CM
I believe it’s “Poc”
Shortened version of Pocaide.
There is no K in the Irish language so Puck must be amongst the many made up words of the English.Just like the praiseach they made of our indigenous place-names.
CS
Christy's reply
I agree 100% with you CS..of the many vile atrocities visited upon us by the cruel invaders..the bastardisation of our place names still sticks in this craw..
It’s something to know though. To get Hilary’s attention say something inaccurate about Kerry…
Rebecca
Christy's reply
or Hafilax !!
or Kidlare !!
The Kingdom of Kerry has great diversity in its beauty….different aspects to be discovered in its many regions…. the roads around Kilgarvan are astonishingly well asphalted….the Black Valley, The Slopes of Bí na Tí, the Hill of Knocknagoshel, The Puck of Killorglin, The Dangle of Dingle, The bookishness of Listowel, The Pyramids of Sneem, The Slides of Slíabh Lúacra,The Nail bars of Abbeyfeale, The South Pole of Annascaul,The Colonial Boy of Castlemain, Peig Sayers,Charlie Haughey, Paidí, The Begleys, The Spillanes, The Bomber, Mick Galway, Con Houlihan, KIlreekil, Woodys,…enough said
Good am great to hear mention of Casey, one small correction, it’s Puck, as in Puck Fair, a major cultural event in the Kerry Calender ! https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2023/0717/1394913-puck-fair/ ..it would n’t be long now. Safe travelling all to Waterford.Beir bua agus beannacht.H
Christy's reply
Gay Bachelor of Ballybunion, Rose of Tralee, Puck Fair…..ye does be comin down with the cultural activities suas ansin insan Ríocht….and Jimmy Deenihan retired Min for The Arts, John O’Donoghue and The gaggle of Hely Raes pure beacons of enlightenment…..Brendan K and John B., JackMcAuliffe and Sigerson Clifford,Martin Egan and Mickey McConnell but half a dozen who kept the flag flyin atop Carrantuohill
Thank you for your message. I’m delighted to hear that you received the song. I must admit, I never realised you received the audio directly. I appreciate your approach of taking time with songs that resonate with you. I completely understand the process. Your kindness is much appreciated.
I hope this message finds you in good spirits. My girlfriend and I recently had the pleasure of attending another great show of yours at the TLT in Drogheda. Ár fheabhas !!
I have sent the recording of “The Dublin Melody” to Paddy Doherty using the email address provided on your webpage. However, if you prefer, I can also send it directly to you. It would mean the world to me if you could take a listen to it. It would be an absolute dream come true to someday have the chance to share the stage with you and perform it together.
My email is michealoreilly08@gmail.com
If you were to email me directly.
This way, I can share the recording directly to you. Your feedback and thoughts on the song would be deeply appreciated.
I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the joy and inspiration you bring me and all of us through your music. Your remarkable talent and unwavering dedication have touched countless lives, including mine.
Ride on!!
Micheál.
Christy's reply
Michael…I receive many songs..I appreciate when writers share their songs with me…every now and then a song comes along that draws me in…I’ll spend some time with it…get to know the ins and outs of it..ponder could I do it justice..when that happens I try and contact the writer for a chat…..at a guess I’d say that happens one time with every hundred songs ……I’ve listened to your song…thanks again for sharing..sin an scéal
Christy,
John Reilly, the stoker of the flame. Worth at trip to Boyle just to see and touch his plaque for those, unlike you, who never witnessed him live.
The Bonnie Gree Tree is a rare LP, worth the hunt, like the plaque.
Keeper of the flame is a song i have on cd by ‘Damo’ that mentions Jacko.
In Scotland we had Hamish H , the Stewarts and others keeping this Celtic flame alive too, but it is hard to compare to your inspiration Jacko.
Just been into Union Street Hmv up here in Aberdeen ,the price of records now!! Got a couple to take down the road nonetheless.
Love the feel of the vinyl, the look of the vinyl, cannae beat it.
Rory
Christy's reply
I’ll be 7 years a ringin a bell
but the Lord above may save my soul
from portin in hell
at the Well Below The Valley O
dont forget Jimmy McBeath, Davy Johnson, Jeannie Robertson, Lizzie Higgins…I sat with them in Blairgowrie in 1968….some greatsongs
I’m trying to work it out. The picture is signed at the bottom on the right. I think the first name is Bert? The second name looks to start with a B. Can’t make it out. I’ll have a root around and see if I can find anything else.
