Hello Christy.
Are you going to be playing at Vicar Street in December/January again?
Kathleen
Christy's reply
Thats the plan Kathleen….all my crew are lying low at the moment….full service will soon be resumed….Vicar Street gigs will be announced for Dec/Jan ..I am in serious training at the moment..my personal trainer is suffering from exhaustion trying to keep up with me….I ran over the Knockmealdown Mountains this morning before breakfast…tomorrow I plan to jog across The Comeraghs before swimming the River Blackwater from Fermoy to Youghal (doing Butterfly from Lismore to Cappoquin)…..I may drop into Lord Burlington for a quick round of Croquet… then on towards the Stations of The Cross in Mount Mellary….its no joke trying to keep body & soul together in these harvest months….plus the Blackwater is a tidal river so theres always a possibility that I may run aground…the Waterford Herons would pluck the eye out of any man’s head …they have an aversion to women’s eyes since a young Heron choked to death on a huge false eyelash last year after a Barbecue near Villierstown
Hello Christy,
This tickled me. It must have been at the Oxford Union where politicians learn to talk.
Brendan Behan was once invited to Oxford to take part in a debate about the difference between prose and poetry. His opponent spoke for almost two hours. Behan rose to his feet and promised to be brief. He recited an old Dublin rhyme:
There was a young fella named Rollocks
Who worked for Ferrier Pollocks.
As he walked on the strand
With a girl by the hand
The water came up to his ankles.
“That,” declared Behan, “is prose. But if the tide had been in it would have been poetry.”
Ah poor Brendan…a martyr to the drink…he’d an awful weakness for the sup…off a sore leg I’m told….shure God love him, but was’nt he very hard on himself…. I met his Mother the once…two of his Brothers too but never Himself..God Be Good To all of Them..
A lovely singer in Manchester called Des English used to run a club onthe Manc/Salford border…he had a song that started:
“Word has come from Dublin City,
to tell me poor Brendan is dead”
Ps
Matt told me of his friend’s song Barry Kerr ‘woman of no place’ about Margaret Barry, if you don’t know it its worth finding on you tube
Regards
Rory
Christy's reply
Thanks for the signpost to Barry Kerr….he is a carrier of the flame….
Hi Christy
Matt McGinn was just brilliant at our wee festival, tremendous talent and fine array of songs.
As we drove in past Dumfries i pointed out its connection with Rabbie Burns and 4 hours later he played ‘Red red rose’.
He also did ‘the island’ by paul brady, bothbeautifulbut his own stuff is just as fabulous.
He is,like yourself, a top man.
Rory
Christy's reply
I’ve always enjoyed the spin from Cairnryan to Glasgow….played a Festival in Dumfries in the late 60s…..Nancy Whisky had me by the head… I tried to sing but I was not able….Glad to hear that Matt brought joy to Hawick….
Hello Christy and all,
James Larkin is one of my favourite union songs.
I’ll never forget standing in the Stone breakers yard in Kilmainham gaol and learning about the death of James Connelly. We cried.
Rebecca
Christy's reply
Written by Donagh McDonagh….great Ballad…first heard it in Glasgow in 1968 sung by Bobby Eaglesham, then (if memory serves) a member of The Clutha band….
I always thought Thunderclap Newman’s “Something in the Air” was not regarded as a “protest” song when it should have been.
Sounds like your shows are still rippers Christy – long may you deliver & delight with de music
Cold as a Mother in law’s embrace here this winter – next year’s birth rate will be a boomer, what with all the cuddling up & all.
Keep safe all of you
Regards
Danny Harris – thinking of Ireland, planning a trip
Christy's reply
I sometimes think of my times in Aus,Taz and NZ….great tours in the 80s & 90s…I get excited in my day dreaming…but thankfully, reality soon kicks in… I begin to focus on whats around me…I’ll hear a cynical RyanAir or Aer Lingus ad on the radio…I’ll read about chaos at Airports….lost luggage (and instruments)….I look up and see jet trails in the morning sky….maybe I’ll just stick on the kettle and make a brew…
Anyway Danny…hope you’re having a good day up there today… they’re promising us a heat wave here this week…I’m half hoping for a few soft days myself…nothing like a few good showers to keep things moving in the garden…
I’m gonna have a listen to Thunderclap now and throw an ear on your suggestion
PS…just had a listen…great song,great band, thanks Danny
Yorkshire
Wen thaz darn sum forran street,
Anon strange ground thaz put thi feet,
An tha meets er bloke wier Yorksher voice,
Dunt it mek thiart rijoice !
