane introduced a song he penned about the city, ‘Full Moon in Finglas’, which went down a treat. File picture
Conscious that he was a Cork man in the heart of Dublin John Spillane introduced a song he penned about the city, ‘Full Moon in Finglas’, which went down a treat. File picture
Noreen Byrne was among the audience, and the demographic, enjoying autumnal years. She told the Irish Examiner she was in the original campaign to free Nicky Kelly. “There was a very wide breadth to the campaign, all sorts of people,” she said.
At one point the campaign got support from former US secretary of state Ramsey Clark, who flew into the country to give a dig out.
“We put him up in a hotel in Gardiner St, which isn’t what he might have been used to,” Noreen said. “But he was perfect with it all. Then I drove him down to Limerick in my Renault 4 to meet the then minister for justice Michael Noonan.
“He wasn’t used to that kind of transport either.”
Des McGuinness, who is at the gig with Noreen, chaired that original campaign. He talked about how it went way beyond politics. “We were asked by the Knights of Columbanus to address them about it,” he said. “I went in and it was like something out of the 1940s.”
At the other end of the scale, the couple remembered fondly another committee member, Seamus Ruddy. A member of the IRSP, he was abducted and shot dead in Paris in 1985 by the Irish National Liberation Army. He was disappeared and his body only discovered in 2017.
On stage, Theo Dorgan recalled the official silence abut the Rising on its 75th anniversary. His poem, Kilmainham Gaol Dublin 1991 deals with commemoration and what happens when we fail to remember.
Damien Dempsey performing at the Sallins Inquiry Now benefit gig last Sunday. File picture
Damien Dempsey performing at the Sallins Inquiry Now benefit gig last Sunday. File picture
His contribution was with a theme for the evening. This was not a political event, certainly not in the sense that it was back in the 70s and 80s. The platform was not used to further any political agenda today.
Instead, its focus was the basic tenet of a democracy, the right of citizens, the potential for a state to abuse power and the failure to address wrongs that have been left to fester.
Damien Dempsey came on and sang with all the power he brings to a performance, before joining Pauline Scanlon with whom he sang a haunting lament.
Then it was time for Osgur Breatnach to give a brief address. He was taken into the Bridewell 50 years ago this week, and what happened over the following days was to define the rest of his life.
He thanked “the families who have stood with us” those who campaigned, the legal profession, journalists who had written about it over the years.
“I am convinced that an independent judicial inquiry will take place,” he said. That remains to be seen but will require an enlightened approach from the current government to replace the habitual instinct of allowing awkward bygones to gather dust.”
Kila played out the evening to bookend an occasion that was sensitively conceived and timely. The past, as the American writer William Faulkner once noted, “isn’t dead, it isn’t even past”.
Osgur Breatnach’s campaign to mend the past will not go away, and is unlikely to die anytime soon.
A few weeks ago,I heard a great radio piece about a music/local dialect project…’Auchies Spikkin’ Auchie’,by clarsach player and artist,Grace Stewart – Skinner…I found her YouTube blog,video and was hooked…I ordered the CD from Grace. It’s arrival yesterday,led to fab Easter music…
The back story is brilliant,as is the music,art and sleevenotes…all much better expressed by Grace,than my prattling…the Scotland tourist board couldn’t do a better job. From afar,I feel connected to Avoch Bay..by a pure ‘ folk’ piece..
.
‘ It is like I am framing a photo – the recordings are the picture…my music is the frame’..
Music and spoken word…an ace mix
I hope Grace’s work can be checked out by many here.
Just got back to Bournemouth from our Irish odyssey – Westmeath, Clare, and the Wicklow Mountains – and still buzzing from that fabulous night in Mullingar. According to my wife I spent the following week grinning like a big old baby and telling everyone who’d listen about your shout-out to me on The Reel in the Flickering Light. Personally I thought I handled the whole affair with an understated English aplomb . . . .
Shame the night had to end with those penalties – but, honestly, who wants to go to the USA right now anyway?
