I’m sorry to post again so quickly but something has happened.
An email newsletter cane from Daoiri Farrell the other day. It said that he is offering singing lessons.
So, daft bugger that I am, I emailed off a video of me singing.
I’ve got a lesson with him on Monday!!!
I don’t know whether I’m more excited or terrified. I need a lot of luck I think.
Tough going at the present time….. they tell us there is light at the end of the tunnel….. but the tunnel seems very long with a very small opening far , far away…
Just now everything seems very repetitive…… same old , same old every day….. day after day…..talk about Groundhogs……
Still we must hope for the brighter days when the gigs return and the variety of work and work life balance return to normality and we revel In the songs and the gatherings that we have enjoyed for 20/30 years or more……
Sail On…….We’re sailing right behind….
4711 Abu…..
I’ve been listening to Planxty Words and Music the last few days. Loving the pipes, the jigs and Reels, also the four beautiful songs – including a delicate atmospheric version of Lord Baker.
Here’s a little more lockdown silliness. It nails sublime to ridiculous like a dream.
It’s only on topic because it’s a song and I can’t think of any thing appropriate to say about it, and that goes well with it.
Dear Christy,
There have been some great posts recently both fascinating and intriguing, but here we are in the thick of it.
The white stuff has got me pondering….indeed i had been listening to the album Listen in recent days, it is full of gorgeous songs .
Listen to the snow fall gently on the mining town, seems very apt.
We had a fab version of Easter Snow in the recent video extravaganza too.
The February man still shakes the snow from off his clothes and blows his hands.
Then of course, in another spectrum ,there is the fine ‘Fifteen feet of pure white snow’, Nick Cave’s great track with perhaps one of my favourite music videos to accompany it, set in a Soviet hall ,the band performing to a pretty drunk load of ‘celebs’ including Jason Donovan and Jarvis Cocker .
Back to work i am afraid, and in a room with no windows i cannot even get to see the snow falling on snow heading up to 15 feet around the front door.
Stay warm
Rory
Some playing here and reading via excellent websites…can’t post too many links here (spam filters),but there’s some terrific info on folk/roots/Americana via the genres on the US mag -‘No Depression’ – closer to home, a possibility of another suffragette statue in South Manchester – and many fab links via the website of ‘Hazel Reeves’, the sculptor of ‘Emmeline’…lots of great info re suffragettes/RSPB etc…wonderful stuff over mugs of tea and good music -Planxty and Sweeney’s Men getting airings in recent days…
Sympathies extended to Dave in Devon. Good luck with the re boot for a keen audience. I’m keeping instruments in tune and hoping for the nod from a few folk clubs, after jabs…
Go well in the workroom, Christy – results eagerly awaited and any hints as to the subject matter, gratefully received…
Hi christy,
I hope you are well in these crazy times.
I’ve been looking for ways to contact you, I emailed you 10 years ago about doing a small(just family) private gig for my brothers 30th now I’m back again trying for his 40th. I hope you don’t mind me posting this here it’s the only way of contact I could find.
We live in Muff a small village off the border of Derry. I would love if you could contact me and I could tell you some details.
I know this is prob a strange request but hey worth a go, you don’t get if you don’t ask. And after all it’s strange times were living in. I’ll leave my email address here incase you get the vibes to drop me a line.
You are a very inspirational and talented being. We’re big fans ❤️It would be great to hear from you.
Take care
Nicola Nicomccallion@yahoo.ie
I had planned to do an hour of Songs of Love, Struggle and Resistance Pt 2 this afternoon from our home in Taddiport here in North Devon. Advertised it everywhere. Did a test run this morning, checking out with Liz my wife on her iPad. All perfect. Came to start the gig and the internet became unstable. Couldn’t sort it. Frustrated is only the half of it! I realise there are far greater things to be worried about, so returning to calm now!
I will do the gig again. Will have a broadband ‘boost’ first to avoid the problem!
There’s probably a song in it!
Meanwhile go well and stay safe, you and your loved ones.
Dave
Well Christy, how did i become a fan, a good subject from Dave i think?
Indeed there are 3 answers
1i was surfing for Kirsty Muir’s latest alcoholic drink offering in a darkweb out of body experience ,when alexa’s ghostly presence misheard my Scots’ brogue and played me your Tea With Pinochet, and i have been hooked for a fortnight since.