Wi no to uthers it sounds s queer,
Burrits like music on thy tyke’s ear.
So nivver ang thiedd in shame,
Thi Yorksher tung tha should acclaim,
Foh the’s nowt er matter withi intellect,
Bi proud er thi Yorksher dialect.
— John Davison
English
When you’re down a foreign street
And on strange ground you’ve put your feet
And you meet a man with a Yorkshire voice
Doesn’t it make your heart rejoice
We know to others it sounds so queer
But it’s like music to the Yorkshire ear
So never hang your head in shame
Your Yorkshire tongue you should acclaim
For there’s nothing wrong with your intellect
Be proud of your Yorkshire dialect
I thought it no harm to warm me shanks by the fire
I’m sat here this morning giving ‘What Put The Blood?’ a bit of studying. What an amazing recording. Hope you’re well Christy,
Dylan
Christy's reply
Good Man Dylan….its almost 60 years since I heard John “Jacko” sing this song..twas at the Fleadh Ceol in Boyle in 1966….the same night he sang The Raggle Taggle Gypsy and Tippin it Up to Nancy….Poor man died soon after…thanks to the Collector Tom Munnelly we still have recordings of John…hear him on The Bonny Green Tree..
I send best wishes to you….Sing Out Dylan
Hello Christy,
When we were in Cork the other week we did a bit of shopping in Supervalu. We got to the checkout and there were loads of bags of sweets, including Yorkshire Toffee. So we had a look.
It looked really nice, but it’s not something that’s ever been found in Yorkshire. I was glad it was there, made me think that Cork people must like Northerners.
Round here, if we’re feeling swish we buy Thornton’s toffee. Otherwise it would be a thing called Bonfire Toffee. This is a local delicacy from the North that’s eaten on 5th November when we remember Guy Fawkes trying to blow up parliament. It’s black, shiny, brittle and hard as a rock. Made from dark sugar, golden syrup, black treacle and water. If you buy it in a slab, the traditional way to break it up is to whack it as hard as you can with a rolling pin. You have to wrap it up first or it flies everywhere. Mostly though it’s sold in lollies made in a jam tart case and with a wooden lolly stick to hold it with.
Hi Christy,
We need men like Mick Lynch to try to prevent another ‘taking tea with pinochet’.
Rory
Christy's reply
We took some cement and walled the cave up
where the thirteen little children died
I thanked God for the Mine Workers Union
than I hung my head and cried…………( Ludlow Massacre…. Woody Guthrie)
They broke the bones in both his hands
They beat him on the head
they tortured him with electric wires
then they shot him dead………………….(Victor Jara of Chile…Arlo Guthrie/A.Mitchell))
They carried him up the jail
they carried him up to the jail
they shot him down on a bright May morning
and quickly laid him in his gore…(James Connolly by Patrick Galvin)
Which side are you on
which side are you on……… (Ewan MacColl)
Hello Christy,
Thankyou so much for your kind and brilliant advice on how to approach my gig on 11th August. I’ve written it down and it’s with me when I play.
I’ll be on stage at the Shay Stadium in Halifax from 5.15 to 5.40pm next Thursday, singing and playing.
If any of my friends here would like to join me it will be live streamed https://youtu.be/QAFucUxQxD0
Alternatively, if there’s anyone here who doesn’t like me you could tune in for the possibility of seeing me make a huge fool of myself on stage whilst it’s broadcast live across the Internet.
Win-win…
Mick Lynch makes me think of Arthur Scargill. I was just a kid. but I still have memories of him.
Thinking about what you said, Pat. Best to let singers sing. The audiences at Christy’s gigs are well supplied with new precious bundles of humanity, who love the songs and stories as much as us older bearers, and will carry them safely along in their time. There isn’t a way to stop it, even the radio and television haven’t.