Christy's reply
the rats and the worms were still as mice
and the poor auld pigeon said “thats nice”
a shimmering veil on a lovely bride
and we danced to the reel in the flickering light
( from Colm Gallagher ,late of Glasnevin and Los Angeles)
Well Christy I am happy to say I just booked my flight having me in Dublin for May 17th. Glad work obliged me time off to be able to hear you walk us on music journey. I am going spend the next few weeks planning some for time in Wexford looking up family history and Dublin planning for my 1st trip to Newgrange and maybe a trip to O’Neills on Suffolk for supper and a pint. Happy Easter take care Brendan
Hello Christy.As they say the morning after the night before.What a night it was in the spiritual home of Chuck Feeney.To be sitting in the front row with my two fellow Cork men Tony Murphy and Sean Cavanagh and of course the Lady from the Kingdom Hilary listening to a wonderful night of music and song from yourself. It was great to hear the Contender and of course Bright Blue Rose from our own Jimmy Mc.A lovely venue with you at the helm.Thanks again Christy. The journey home last night home with Tony was shortened with us singing some of your wonderful songs.Have a very happy Easter you and your family .Roll in Kilarney next week. Sweet music 🎶 roll on Christy
Christy's reply
Happy Easter Dave…to you and all songsters out there..
Such an harmonius cacophany emerged in Chuck’s last night…there were Basses from Cork, Baritones from Clare, Tenors from Tipp, Mezzos from Waterford and our lead Soprano from Tralee…. all surrounded by the Massed Choir from Askeaton, Bruff, Ardagh, Croom,Rathkeale and The Pike…I felt I was being wafted across Munster on a magic carpet (Youghal perhaps)
Back at base this morning with 7 days to prepare for a return to The Black Valley…lets gather at Mangerton and cool off at Torc
Christy you were amazing tonight would you have the setlist for the night I’ll be listening away to it on Spotify on my old honda 125 like I did last years
Christy's reply
Great audience in UCL…fair play to Chuck Feeney… without his philanthropy we’d not have been in Plessey tonight….glad you had a good one….I’m in the back of the van, galloping across the Curragh Plains, still buzzing …..
City of `Chicago
Viva La Quinta Brigada
How Long
Smoke & Whiskey
Black & Amber
Boy in The Wild
Delerium Tremens
Lingo Politico
Dont Forget Your Shovel
Limerick Rake
The Contender
Bright Blue Rose
Ordinary Man
The Voyage
Lisdoonvarna
Lyra McKee
Cumann na Mná
Ruby Walsh
Cliffs of Dooneen
Lemon 7s
The Big Marquee
Palestine
Yellow Triangle
Time Has Come
Joxer
Christy happy Easter,
Monday is , like today, a very important day.
Without Monday we may never have had Soloheadbeg, without it we may not have had ulysses and 75% liberty, without it perhaps no freedom to sing, no recordings of john reilly, perhaps no john reilly, then perhaps no prosperpus nor pipes, no rebel songs, nor a north to surge, no ‘spirit of freedom’,no good friday, no laird of the mournes ,no balled of ernie o’malley and so it goes.
One ripple in the pond and without it the pond stays calm,lifeless, without soul or melody, without stirring depths or heart.
Take no act of resistance or proclaiming of culture, no matter how small,for granted. They all have an effect.
Keep singing and throwing boulders into the lough.
Rory ( without even yet a Communion wine)
Christy's reply
almost into Easter Saturday…good gathering in Limerick tonight…thanks for your post..
“It was England bade our Wild Geese go that small nations might be free
but their lonely graves are by Suvla’s waves on the fringe of the grey North Sea
Had they died by Pearse’s side or fought with James Connolly too
their graves we’d keep where the Fenians ‘neath the shroud of the Foggy Dew”
…written by Charles O’Neill and Carl Gilbert Hardebeck
“Green Island” contains both powerful and beautiful lyrics! Mesmerising when sung to the beat of the drum and the air of the whistle!
Christy's reply
I’ve never been happy with that recording …does not encapsulate the power of Ewan’s song….I believe it may have been the last song he wrote….. he sent it to me…
I have a major regret…when Ewan’s Family were setting up his tribute album they invited me to sing “Green Island”….my twisted head decided to record “Companeros” instead ( Original title “Good Ship Granma”)
Much as I still love to sing about Fidel & Che it was a wrong decision, one I regret to this day
Love these little nuggets that you throw out, its great that after 50+ years of an album being released to still hear something new about it. Where did you collect the song itself?
Coincidently, “Carlow”, was the first song I ever learned! Was tunes up to that, then I got me hands on that famous green “Planxty Songbook” and started with “Carlow”, it became the bible back then! Looking at it now as I type its battered and bruised and full of, probably, porter stains, but still cherished!
Thanks Christy!
Christy's reply
I may have found it in the PW Joyce collection…not 100% sure but it was from a book….I don’t recall singing it prior to the Prosperous recording in 1971…must check does Andy Irvine have any pointers…
I love encountering old song books “battered and bruised with porter stains”..a sure sign of a book being properly used….sure beats lying pristine and unopened on a lonely shelf
“White is sick and Grey has fled
now for black Fitzwilliam’s head
we’ll send it over drippin red
to Queen Liza and her ladies”……( P.J. McColl)
……..the horror of this verse inspired by the centuries of murder and mayhem visited upon us by the cruelest of invaders
a later song from Ewan MacColl
Green Island
The island lies like a leaf upon the sea.