2 the lads decided to ramble in for a pint of stout in Hawick’s Waverley Bar, on the way i fell into a thistle ring by a ditch, an old fella helped me and my prickled backside out of the frosty ring and his name was Christy MacGowan. We headed for the pub where he put on two songs, for thruppence ha’penny on the jukebox,one by each of his namesakes, a pair of brown eyes and a pair of brown eyes and i was hooked , line and sinker.
3 about 30 years ago i was on holiday in Ireland, probably near Gorey or maybe Dungarven ,and i wandered into a record shop and picked up a CD on a day into Dub ( so it was probably Gorey) at Freebird.
Indeed, it was one of yours as i had been pricking the ears on the radio for a while at your sound. Though they put the wrong album of yours into the sleeve, i was then in the club.
There she blows Christy.
Regards to all
Rory
Born in nineteen forty five when world war two was still alive. A gentle son of Newbridge town,
And soon to be of great renown. He quickly learned of rights and wrongs and how to highlight them with songs, Guthrie,Seeger and MacColl, his repertoire includes them all. Then when the work in Ireland slowed, this Paddy upped and hit the road, He played in every club, from Rotherham, to Glasgow, London, Leeds and Birmingham.
Chorus
Sweet singing man, with the straight talking plan.A guitar and a goatskin drum and a social justice rule of thumb. You sing about the rights of man from stately homes or caravan.You put a meaning to our rage with Jimmy Mac or Wally Page.Sometimes you take us to Nirvana, Timbuktu or Lisdoonvarna. So many times you kept her lit with dulcet tones and razor wit.You always see a bigger master plan, you sharing, caring, sweet singing man.
To Ireland he came back once More and better now he knew the score. This fertile land of stream and glen was overrun by gombeen men. He told them clear, at concert pitch the poor stayed poor, the rich stayed rich. He warned about the doomsday hour and the poison waste of nuclear power.He Sang about the Dunnes stores girls who would not handle fruit bloodstained, He told us of the stardust fire and how the exit doors were chained.
So my latest song passed the Dagrab test yesterday I’m going to post it here so you can all have a look and I hope it brings a few smiles. I’m hoping after lockdown the me and Dave might play a few songs together. He plays a mean dulcimer.
It goes to the tune Tipping it up to Nancy
Rebecca
The Cats of the Lane
There’s lots of cats in this old house
They make it into a home
With crannies and dark corners
And big wild garden to roam
Oh there’s Minnie the mane and Cheeky the thief
And Leo the king of them all
They fill this place up to the brim
With trill and hiss and clawking
Cheeky, daft bugger, went fishing
Into the pond he fell
A trail of water followed him home
There’s no fish in cat hell
With me furry purry snarly rarl
Me furry whiskery claw
With me furry purry snarly rarl
They’re sniffing, hunting and stalking
With many a yowl and hiss
His sopping fur he licked
All cats know this truth
Food’s best when it is nicked
Oh there’s Minnie the mane and Cheeky the thief
And Leo the king of them all
They fill this place up to the brim
With trill and hiss and clawking
King Leo struts off down the lane
And washes himself in the road
Legs in the air, cars ignored
His fur is best in the world
With me furry purry snarly rarl
Me furry whiskery claw
With me furry purry snarly rarl
They’re sniffing, hunting and stalking
Leo’s king of all the cats
But never once a father
Don’t say a word ‘bout that day at the vet
T’would put him in a lather
Oh there’s Minnie the mane and Cheeky the thief
And Leo the king of them all
They fill this place up to the brim
With trill and hiss and clawking
Minnie likes her sleeping
Are 18 hours enough?
Her shaggy mane curls into a ball
And turns her into a rug
With me furry purry snarly rarl
Me furry whiskery claw
With me furry purry snarly rarl
They’re sniffing, hunting and stalking
She runs fast as the wind
From where the people are scary
She flashes past the side of your eye
Like a magnificent fairy
Oh there’s Minnie the mane and Cheeky the thief
And Leo the king of them all
They fill this place up to the brim
With trill and hiss and clawking
Hi Christy, I have a huge favour to ask you. My 73 year old brother Owen has been in Naas Hospital for the last three weeks with Covid. He’s had an awful time in ICU and now in CCU. He is fighting this virus to stay alive and has a very positive mindset about it. He is a life long fan of yours, going to concerts and playing your Cds every day. I was wondering if you could possibly send Owen a small personal message/video as it would really cheer him up and make him so happy. I don’t know if this is something you do, but it would be really appreciated not only by Owen but by all his family. I look forward to hearing from you. Stay safe . Valerie.