Winter Downunder & a bloody cold & wet one just about everywhere so no bushfires …but in a month or two the ongoing punishment for climate change denial will again hit us with the heat & flames & smoke & dust
You’re not a Mick Lynch fan? I’m a recently retired union organiser myself so feel some affinity & wistful recollection when I see his work.
To each his own
Wish I could be in Ireland again – maybe 2024 if the world is still intact
Best wishes,
Danny Harris, Antipodes
Christy's reply
Mick Lynch’s emergence as a spokesperson very welcome here…there will be powerful forces at work to bring him down…he faces them with the courage and conviction of a determined Union man…he reminds me of Vanzetti in Woody Guthrie’s song “Sacco & Vanzetti”…
“every day found ways to fight
on the Union side for Worker’s Rights”
Come 2024 the World will be intact…not so sure about its inhabitants…
Was hesitant to spell Joe Doherty’s name as I did. Our press had it that way, but concurrent with his incarceration here, I knew otherwise. I have a close relative who is with the law firm which represented him here. I don’t know how widely known it is that Major asked for Joe in exchange for allowing our planes to refuel in UK en route to attacking Gaddafi.
Christy's reply
I recall a line
“Joe Doherty has done nothing
George Washington did not do”
Christy, I went with Seoirse Ó Dochartaigh, a lovely songsmith, to O’Neills of Crossmaglen once in the early 80s. Seoirse had lived in Cross, so we were accepted. As always he had his guitar, and was asked to sing. He introduced his song by saying’every song has a story, is a story. I don’t know the story of this song, maybe someone here does’. He sang ‘The boys of Mullach bán. When he finished, an old man shuffled up to the Mike, and told the story. It might have been the South Armagh Seanchaidh Johnny Campbell.
Anyway, I was reminded of this when I listened to a song of yours, and went to ‘One Voice’ to get the background. It wasn’t there, as it was a later recording. And I got to thinking, would yourself or the young buck Andy Moore III be interested in a new project, ‘More Voices’, getting the fantastic folklore behind your songs in writing, before they are all gone?
Our night in O’Neills ended suddenly with the announcement ‘the whitecaps are on the roads’. We all scarpered, and got home safely.
Christy's reply
its a long time since Pat….
I can recall odd lines….
“now we are in danger
from this vile deceiving stranger
who has ordered transportation
for the Boys of Mullaghbawn”
I still have the tune clearly in my recall
but no memory of where I first heard this great song
I suspect it may have come from Frank Harte of Chapelizod..
Your suggestion noted …but I’m hard at work here with fresh ballads
Indeed Hazz, Joni. To see her marked deterioration from the great years of her singing; a pity. Yet she appeared to be happy. I’d leave her singing having that ‘bash’ in her living room.
I’ll just add that I disagree about Mick Lynch.
Ye have had a rough time Down Under in recent times, we’ve followed it here what with covid, floods, headwaves and had you bush fires too?
Re Joni’s gig: I’m torn – taken aback & a bit awkward due to her obvious physical decline yet touched & warmed by her apparent delight in singing & playing.
Have you seen the YouTube posts of Mick Lynch? He makes me hanker for the old days of truespeak & simple, decent people who strived to make people’s lives better…
Rant over…& May you keep dodging that ton of bricks in your delightful playful way
Greetings from Stuttgart, Germany.
To celebrate 33 years of marriage I am surprising my husband Ken, with tickets for your gig in Bundoren in September . There is one song that is very close to our hearts and that is “The Voyage”. We can relate to this as we left Ireland in 1987 to start a new life together in Germany with alot of ups and downs! This song we can relate to so much! I would realy realy appreciate it soo soo much if you could sing this song for us.
Hopefully yours
Aideen
Christy's reply
Aideen,
Hope you and Ken have a good trip back ….there are two gigs in Bundoran in September…let me know which one
Hello Christy.
Are you going to be playing at Vicar Street in December/January again?