Green island like a leaf new-fallen from the tree.
Green turns to gold,
as morning breeze gently shakes the barley,
bending the yellow corn.
Green turns to gold,
there’s purple shadows on the distant mountains.
Sun in the yellow corn.
They came in their long ships from lands across the sea.
They came in their long ships – they saw the land was green.
Wind in the barley,
trout and salmon leaping in the rivers.
Sun in the yellow corn.
Leaping ashore
they slaughtered those laboured in the barley,
scything them down like corn.
The long ships sailed away and new invaders came.
With long bow and lance bringing death in England’s name.
With sword and with mace,
they went reaping though the fields of barley,
They plundered the yellow corn.
Crop followed crop,
they prospered in their killing fields of barley,
The harvest of new young corn.
Marching down the years the men of war they came,
with bombs, assassins, bullets, CS gas and guns.
Ghosts from the past
are chasing shadows through the fields of barley
hiding in the new young corn.
Nine hundred years
they tried to trap the wind that shakes the barley.
Sun in the yellow corn.
The island lies like a leaf upon the sea.
Green island like a leaf new-fallen from the tree.
Green turns to gold,
as morning breeze gently shakes the barley,
bending the yellow corn.
No force on Earth
can ever trap the wind that shakes the barley.
Sun in the yellow corn.
Hi Christy
In retreat from grim news,last night I hit YouTube….found a few class takes of you singing ‘Deportees’…Guthrie words/Hoffman tune,always epic…not sure if you ever gig it,but I like to think it’s played in your work room fom time to time…
Have a good day
Dave
I first heard that song in St Clare’s Folk Club one Wed night in 1966….it was sung by Tony Downes, one of the resident singers in that club he had a distinctive style of singing and did a great job on “Plane Crash at Los Gatos”….that was my first intro to Woody….I learnt that song and followed on with Sacco &Vanzetti, Ludlow Massacre, 1913 Massacre….Woody’s writing,singing and playing always an inspiration…started singing Sacco again lately…will sing Deportees here this morning on the back of your post
Christy it is 13 years today that the person who took tea with pinochet supped her last cuppa. Good to still be here toasting Victor Jara and the duo’s demise. Rory
I think of Thatcher & Pinochet,
my mood turns dark and angry,
poisonous bile begins to bubble
I think of Victor Jara
my heart fills with love, sorrow and admiration
“Victor picked up his guitar his voice resounded strong
he sang for his comrades ’til the Guards cut short his song
His Hands were gentle”
Hi Christy,
I had great pleasure of bringing my 18yr auld son tae Vicar Street the other week. It was magnificent! We were stood aside another guy and his son fae Scotland! And heard many Scottish accents on way out.
I know you’ve said your only touring at home just to say Glesga would welcome you with the widest of open arms if ye changed yer mind!
Thank you Ed….I really appreciate your support, your heart felt words
Christy many thanks for the reply about Sallins.
Yesterday Traveller cd accompanied me to Lochgilphead. Rocky Road has such vibrancy.
Rory
“Urgency Culture
Information Overload
Hot bed of Nothing”
The “Traveller ” was an interesting project…. 25 years ago Leo Pearson set his boxes up in the Garden room….I sang and played…he recorded, layered, sampled and mixed…..colours were added by Juno Moore, Andy Moore, Donal Lunny, Liam O’Flynn,Dom Muldoon, The Edge, Joe McHugh,Conor Byrne,Wally Page,
“Traveller” was a stand out project for me, unlike anything else , vivid memories…
“They’re coming here to save us
to save the White Babies”
Thanks for the reminder Rory
Mention of “Galway Joe” and “Trip to Jerusalem” got me there Christy! Its actually been on my mind for a while! I’m holding on to the “innocent humour” its too good not too!
On another note a great new doc has been launched about O’Donoghues! Very emotional to hear Johnny Moynihan speak!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uLhLvMuHeoY
was not aware of this..thank you
Very sorry too to hear of Terry “Cruncher” O’Neills passing. One of Irelands finest. R.I.P.
in his prime, Terry was a mighty chanter…..R.I.P.
Sorry to hear of the passing of Terry “Cruncher” O’Neill. Saw him perform Brian Moores one man play “Paddy On The Road” a few times. A fine singer and performer.
RIP Terry….