Hi Christy and all.
Thanks for that great link Rebecca, been shimmying round the kitchen, dogs look a bit puzzled.
Love to take you up on that coffee, whenever possible, am next in line for vaccine, can’t wait. Pam
It can be done as a song, or as a jazz band instrumental number.
I was led to it by this quote from an episode of Lewis.
It was here, in this public house, in the late 1940s, that J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, played the banjo, in a traditional jazz band called “The Thames Valley Cotton Pickers”. Now although none of this is actually stated in any of the official biographies, there are still people in Oxford who remember the great man, after a couple of pints of locally-brewed beer, giving a sensational performance of “I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate”.
Pam, Brenda seems to have disappeared but, if I’d make a reasonable substitute, how about a coffee sometime?
Rebecca
Christy's reply
Thanks for sharing…this track got me thinking of Johnny Silvo….
I’m sorry to post again so quickly but something has happened.
An email newsletter cane from Daoiri Farrell the other day. It said that he is offering singing lessons.
So, daft bugger that I am, I emailed off a video of me singing.
I’ve got a lesson with him on Monday!!!
I don’t know whether I’m more excited or terrified. I need a lot of luck I think.
Daoiri Farrell singing The Parting Glass
https://youtu.be/qTxQ_5ms8ww
Rebecca
Anyone else been watching this?
https://youtu.be/yj23_Z6UECk
I miss Ireland
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/10/conch-shell-in-french-museum-found-to-be-17000-year-old-wind-instrument
Tough going at the present time….. they tell us there is light at the end of the tunnel….. but the tunnel seems very long with a very small opening far , far away…
Just now everything seems very repetitive…… same old , same old every day….. day after day…..talk about Groundhogs……
Still we must hope for the brighter days when the gigs return and the variety of work and work life balance return to normality and we revel In the songs and the gatherings that we have enjoyed for 20/30 years or more……
Sail On…….We’re sailing right behind….
4711 Abu…..
Hello Christy,
I’ve been listening to Planxty Words and Music the last few days. Loving the pipes, the jigs and Reels, also the four beautiful songs – including a delicate atmospheric version of Lord Baker.
Here’s a little more lockdown silliness. It nails sublime to ridiculous like a dream.
It’s only on topic because it’s a song and I can’t think of any thing appropriate to say about it, and that goes well with it.
https://youtu.be/fFI5Jl_IqsE
I hope a little Northern humour makes you laugh.
Rebecca
Great call,Rory
Keep forgetting to dig out Nick Cave and co…soon to be rectified! Cheers D
Dear Christy,
There have been some great posts recently both fascinating and intriguing, but here we are in the thick of it.
The white stuff has got me pondering….indeed i had been listening to the album Listen in recent days, it is full of gorgeous songs .
Listen to the snow fall gently on the mining town, seems very apt.
We had a fab version of Easter Snow in the recent video extravaganza too.
The February man still shakes the snow from off his clothes and blows his hands.
Then of course, in another spectrum ,there is the fine ‘Fifteen feet of pure white snow’, Nick Cave’s great track with perhaps one of my favourite music videos to accompany it, set in a Soviet hall ,the band performing to a pretty drunk load of ‘celebs’ including Jason Donovan and Jarvis Cocker .
Back to work i am afraid, and in a room with no windows i cannot even get to see the snow falling on snow heading up to 15 feet around the front door.