Hello Christy,
Seamus Ennis is a real legend to me. Fascinating to watch and listen to. It was his humour in that clip I posted that drew me in. N sharp minor.!!! He also seems to have modified his tuning system at some point from an old traditional tuning, to the modern system where all the semitones are equally distanced apart. Great ear and a life full of music. https://youtu.be/lLe9etQ0iwQ
Rebecca
Christy's reply
O mother of jasus Seamus, where in the name of god did you get that hanky..I’m still recoverng from the sight of it….rest in peace
The Dogs Bollix… on the corner of Abby Street and Newtown Road… in Auckland?… sure it’s a small world we live in… I have been there many a time… well at least as many times as I have been in Auckland… mind you, if you have ever travelled to that city… and are of our denomination… chances are you have worshiped at that old church… good ol’ spot… I saw the White Stripes there back in early 2002… my ears are still ringing… 2002… Jeasus I’m old… sadly I don’t think it made it made it to the other side of the plague… I was in Auckland a few weeks back and rocked up of a Friday evening for a little R&R… sadly it was closed… I was forced to frequent my backup den of disrepute… The Thirsty Dog… around the corner on Karangahape Road… No music… there was a comedy open mic on that night… enough said… and no Bulmers… I had to settle for a craft artesian cider… it looked and tasted like, I was at best, the second person to have drunk it… but any port in a storm… and it is a cracking venue… and it was open for business
Thank you for taking to time to read my scribble… and although it seems completely random – I’m guessing a guy from Coolock… hanging in Australia… sending you a song and a fable is not an everyday event – but this for me was a remarkable if not bizarre episode – a testament to your influence and talent that is recognized around the world… and so it prompted me to track you down and write… with no expectations of reply might I add…
Rolling back to that night in Scruffy’s … I sang my ditty – Pierced the Heart of My Soul… I pray no one caught that on video… but for some inexplicable reason… nostalgia, melancholy, drunkenness, insanity… take your pick… a pub full of people, who were absolutely pissed off that they could not sing their party karaoke pieces… listened to my dreary elegy and added acapella to Irish ballad… and got the answer Christy Moore…
My humblest apologies… but the patrons of that pub… that night… absolutely battered and butcher some of the finest songs in your repertoire… and they enjoyed every minute
The call outs were… a lady who hailed from Mumbai… India… she sang and interesting interpretation of Back Home In Derry…. unexpected choice I thought… and by the way… that song takes on a whole different connotation when sung in a thick Indian accent… with a more than a subtle twist of Bollywood… anyway… turns out this lady had spent 18-months incarcerated in Killybegs (on secondment for work)… fell in with the wrong crowd who dragged her against her will to one of your gigs at the Great Northern in Bundoran… a fan ever since… pick a song… she will sing it for you in Hindi… fantastic
And the kicker… the one that tipped me over the edge… so many of your fine songs had been slain that evening that when an African American Lady from Gonzales… a town between Baton Rouge and New Orleans in the deep south… a gospel singer in her Baptist church choir… took the staged… she apologized for not knowing a Christy Moore song… I kid you not… and then proceeded to sing a spectacular haunting rendition of Clannad’s In a Lifetime (she sang both side of the duet… impressive as)
Anyway… all this to say… It was a ripper of a night… unknowns to you, in a non-descript pub in the middle of the Sydney CBD… the spontaneous fun and joy that your music and talent created was nothing short of mighty… thank you
Had the great pleasure of seeing Usher’s Island and Lisa O’Neill on Sunday night. Wonderful sounds. Couldn’t help but think of Planxty whilst the boys were tearing into The Blacksmith and how long lasting the gift of Planxty has been,Miss Liam, but the rest are going as.as well as ever . Lisa O’Neill is an amazing talent too- very original voice and thought provoking songwriting. We are blessed with the talent we have. Great to read of the 6000th gig and still packing them in. Long may it continue.
Hi Christy you old fart. I am in my back yard listening to your 2006 live album and I am thrilled that you are still at it. I might plan a trip to the North in October to hear you in person. My heritage is Donegal and Tyrone. I wish your family the best. July 17, 2023. I am 10 years younger and running out or gas paying taxes!