Our paths crossed over the years…
I’m remembering the first time we met….
I heard from Pam Brighton who told me about the play they were rehearsing in Belfast….She invited me to visit the rehearsals ….
Cant remember where or when but I remember meeting Terry, Brian Moore and Pam….it was awkward for Terry, having me sitting there as he played the songs…but it passed off well and we had some good banter….
I never got to see the play but heard good reports….
a write up from An Pobhlacht 2002
2 May 2002 Edition
Resize: A A A Print
No Ordinary Man: Telling Christy’s story
Paddy on the Road
Dubbeljoint
Directed by Pam Brighton
Written by Belfast singer songwriter Brian Moore, Paddy on the Road explores the times and music of the much loved Christy Moore, charting his life from a bank clerk in Kildare, through his first forays into folk singing and performing in England to his return to Ireland. The playwright sets out to explore Moore’s impact on the folk music scene and on political life in Ireland.
Put like that, it all seems very straightforward and almost predictable, but anyone who has any knowledge of Christy Moore will know that his is a life that has been far from predictable or straightforward.
The script is superb, especially given that this is the first time Brian Moore has written a play and under the direction of Pam Brighton the drama moves along at a great pace.
It is amazing just how much, musically and politically, is covered in this play. However the performance put in by Terry ‘Cruncher’ O’Neill is phenomenal. Cruncher has had minor roles in most of Dubbeljoint’s productions over the years, but this was his first major part, and in a one-person show to boot. His performance can’t be praised enough.
That this play was written is a sign of the respect people throughout the country have for Moore. That his impact on the political life of Ireland is being assessed while he is still alive is also an indication of the effect his performances and songs have had on the political life of the country.
The drama conveys that Moore is driven by his desire to see justice done and wrongs righted. It also showed the breadth of his political willingness to support campaigns against injustice throughout the world.
One of the songs sung during the play, Allende, was written in support of the people of El Salvador who were struggling against a corrupt and murderous regime that was backed financially and politically by the US.
It will, no doubt, be for his support of the H Block prisoners that Moore will most affectionately be remembered by republicans. While dealing with this period of our recent history, the script was woven with anecdotes recounting the contacts Moore had with H Block prisoners, notably Bik McFarlane. This added an authentic and very personal touch.
Another H Block prisoner who developed a very close friendship with Christy Moore is Colm Scullion from Bellaghy, County Derry. Scullion supplied Bobby Sands with the local information he used in penning the song McElhatton; the famous South Antrim poitín maker. As we all know, Christy sings the song with great relish.
Scullion saw Paddy on the Road in Bellaghy last weekend and was impressed. He said he had spoken with Moore about the play. “Before I tell you about the play I want to thank you, Christy,” he said. “I want to thank you for all you done for us”.
Scullion was expressing the sentiments of the prisoners in the H Blocks and Armagh, but that thanks could also include all the people of Ireland on whose behalf Moore gave so much.
The play encapsulates that sense of struggle and the doubts and internal conflicts that it threw up for Moore and it’s all the richer for those insights.
BY PEADAR WHELAN
Paddy on the Road tour
Thursday 2 May – Cullyhanna, Armagh – 30863 0320
Friday 3 May – St Matthews Hall, Short Strand – 028 9050 1700
Saturday 4 May – The Dairy Farm, Twinbrook – 028 9060 4004
Sunday 5 May – New Lodge, Belfast – 028 9074 2255
Wednesday 8 May – The Bullion Room, The Hackney Empire – London
Thursday 9 May to Sunday 12 May – The Bullion Room, The Hackney Empire – London
Sunday 19 May – St John’s Art Centre, Listowel – 00353 6822566
Saturday 25/Sunday 26 May – The Pavillion, Dún Laoghaire – 012312929
Tuesday 28 /Wednesday 29 May – Axis Ballymun Theatre, Dublin – 018832102
Thursday 30 May – Sliabh Dubh, Belfast – 028 9028 8660
Friday 31 May – Dunloy – Co. Antrim – 028 2765 7038
Hi Christy,
Hope you enjoyed The Easter and are feeling well.
TnaG had another excellent documentary last night.
About the travelling people – their stories and songs.
Catch it if you can … Great to see the gigs going so well
and the set lists been posted …
Bright Blue Rose and The Contender featuring again.
Happy to see another date added to The Hanger for
The Autumn renewal. We’ll be there for sure.
Love the little gems you drop when replying to posts.
Without Bill Leader Planxty wouldn’t have come together.
Or how Bobby Sands used to sing Timothy Evans in the blocks.