Stay warm
Rory
Hi Christy/all
I hope the Atkin is cookin’ in the workroom…
Some playing here and reading via excellent websites…can’t post too many links here (spam filters),but there’s some terrific info on folk/roots/Americana via the genres on the US mag -‘No Depression’ – closer to home, a possibility of another suffragette statue in South Manchester – and many fab links via the website of ‘Hazel Reeves’, the sculptor of ‘Emmeline’…lots of great info re suffragettes/RSPB etc…wonderful stuff over mugs of tea and good music -Planxty and Sweeney’s Men getting airings in recent days…
Keep the spirits high -despite the politicos…
Dave
Hi Christy, this is a song for Christy, my little tribute to you,https://youtu.be/wZ1k0marguM
Hello Christy,
I hope things are lightening up for you. There’s some great posts on here to cheer the soul. Love your stories, Rory.
I’m way behind everyone in the list for the jab. I’m tuning the harp and focusing the vocal chords as I go.
Here’s an oldy but goody.
How long does it take to tune a harp?
No one knows.
Actually it’s about 5 minutes when you get the hang of it, but don’t tell anyone. Wouldn’t want to have it sounding easy..
Hi Christy
Sympathies extended to Dave in Devon. Good luck with the re boot for a keen audience. I’m keeping instruments in tune and hoping for the nod from a few folk clubs, after jabs…
Go well in the workroom, Christy – results eagerly awaited and any hints as to the subject matter, gratefully received…
Have a good day all
Dave
Hi christy,
I hope you are well in these crazy times.
I’ve been looking for ways to contact you, I emailed you 10 years ago about doing a small(just family) private gig for my brothers 30th now I’m back again trying for his 40th. I hope you don’t mind me posting this here it’s the only way of contact I could find.
We live in Muff a small village off the border of Derry. I would love if you could contact me and I could tell you some details.
I know this is prob a strange request but hey worth a go, you don’t get if you don’t ask. And after all it’s strange times were living in. I’ll leave my email address here incase you get the vibes to drop me a line.
You are a very inspirational and talented being. We’re big fans ❤️It would be great to hear from you.
Take care
Nicola
Nicomccallion@yahoo.ie
Hello Christy
I had planned to do an hour of Songs of Love, Struggle and Resistance Pt 2 this afternoon from our home in Taddiport here in North Devon. Advertised it everywhere. Did a test run this morning, checking out with Liz my wife on her iPad. All perfect. Came to start the gig and the internet became unstable. Couldn’t sort it. Frustrated is only the half of it! I realise there are far greater things to be worried about, so returning to calm now!
I will do the gig again. Will have a broadband ‘boost’ first to avoid the problem!
There’s probably a song in it!
Meanwhile go well and stay safe, you and your loved ones.
Dave
Well Christy, how did i become a fan, a good subject from Dave i think?
Indeed there are 3 answers
1i was surfing for Kirsty Muir’s latest alcoholic drink offering in a darkweb out of body experience ,when alexa’s ghostly presence misheard my Scots’ brogue and played me your Tea With Pinochet, and i have been hooked for a fortnight since.
2 the lads decided to ramble in for a pint of stout in Hawick’s Waverley Bar, on the way i fell into a thistle ring by a ditch, an old fella helped me and my prickled backside out of the frosty ring and his name was Christy MacGowan. We headed for the pub where he put on two songs, for thruppence ha’penny on the jukebox,one by each of his namesakes, a pair of brown eyes and a pair of brown eyes and i was hooked , line and sinker.
3 about 30 years ago i was on holiday in Ireland, probably near Gorey or maybe Dungarven ,and i wandered into a record shop and picked up a CD on a day into Dub ( so it was probably Gorey) at Freebird.
Indeed, it was one of yours as i had been pricking the ears on the radio for a while at your sound. Though they put the wrong album of yours into the sleeve, i was then in the club.
There she blows Christy.
Regards to all
Rory
Hi Christy, I hope you dont mind me posting this.
Born in nineteen forty five when world war two was still alive. A gentle son of Newbridge town,
And soon to be of great renown. He quickly learned of rights and wrongs and how to highlight them with songs, Guthrie,Seeger and MacColl, his repertoire includes them all. Then when the work in Ireland slowed, this Paddy upped and hit the road, He played in every club, from Rotherham, to Glasgow, London, Leeds and Birmingham.
Chorus
Sweet singing man, with the straight talking plan.A guitar and a goatskin drum and a social justice rule of thumb. You sing about the rights of man from stately homes or caravan.You put a meaning to our rage with Jimmy Mac or Wally Page.Sometimes you take us to Nirvana, Timbuktu or Lisdoonvarna. So many times you kept her lit with dulcet tones and razor wit.You always see a bigger master plan, you sharing, caring, sweet singing man.