Christy's reply
Curly, ye aul shart..
we’re still here,thanks be,
bangin out ballads to bate the band
Hi All. Talk about a River of Song, Ed Coyle it seems that the origins go back even farther !! Prothalamion, is a poem by Edmund Spenser in which he describes two swans at the Thames, relating it to the myth of Jove and Leda. According to the myth, Jove falls in love with Leda and comes to court her in the guise of a beautiful swan. The poet feels that the Thames has done justice to his nuptial song by “flowing softly” according to his request: “Sweet Thames run softly till I end my song”. The poem is often grouped with Spenser’s poem about his own marriage, the Epithalamion. American-born British poet T. S. Eliot quotes the line “Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song” in his 1922 poem The Waste Land. English composer George Dyson (1883–1964) set words from Prothalamion to music in his 1954 cantata Sweet Thames Run Softly. Versions, variations, adding verses, deleting verses , building on past work and maybe giving rise to Two Island Swans by Felix Pappalardi, who knows ?? Enjoy the Waterford gigs Christy and your Summer hols. Beir bua agus beannacht. H
Hi Christy,been a while..it’s funny how life experiences change perspective…when I began writing 30 years ago at the ripe old age of 30 it was all about getting“the break” and breaks came and went and were good and bad in turn but now that my parents and some great friends have passed on ,if Elvis himself came out of the grave and recorded ten of my songs I’d trade every bit of it to spend 5 minutes with my Da or share a tune with my Ma over a cup of tea.
I found myself last month watching an old interview with you and was very moved by a particular 5 minute section that said so much to me.
Literally the day after watching,this song arrived.
It’s dedicated to you ,to say thank you for all the years of music,for being part of my own journey and life at a certain place and time and for always carrying the flame.I’m glad we’re still writing and making music.Long may you run.
Dave McGilton https://youtu.be/QbjMAMU06zc
Christy's reply
Thank You Dave….your verses carried me back to early boyhood years….your guitar sound and picking very unique.. thanks for sharing your lovely song …for all the years of listening too…
I never once got to sing for my Father….I still miss those precious singing times with my Mother…just the two of us….she had a great ear and would tell me what I needed to hear
Dear Christy ,
as the seabirds call around my workplace today i rejoiced in their noise of freedom.
Tomorrow is Mandela day, marking the greatest human of my lifetime, i shall sing and play The Specials “free nelson mandela”.
Perhaps i shall also play that wonderful song ‘no time for love’ , which stirs the soul every time i hear it, for all those brave men and women whether in Ireland, South Africa, Latin America or wherever.
A Luta Continua.
Rory
Christy's reply
Rory…belated reply….I’m thinking of myself and Wally in that lock-in snug with Dessie Tutu….the two boys were lorryin into the black nectar….Wally & The Bish gettin on like a house on fire …the great song “Biko Drum” was concieved….mirabile visu
CM
I believe it’s “Poc”
Shortened version of Pocaide.
There is no K in the Irish language so Puck must be amongst the many made up words of the English.Just like the praiseach they made of our indigenous place-names.
CS
I agree 100% with you CS..of the many vile atrocities visited upon us by the cruel invaders..the bastardisation of our place names still sticks in this craw..
Thanks Christy and Hilary,
Sorry about the stray S. Song lyrics come from my head, so sometimes they can have a bit of variation. I do know about Puck Fair.
I’ve been to Kerry once. I was overcome by the beauty from the top of the Conor Pass. The clarity of the light. The day before we couldn’t see our hands in front of us. That was equally memorable.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid032J71ELdmnAUs1XBTnECN5ZkCRGgG1bHDbrxTYmfip8JZhZ5V53BtAEz14RvFpByCl&id=847680135
It’s something to know though. To get Hilary’s attention say something inaccurate about Kerry…
Rebecca
or Hafilax !!
or Kidlare !!
The Kingdom of Kerry has great diversity in its beauty….different aspects to be discovered in its many regions…. the roads around Kilgarvan are astonishingly well asphalted….the Black Valley, The Slopes of Bí na Tí, the Hill of Knocknagoshel, The Puck of Killorglin, The Dangle of Dingle, The bookishness of Listowel, The Pyramids of Sneem, The Slides of Slíabh Lúacra,The Nail bars of Abbeyfeale, The South Pole of Annascaul,The Colonial Boy of Castlemain, Peig Sayers,Charlie Haughey, Paidí, The Begleys, The Spillanes, The Bomber, Mick Galway, Con Houlihan, KIlreekil, Woodys,…enough said
Good am great to hear mention of Casey, one small correction, it’s Puck, as in Puck Fair, a major cultural event in the Kerry Calender ! https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2023/0717/1394913-puck-fair/ ..it would n’t be long now. Safe travelling all to Waterford.Beir bua agus beannacht.H
Gay Bachelor of Ballybunion, Rose of Tralee, Puck Fair…..ye does be comin down with the cultural activities suas ansin insan Ríocht….and Jimmy Deenihan retired Min for The Arts, John O’Donoghue and The gaggle of Hely Raes pure beacons of enlightenment…..Brendan K and John B., JackMcAuliffe and Sigerson Clifford,Martin Egan and Mickey McConnell but half a dozen who kept the flag flyin atop Carrantuohill
Hi Christy,
Thank you for your message. I’m delighted to hear that you received the song. I must admit, I never realised you received the audio directly. I appreciate your approach of taking time with songs that resonate with you. I completely understand the process. Your kindness is much appreciated.