I came across Reflections on the 1981 Hunger Strike recently.
The story by Pedram Moallemian:
The Night We Named Bobby Sands Street always gets me.
We can forgive but we’ll never forget.
Tabhair Aire
Bourkey
We loved the TG4 Traveller Film….some great footage and powerful performances…. ( catch it on the TG4 player)
I still recall the first time I met Bill Leader for that Transatlantic audition….thanks be that Nat Joseph did not sign me for his label…had he done so,”Prosperous” album would not have been recorded….it was that album that allowed me to return home, to hook up with Donal, Andy & Liam….that led to the formation of Clad , that brought us together….so much has evolved since…..
I first heard the name Bobby Sands circa 1978 …on successive nights in Derry and Bellaghy I recieved “Back Home in Derry” and “McIlhatton”….I was doing a series of “Smash H.Blocks” gigs with Tom Cahill & Bobby Murray…..those were very difficult times for all concerned….anti H Block activists were being murdered in the North …were being constanlty harrassed in the South…..
recently I got a call-out for “The Contender” and took a chance…as it concluded “Bright Blue Rose” came to mind and I chanced it….it kinda worked and I’ve repeated the linkage….I’ve never actually rehearsed it…lets see what evolves….
same thing with “Johnny Boy” into “Ride on”…….Gary Moore into Jimmy Mack…
“Lisdoon” into “Tell me Ma”….all soldered together in the heat of the moment..
for me, these are magic moments, nothing planned,
I love returning to The Hanger…crossing the fast flowing Claddagh and the coast road out to Salthill….the back of O’Connors, Club Cleo and the old Dance Hall…so many nights recalled, faces remembered…..Johnny Mulhearn’s “Hard Cases” and ” Continental Ceili” sum it up…. Galway Joe Dolan’s “Foxy Devil” and “Trip to Jerusalem” also in the mix (the latter has lost its innocent humour of late)…. I heard both these songs from Gerry Joyce one Sunday lunch time session back in 1972…after a hairy night with Planxty out in Teac Furbo …we slipped out to The Poitín Still in Spiddal for a hair-of-the-dog in Johnny Kelly’s….Gerry was playing a stormer
Easter passed once more…..
Hello Christy,
Happy Easter to all on the guest book.
We’ve had everything but snow this morning. Sun, rain, wind and hail.
https://youtu.be/YHZe8-LUv90?si=0NTI5Z6yGF7zRSvN
Rebecca
such distinctive piping when Séamus he did play
thank you
Dear Christy
Oh the Easter snow it has faded away….
We had it here on Friday and again this morning, amidst the occasional ray of sunshine.
Oh the music when Seamus he did play….
Rory
Mick Clifford: Sallins Inquiry gig a sold-out show of solidarity
Nearly 50 years on, the Sallins Inquiry Now gig marks a renewed call for justice
Mick Clifford: Sallins Inquiry gig a sold-out show of solidarity
‘A packed house was in attendance on a night heavy with yearning for accountability. A grievous wrong had been done to young men way back then, but an injury was also inflicted on a State purporting to uphold democracy.’
A Paddywagon was parked up across the road from Vicar Street.
Some of those attending the gig at the music venue observed it wryly, as if time had travelled back to the old days. Others couldn’t rid themselves of an itch of suspicion that the special branch has been resurrected.
It’s difficult to believe that the presence of a garda van outside a gig remembering garda brutality was anything more than a complete coincidence. After all, the brutality in question was from nearly 50 years ago. The notion that danger to peace or State security lurked among the pensioner-heavy attendance would be ludicrous.
Still, sometimes you don’t know what to believe.
Tickets for the Sallins Inquiry Now gig on Sunday evening were long sold out. With a line up that included Christy Moore, Damien Dempsey, John Spillane, and Kila, it couldn’t have been otherwise. Michael D Higgins sent his best wishes.
A packed house was in attendance on a night heavy with yearning for accountability. A grievous wrong had been done to young men way back then, but an injury was also inflicted on a State purporting to uphold democracy. Half a century on there remains a sense of unfinished business, wounds yet to heal.
State must come to terms with its own miscarriages of justice
Sallins arrests
Quick recap for anybody under 50. In the early hours of March 31, 1976 the Dublin-Cork mail train was robbed at Sallins, Co Kildare.
Paramilitaries were suspected of the heist that yielded an estimated £200,000.
Gardaí believed the job was carried out by what was perceived to be the armed wing of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP).
Learn more
Dozens of IRSP members were rounded up. A number of them, including Nicky Kelly, Osgur Breatnach, and Brian McNally, received severe beatings in custody after which they signed confessions to a robbery they didn’t commit.