To Ireland he came back once More and better now he knew the score. This fertile land of stream and glen was overrun by gombeen men. He told them clear, at concert pitch the poor stayed poor, the rich stayed rich. He warned about the doomsday hour and the poison waste of nuclear power.He Sang about the Dunnes stores girls who would not handle fruit bloodstained, He told us of the stardust fire and how the exit doors were chained.
Hello Christy and. All here,
So my latest song passed the Dagrab test yesterday I’m going to post it here so you can all have a look and I hope it brings a few smiles. I’m hoping after lockdown the me and Dave might play a few songs together. He plays a mean dulcimer.
It goes to the tune Tipping it up to Nancy
Rebecca
The Cats of the Lane
There’s lots of cats in this old house
They make it into a home
With crannies and dark corners
And big wild garden to roam
Oh there’s Minnie the mane and Cheeky the thief
And Leo the king of them all
They fill this place up to the brim
With trill and hiss and clawking
Cheeky, daft bugger, went fishing
Into the pond he fell
A trail of water followed him home
There’s no fish in cat hell
With me furry purry snarly rarl
Me furry whiskery claw
With me furry purry snarly rarl
They’re sniffing, hunting and stalking
With many a yowl and hiss
His sopping fur he licked
All cats know this truth
Food’s best when it is nicked
Oh there’s Minnie the mane and Cheeky the thief
And Leo the king of them all
They fill this place up to the brim
With trill and hiss and clawking
King Leo struts off down the lane
And washes himself in the road
Legs in the air, cars ignored
His fur is best in the world
With me furry purry snarly rarl
Me furry whiskery claw
With me furry purry snarly rarl
They’re sniffing, hunting and stalking
Leo’s king of all the cats
But never once a father
Don’t say a word ‘bout that day at the vet
T’would put him in a lather
Oh there’s Minnie the mane and Cheeky the thief
And Leo the king of them all
They fill this place up to the brim
With trill and hiss and clawking
Minnie likes her sleeping
Are 18 hours enough?
Her shaggy mane curls into a ball
And turns her into a rug
With me furry purry snarly rarl
Me furry whiskery claw
With me furry purry snarly rarl
They’re sniffing, hunting and stalking
She runs fast as the wind
From where the people are scary
She flashes past the side of your eye
Like a magnificent fairy
Oh there’s Minnie the mane and Cheeky the thief
And Leo the king of them all
They fill this place up to the brim
With trill and hiss and clawking
Hi Christy, I have a huge favour to ask you. My 73 year old brother Owen has been in Naas Hospital for the last three weeks with Covid. He’s had an awful time in ICU and now in CCU. He is fighting this virus to stay alive and has a very positive mindset about it. He is a life long fan of yours, going to concerts and playing your Cds every day. I was wondering if you could possibly send Owen a small personal message/video as it would really cheer him up and make him so happy. I don’t know if this is something you do, but it would be really appreciated not only by Owen but by all his family. I look forward to hearing from you. Stay safe . Valerie.
Hi Christy and all.
Thanks for that great link Rebecca, been shimmying round the kitchen, dogs look a bit puzzled.
Love to take you up on that coffee, whenever possible, am next in line for vaccine, can’t wait. Pam
Hi Christy/all here
Well done Rebecca – brightening a gloomy morning by finding the ‘lord of the strings’…
Have a good day
Dave
Hello Christy and All here,
Here’s a good song for general lockdown silliness.
https://youtu.be/cvlDNmv7-VQ
It can be done as a song, or as a jazz band instrumental number.
I was led to it by this quote from an episode of Lewis.
It was here, in this public house, in the late 1940s, that J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, played the banjo, in a traditional jazz band called “The Thames Valley Cotton Pickers”. Now although none of this is actually stated in any of the official biographies, there are still people in Oxford who remember the great man, after a couple of pints of locally-brewed beer, giving a sensational performance of “I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate”.
Pam, Brenda seems to have disappeared but, if I’d make a reasonable substitute, how about a coffee sometime?
Rebecca
Thanks for sharing…this track got me thinking of Johnny Silvo….