Kathleen
Thats the plan Kathleen….all my crew are lying low at the moment….full service will soon be resumed….Vicar Street gigs will be announced for Dec/Jan ..I am in serious training at the moment..my personal trainer is suffering from exhaustion trying to keep up with me….I ran over the Knockmealdown Mountains this morning before breakfast…tomorrow I plan to jog across The Comeraghs before swimming the River Blackwater from Fermoy to Youghal (doing Butterfly from Lismore to Cappoquin)…..I may drop into Lord Burlington for a quick round of Croquet… then on towards the Stations of The Cross in Mount Mellary….its no joke trying to keep body & soul together in these harvest months….plus the Blackwater is a tidal river so theres always a possibility that I may run aground…the Waterford Herons would pluck the eye out of any man’s head …they have an aversion to women’s eyes since a young Heron choked to death on a huge false eyelash last year after a Barbecue near Villierstown
Hello Christy,
This tickled me. It must have been at the Oxford Union where politicians learn to talk.
Brendan Behan was once invited to Oxford to take part in a debate about the difference between prose and poetry. His opponent spoke for almost two hours. Behan rose to his feet and promised to be brief. He recited an old Dublin rhyme:
There was a young fella named Rollocks
Who worked for Ferrier Pollocks.
As he walked on the strand
With a girl by the hand
The water came up to his ankles.
“That,” declared Behan, “is prose. But if the tide had been in it would have been poetry.”
Brian McDevitt
Glenties, Co Donegal
https://youtu.be/h7GC6hKwWBk
Ah poor Brendan…a martyr to the drink…he’d an awful weakness for the sup…off a sore leg I’m told….shure God love him, but was’nt he very hard on himself…. I met his Mother the once…two of his Brothers too but never Himself..God Be Good To all of Them..
A lovely singer in Manchester called Des English used to run a club onthe Manc/Salford border…he had a song that started:
“Word has come from Dublin City,
to tell me poor Brendan is dead”
thats all I remember
Ps
Matt told me of his friend’s song Barry Kerr ‘woman of no place’ about Margaret Barry, if you don’t know it its worth finding on you tube
Regards
Rory
Thanks for the signpost to Barry Kerr….he is a carrier of the flame….
Hi Christy
Matt McGinn was just brilliant at our wee festival, tremendous talent and fine array of songs.
As we drove in past Dumfries i pointed out its connection with Rabbie Burns and 4 hours later he played ‘Red red rose’.
He also did ‘the island’ by paul brady, bothbeautifulbut his own stuff is just as fabulous.
He is,like yourself, a top man.
Rory
I’ve always enjoyed the spin from Cairnryan to Glasgow….played a Festival in Dumfries in the late 60s…..Nancy Whisky had me by the head… I tried to sing but I was not able….Glad to hear that Matt brought joy to Hawick….
Hello Christy and all,
James Larkin is one of my favourite union songs.
I’ll never forget standing in the Stone breakers yard in Kilmainham gaol and learning about the death of James Connelly. We cried.
Rebecca
Written by Donagh McDonagh….great Ballad…first heard it in Glasgow in 1968 sung by Bobby Eaglesham, then (if memory serves) a member of The Clutha band….
Re union songs: I won’t “labour” the point but…
I always thought Thunderclap Newman’s “Something in the Air” was not regarded as a “protest” song when it should have been.
Sounds like your shows are still rippers Christy – long may you deliver & delight with de music
Cold as a Mother in law’s embrace here this winter – next year’s birth rate will be a boomer, what with all the cuddling up & all.
Keep safe all of you
Regards
Danny Harris – thinking of Ireland, planning a trip
I sometimes think of my times in Aus,Taz and NZ….great tours in the 80s & 90s…I get excited in my day dreaming…but thankfully, reality soon kicks in… I begin to focus on whats around me…I’ll hear a cynical RyanAir or Aer Lingus ad on the radio…I’ll read about chaos at Airports….lost luggage (and instruments)….I look up and see jet trails in the morning sky….maybe I’ll just stick on the kettle and make a brew…
Anyway Danny…hope you’re having a good day up there today… they’re promising us a heat wave here this week…I’m half hoping for a few soft days myself…nothing like a few good showers to keep things moving in the garden…
I’m gonna have a listen to Thunderclap now and throw an ear on your suggestion
PS…just had a listen…great song,great band, thanks Danny
Yorkshire
Wen thaz darn sum forran street,
Anon strange ground thaz put thi feet,
An tha meets er bloke wier Yorksher voice,
Dunt it mek thiart rijoice !