All three were convicted, but Kelly went on the run before the verdict, having lost faith in the justice system. Breatnach and McNally spent seventeen months locked up in Portlaoise prison until released on appeal.
Kelly came home from the USA but was unsuccessful with his appeal. He endured a hunger strike and four years in prison before being released on compassionate grounds.
The whole case represented one of the worst miscarriages of justice ever witnessed in the State, implicating police, the judiciary, and ultimately government. It has never been fully investigated.
Breatnach has long conducted a campaign for an inquiry which has received wide support. His brother Cormac Juan, a musician of some repute, put together the gig to remember and to campaign further.
Christy Moore was alive to the injustice when the whole thing was going on. He wrote a song about Kelly, The Wicklow Boy, while Kelly was still incarcerated.
“The first time I sang it was at the gates of Portlaoise Prison with Donal Lunny,” Moore said. “Many years later Nicky Kelly told me that he heard it (inside).”
On Sunday Christy sang it again, demonstrating that his passion has weathered well down all the decades. His performance received the acclaim of the night.
Poet Paula Meehan read accompanied by Com MacCon Iomaire on violin. Her poem From Source To Sea deals with the physical scars inflicted by torture. She told the audience that “the scars of Sallins are within”.
Journalist Patsy McGarry, who wrote a book on the case, recounted that during the original trial at the Special Criminal Court, one of the judges repeatedly fell asleep.
When this was raised it was rejected by the court which found judge John O’Connor was not asleep. The High Court and Supreme Court confirmed the ruling.
In fact, the man was dying and he had been falling asleep, yet nine judges concluded that he was wide awake at all times, as if those attending the court were not to believe what was before their eyes.
Gene Kerrigan remembered his co-author Derek Dunne on the definitive book about Sallins, Round Up The Usual Suspects, a classic of the genre. John Spillane came on stage, head down like a man snooping around looking for a place to start.
His performance was, as it always is, engaging. Conscious that he was a Cork man in the heart of Dublin he introduced a song he penned about the city, Full Moon in Finglas, which went down a treat.
Conscious that he was a Cork man in the heart of Dublin John Spillane introduced a song he penned about the city, ‘Full Moon in Finglas’, which went down a treat. File picture
Conscious that he was a Cork man in the heart of Dublin John Spillane introduced a song he penned about the city, ‘Full Moon in Finglas’, which went down a treat. File picture
Noreen Byrne was among the audience, and the demographic, enjoying autumnal years. She told the Irish Examiner she was in the original campaign to free Nicky Kelly. “There was a very wide breadth to the campaign, all sorts of people,” she said.
At one point the campaign got support from former US secretary of state Ramsey Clark, who flew into the country to give a dig out.
“We put him up in a hotel in Gardiner St, which isn’t what he might have been used to,” Noreen said. “But he was perfect with it all. Then I drove him down to Limerick in my Renault 4 to meet the then minister for justice Michael Noonan.
“He wasn’t used to that kind of transport either.”
Des McGuinness, who is at the gig with Noreen, chaired that original campaign. He talked about how it went way beyond politics. “We were asked by the Knights of Columbanus to address them about it,” he said. “I went in and it was like something out of the 1940s.”
At the other end of the scale, the couple remembered fondly another committee member, Seamus Ruddy. A member of the IRSP, he was abducted and shot dead in Paris in 1985 by the Irish National Liberation Army. He was disappeared and his body only discovered in 2017.
On stage, Theo Dorgan recalled the official silence abut the Rising on its 75th anniversary. His poem, Kilmainham Gaol Dublin 1991 deals with commemoration and what happens when we fail to remember.
Damien Dempsey performing at the Sallins Inquiry Now benefit gig last Sunday. File picture
Damien Dempsey performing at the Sallins Inquiry Now benefit gig last Sunday. File picture
His contribution was with a theme for the evening. This was not a political event, certainly not in the sense that it was back in the 70s and 80s. The platform was not used to further any political agenda today.
Instead, its focus was the basic tenet of a democracy, the right of citizens, the potential for a state to abuse power and the failure to address wrongs that have been left to fester.
Damien Dempsey came on and sang with all the power he brings to a performance, before joining Pauline Scanlon with whom he sang a haunting lament.
Then it was time for Osgur Breatnach to give a brief address. He was taken into the Bridewell 50 years ago this week, and what happened over the following days was to define the rest of his life.
He thanked “the families who have stood with us” those who campaigned, the legal profession, journalists who had written about it over the years.
“I am convinced that an independent judicial inquiry will take place,” he said. That remains to be seen but will require an enlightened approach from the current government to replace the habitual instinct of allowing awkward bygones to gather dust.”
Kila played out the evening to bookend an occasion that was sensitively conceived and timely. The past, as the American writer William Faulkner once noted, “isn’t dead, it isn’t even past”.
Osgur Breatnach’s campaign to mend the past will not go away, and is unlikely to die anytime soon.
Happy Easter,Christy and all…
A few weeks ago,I heard a great radio piece about a music/local dialect project…’Auchies Spikkin’ Auchie’,by clarsach player and artist,Grace Stewart – Skinner…I found her YouTube blog,video and was hooked…I ordered the CD from Grace. It’s arrival yesterday,led to fab Easter music…
The back story is brilliant,as is the music,art and sleevenotes…all much better expressed by Grace,than my prattling…the Scotland tourist board couldn’t do a better job. From afar,I feel connected to Avoch Bay..by a pure ‘ folk’ piece..
.
‘ It is like I am framing a photo – the recordings are the picture…my music is the frame’..
Music and spoken word…an ace mix
I hope Grace’s work can be checked out by many here.
Enjoy the day
Dave
Thank you Dave…Christy
Just got back to Bournemouth from our Irish odyssey – Westmeath, Clare, and the Wicklow Mountains – and still buzzing from that fabulous night in Mullingar. According to my wife I spent the following week grinning like a big old baby and telling everyone who’d listen about your shout-out to me on The Reel in the Flickering Light. Personally I thought I handled the whole affair with an understated English aplomb . . . .
Shame the night had to end with those penalties – but, honestly, who wants to go to the USA right now anyway?
the rats and the worms were still as mice
and the poor auld pigeon said “thats nice”
a shimmering veil on a lovely bride
and we danced to the reel in the flickering light
( from Colm Gallagher ,late of Glasnevin and Los Angeles)
Well Christy I am happy to say I just booked my flight having me in Dublin for May 17th. Glad work obliged me time off to be able to hear you walk us on music journey. I am going spend the next few weeks planning some for time in Wexford looking up family history and Dublin planning for my 1st trip to Newgrange and maybe a trip to O’Neills on Suffolk for supper and a pint. Happy Easter take care Brendan
come along Brendan…wish you a safe passage..
Hello Christy.As they say the morning after the night before.What a night it was in the spiritual home of Chuck Feeney.To be sitting in the front row with my two fellow Cork men Tony Murphy and Sean Cavanagh and of course the Lady from the Kingdom Hilary listening to a wonderful night of music and song from yourself. It was great to hear the Contender and of course Bright Blue Rose from our own Jimmy Mc.A lovely venue with you at the helm.Thanks again Christy. The journey home last night home with Tony was shortened with us singing some of your wonderful songs.Have a very happy Easter you and your family .Roll in Kilarney next week. Sweet music 🎶 roll on Christy
Happy Easter Dave…to you and all songsters out there..
Such an harmonius cacophany emerged in Chuck’s last night…there were Basses from Cork, Baritones from Clare, Tenors from Tipp, Mezzos from Waterford and our lead Soprano from Tralee…. all surrounded by the Massed Choir from Askeaton, Bruff, Ardagh, Croom,Rathkeale and The Pike…I felt I was being wafted across Munster on a magic carpet (Youghal perhaps)
Back at base this morning with 7 days to prepare for a return to The Black Valley…lets gather at Mangerton and cool off at Torc
Christy you were amazing tonight would you have the setlist for the night I’ll be listening away to it on Spotify on my old honda 125 like I did last years
Great audience in UCL…fair play to Chuck Feeney… without his philanthropy we’d not have been in Plessey tonight….glad you had a good one….I’m in the back of the van, galloping across the Curragh Plains, still buzzing …..
City of `Chicago
Viva La Quinta Brigada
How Long
Smoke & Whiskey
Black & Amber
Boy in The Wild
Delerium Tremens
Lingo Politico
Dont Forget Your Shovel
Limerick Rake
The Contender
Bright Blue Rose
Ordinary Man
The Voyage
Lisdoonvarna
Lyra McKee
Cumann na Mná
Ruby Walsh
Cliffs of Dooneen
Lemon 7s
The Big Marquee
Palestine
Yellow Triangle
Time Has Come
Joxer
encore
Ride On
Sonny’s Dream
Beeswing
Christy happy Easter,
Monday is , like today, a very important day.