Wi no to uthers it sounds s queer,
Burrits like music on thy tyke’s ear.
So nivver ang thiedd in shame,
Thi Yorksher tung tha should acclaim,
Foh the’s nowt er matter withi intellect,
Bi proud er thi Yorksher dialect.
— John Davison
English
When you’re down a foreign street
And on strange ground you’ve put your feet
And you meet a man with a Yorkshire voice
Doesn’t it make your heart rejoice
We know to others it sounds so queer
But it’s like music to the Yorkshire ear
So never hang your head in shame
Your Yorkshire tongue you should acclaim
For there’s nothing wrong with your intellect
Be proud of your Yorkshire dialect
I thought it no harm to warm me shanks by the fire
Rebecca
brings me back to Causeway Foot
I’m sat here this morning giving ‘What Put The Blood?’ a bit of studying. What an amazing recording. Hope you’re well Christy,
Dylan
Good Man Dylan….its almost 60 years since I heard John “Jacko” sing this song..twas at the Fleadh Ceol in Boyle in 1966….the same night he sang The Raggle Taggle Gypsy and Tippin it Up to Nancy….Poor man died soon after…thanks to the Collector Tom Munnelly we still have recordings of John…hear him on The Bonny Green Tree..
I send best wishes to you….Sing Out Dylan
Hello Christy,
When we were in Cork the other week we did a bit of shopping in Supervalu. We got to the checkout and there were loads of bags of sweets, including Yorkshire Toffee. So we had a look.
It looked really nice, but it’s not something that’s ever been found in Yorkshire. I was glad it was there, made me think that Cork people must like Northerners.
Round here, if we’re feeling swish we buy Thornton’s toffee. Otherwise it would be a thing called Bonfire Toffee. This is a local delicacy from the North that’s eaten on 5th November when we remember Guy Fawkes trying to blow up parliament. It’s black, shiny, brittle and hard as a rock. Made from dark sugar, golden syrup, black treacle and water. If you buy it in a slab, the traditional way to break it up is to whack it as hard as you can with a rolling pin. You have to wrap it up first or it flies everywhere. Mostly though it’s sold in lollies made in a jam tart case and with a wooden lolly stick to hold it with.
Here’s Ben Taylor, Yorkshire Dialect poet, talking about “snap” (food) on Bonfire night.
https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/watch-dialect-poet-ben-taylors-13858691
Rebecca
warmed mysen thru…..
Hi Christy,
We need men like Mick Lynch to try to prevent another ‘taking tea with pinochet’.
Rory
We took some cement and walled the cave up
where the thirteen little children died
I thanked God for the Mine Workers Union
than I hung my head and cried…………( Ludlow Massacre…. Woody Guthrie)
They broke the bones in both his hands
They beat him on the head
they tortured him with electric wires
then they shot him dead………………….(Victor Jara of Chile…Arlo Guthrie/A.Mitchell))
They carried him up the jail
they carried him up to the jail
they shot him down on a bright May morning
and quickly laid him in his gore…(James Connolly by Patrick Galvin)
Which side are you on
which side are you on……… (Ewan MacColl)
Christy, the answer: No.
Ed, Right so
Hello Christy,
Thankyou so much for your kind and brilliant advice on how to approach my gig on 11th August. I’ve written it down and it’s with me when I play.
I’ll be on stage at the Shay Stadium in Halifax from 5.15 to 5.40pm next Thursday, singing and playing.
If any of my friends here would like to join me it will be live streamed
https://youtu.be/QAFucUxQxD0
Alternatively, if there’s anyone here who doesn’t like me you could tune in for the possibility of seeing me make a huge fool of myself on stage whilst it’s broadcast live across the Internet.
Win-win…
Mick Lynch makes me think of Arthur Scargill. I was just a kid. but I still have memories of him.
Thinking about what you said, Pat. Best to let singers sing. The audiences at Christy’s gigs are well supplied with new precious bundles of humanity, who love the songs and stories as much as us older bearers, and will carry them safely along in their time. There isn’t a way to stop it, even the radio and television haven’t.