Without Monday we may never have had Soloheadbeg, without it we may not have had ulysses and 75% liberty, without it perhaps no freedom to sing, no recordings of john reilly, perhaps no john reilly, then perhaps no prosperpus nor pipes, no rebel songs, nor a north to surge, no ‘spirit of freedom’,no good friday, no laird of the mournes ,no balled of ernie o’malley and so it goes.
One ripple in the pond and without it the pond stays calm,lifeless, without soul or melody, without stirring depths or heart.
Take no act of resistance or proclaiming of culture, no matter how small,for granted. They all have an effect.
Keep singing and throwing boulders into the lough.
Rory ( without even yet a Communion wine)
almost into Easter Saturday…good gathering in Limerick tonight…thanks for your post..
“It was England bade our Wild Geese go that small nations might be free
but their lonely graves are by Suvla’s waves on the fringe of the grey North Sea
Had they died by Pearse’s side or fought with James Connolly too
their graves we’d keep where the Fenians ‘neath the shroud of the Foggy Dew”
…written by Charles O’Neill and Carl Gilbert Hardebeck
Come gather ’round me people
and a story I will tell
‘I’ll tell you a story that happened to me
!
“a stormy morning brings on a sunny day”
‘There is a cottage in yonder lea’
“wrapped up in white linen as cold as the day”
?
“yerra what do i care for your goose feather bed”
‘One sang high and the other sang low
“my mind being bent on rambing”
‘It being the 23rd of June ‘
” and I stood to listen,to hear what they might say”
‘William, William, I have gold in store’
” land with ambling kine”
‘She’d build a mansion fine’
“from boyhood I came to a man”
‘When sixteen long years they were over and passed
“your wife undressed must leave the nest”
‘When you’d had none at all’
Come gather ’round me people
and a story I will tell
“Green Island” contains both powerful and beautiful lyrics! Mesmerising when sung to the beat of the drum and the air of the whistle!
I’ve never been happy with that recording …does not encapsulate the power of Ewan’s song….I believe it may have been the last song he wrote….. he sent it to me…
I have a major regret…when Ewan’s Family were setting up his tribute album they invited me to sing “Green Island”….my twisted head decided to record “Companeros” instead ( Original title “Good Ship Granma”)
Much as I still love to sing about Fidel & Che it was a wrong decision, one I regret to this day
A lucky guess Christy.
Love these little nuggets that you throw out, its great that after 50+ years of an album being released to still hear something new about it. Where did you collect the song itself?
Coincidently, “Carlow”, was the first song I ever learned! Was tunes up to that, then I got me hands on that famous green “Planxty Songbook” and started with “Carlow”, it became the bible back then! Looking at it now as I type its battered and bruised and full of, probably, porter stains, but still cherished!
Thanks Christy!
I may have found it in the PW Joyce collection…not 100% sure but it was from a book….I don’t recall singing it prior to the Prosperous recording in 1971…must check does Andy Irvine have any pointers…
I love encountering old song books “battered and bruised with porter stains”..a sure sign of a book being properly used….sure beats lying pristine and unopened on a lonely shelf
“White is sick and Grey has fled
now for black Fitzwilliam’s head
we’ll send it over drippin red
to Queen Liza and her ladies”……( P.J. McColl)
……..the horror of this verse inspired by the centuries of murder and mayhem visited upon us by the cruelest of invaders
a later song from Ewan MacColl
Green Island
The island lies like a leaf upon the sea.
Green island like a leaf new-fallen from the tree.
Green turns to gold,
as morning breeze gently shakes the barley,
bending the yellow corn.
Green turns to gold,
there’s purple shadows on the distant mountains.
Sun in the yellow corn.
They came in their long ships from lands across the sea.
They came in their long ships – they saw the land was green.
Wind in the barley,
trout and salmon leaping in the rivers.
Sun in the yellow corn.
Leaping ashore
they slaughtered those laboured in the barley,
scything them down like corn.
The long ships sailed away and new invaders came.
With long bow and lance bringing death in England’s name.
With sword and with mace,
they went reaping though the fields of barley,
They plundered the yellow corn.
Crop followed crop,
they prospered in their killing fields of barley,
The harvest of new young corn.
Marching down the years the men of war they came,
with bombs, assassins, bullets, CS gas and guns.
Ghosts from the past
are chasing shadows through the fields of barley
hiding in the new young corn.
Nine hundred years
they tried to trap the wind that shakes the barley.
Sun in the yellow corn.
The island lies like a leaf upon the sea.
Green island like a leaf new-fallen from the tree.
Green turns to gold,
as morning breeze gently shakes the barley,
bending the yellow corn.
No force on Earth
can ever trap the wind that shakes the barley.
Sun in the yellow corn.