Rebecca
Good Luck in Shay….enjoy every moment
Hello Ed Coyle:
Winter Downunder & a bloody cold & wet one just about everywhere so no bushfires …but in a month or two the ongoing punishment for climate change denial will again hit us with the heat & flames & smoke & dust
You’re not a Mick Lynch fan? I’m a recently retired union organiser myself so feel some affinity & wistful recollection when I see his work.
To each his own
Wish I could be in Ireland again – maybe 2024 if the world is still intact
Best wishes,
Danny Harris, Antipodes
Mick Lynch’s emergence as a spokesperson very welcome here…there will be powerful forces at work to bring him down…he faces them with the courage and conviction of a determined Union man…he reminds me of Vanzetti in Woody Guthrie’s song “Sacco & Vanzetti”…
“every day found ways to fight
on the Union side for Worker’s Rights”
Come 2024 the World will be intact…not so sure about its inhabitants…
The hotel looks like a fabilous place to stay but unfortutionatly its booked out for that night. We might get lucky if there is a cancelation!
Every second house in Bundoran is a guest house
Was hesitant to spell Joe Doherty’s name as I did. Our press had it that way, but concurrent with his incarceration here, I knew otherwise. I have a close relative who is with the law firm which represented him here. I don’t know how widely known it is that Major asked for Joe in exchange for allowing our planes to refuel in UK en route to attacking Gaddafi.
I recall a line
“Joe Doherty has done nothing
George Washington did not do”
Christy, I went with Seoirse Ó Dochartaigh, a lovely songsmith, to O’Neills of Crossmaglen once in the early 80s. Seoirse had lived in Cross, so we were accepted. As always he had his guitar, and was asked to sing. He introduced his song by saying’every song has a story, is a story. I don’t know the story of this song, maybe someone here does’. He sang ‘The boys of Mullach bán. When he finished, an old man shuffled up to the Mike, and told the story. It might have been the South Armagh Seanchaidh Johnny Campbell.
Anyway, I was reminded of this when I listened to a song of yours, and went to ‘One Voice’ to get the background. It wasn’t there, as it was a later recording. And I got to thinking, would yourself or the young buck Andy Moore III be interested in a new project, ‘More Voices’, getting the fantastic folklore behind your songs in writing, before they are all gone?
Our night in O’Neills ended suddenly with the announcement ‘the whitecaps are on the roads’. We all scarpered, and got home safely.
its a long time since Pat….
I can recall odd lines….
“now we are in danger
from this vile deceiving stranger
who has ordered transportation
for the Boys of Mullaghbawn”
I still have the tune clearly in my recall
but no memory of where I first heard this great song
I suspect it may have come from Frank Harte of Chapelizod..
Your suggestion noted …but I’m hard at work here with fresh ballads
Indeed Hazz, Joni. To see her marked deterioration from the great years of her singing; a pity. Yet she appeared to be happy. I’d leave her singing having that ‘bash’ in her living room.
I’ll just add that I disagree about Mick Lynch.
Ye have had a rough time Down Under in recent times, we’ve followed it here what with covid, floods, headwaves and had you bush fires too?
might you expand on Mick Lynch ?
Thanks for replying Christy.
Re Joni’s gig: I’m torn – taken aback & a bit awkward due to her obvious physical decline yet touched & warmed by her apparent delight in singing & playing.
Have you seen the YouTube posts of Mick Lynch? He makes me hanker for the old days of truespeak & simple, decent people who strived to make people’s lives better…
Rant over…& May you keep dodging that ton of bricks in your delightful playful way
Danny Harris (down here)
Good Morning Christy,
we have tickets for Thursday 22nd September 2022.
Greetings from Stuttgart
Aideen
its one of my favourite hotel venues….
I’m “half” Power myself…
our Mother, Nancy Power ( 1919-1992), came from The Yellow Furze in County Meath
Greetings from Stuttgart, Germany.
To celebrate 33 years of marriage I am surprising my husband Ken, with tickets for your gig in Bundoren in September . There is one song that is very close to our hearts and that is “The Voyage”. We can relate to this as we left Ireland in 1987 to start a new life together in Germany with alot of ups and downs! This song we can relate to so much! I would realy realy appreciate it soo soo much if you could sing this song for us.
Hopefully yours
Aideen
Aideen,
Hope you and Ken have a good trip back ….there are two gigs in Bundoran in September…let me know which one