Thanks again,
Micheál
Hello Christy,
Thinking my way through Martin Egan’s Casey this morning. Very glad to see it back on the menu.
Great lines
Grab the wife, throw the kids in the datsun
Make for Inch and the Strand hotel
If talk of turf drives you crazy, and you can’t face a bale of hay
Make for Foley’s, work the top shelf, talk pucks, pints and the GAA.
Talking of turf, it’s been cold here the last few days. I’ve lit the fire.
Also Lisdoonvarna
I’ll ramble in for a pint of stout
You’ll never know who’ll be hanging about
I love the rhythm of it.
Rebecca
Hi Christy,
I hope this message finds you in good spirits. My girlfriend and I recently had the pleasure of attending another great show of yours at the TLT in Drogheda. Ár fheabhas !!
I have sent the recording of “The Dublin Melody” to Paddy Doherty using the email address provided on your webpage. However, if you prefer, I can also send it directly to you. It would mean the world to me if you could take a listen to it. It would be an absolute dream come true to someday have the chance to share the stage with you and perform it together.
My email is michealoreilly08@gmail.com
If you were to email me directly.
This way, I can share the recording directly to you. Your feedback and thoughts on the song would be deeply appreciated.
I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the joy and inspiration you bring me and all of us through your music. Your remarkable talent and unwavering dedication have touched countless lives, including mine.
Ride on!!
Micheál.
Michael…I receive many songs..I appreciate when writers share their songs with me…every now and then a song comes along that draws me in…I’ll spend some time with it…get to know the ins and outs of it..ponder could I do it justice..when that happens I try and contact the writer for a chat…..at a guess I’d say that happens one time with every hundred songs ……I’ve listened to your song…thanks again for sharing..sin an scéal
Christy,
John Reilly, the stoker of the flame. Worth at trip to Boyle just to see and touch his plaque for those, unlike you, who never witnessed him live.
The Bonnie Gree Tree is a rare LP, worth the hunt, like the plaque.
Keeper of the flame is a song i have on cd by ‘Damo’ that mentions Jacko.
In Scotland we had Hamish H , the Stewarts and others keeping this Celtic flame alive too, but it is hard to compare to your inspiration Jacko.
Just been into Union Street Hmv up here in Aberdeen ,the price of records now!! Got a couple to take down the road nonetheless.
Love the feel of the vinyl, the look of the vinyl, cannae beat it.
Rory
I’ll be 7 years a ringin a bell
but the Lord above may save my soul
from portin in hell
at the Well Below The Valley O
dont forget Jimmy McBeath, Davy Johnson, Jeannie Robertson, Lizzie Higgins…I sat with them in Blairgowrie in 1968….some greatsongs
Thanks Hilary! 💚
Ahh no blue line!! Hope this works http://bertthebannerman.com/
thon pencil man keeps a low profile !!
Hi C n R…the cartoon is by Bertthebannerman.com ..being familiar with the colloquialisms helped ! H
I’m trying to work it out. The picture is signed at the bottom on the right. I think the first name is Bert? The second name looks to start with a B. Can’t make it out. I’ll have a root around and see if I can find anything else.
Here’s a pic that I hope you might like. It’s such a wonderful instrument, the very best, and when it’s laid in its case it looks like a strange collection of random weird things. Steve was cleaning his set the other day. A crucial part disappeared up one of the pipes. He managed to get it out with a contraption fashioned from an unbent metal coat hanger.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02cAU2LUfx7fcA2UNAwSXLiiVSpPc8hn5uEGu5uccKSwG7jnwGR8oJeSV5NRqL4tHTl&id=769352537&sfnsn=scwspmo
who drew this masterpiece..it is brilliant..love it..
Hello Christy,
Seamus Ennis is a real legend to me. Fascinating to watch and listen to. It was his humour in that clip I posted that drew me in. N sharp minor.!!! He also seems to have modified his tuning system at some point from an old traditional tuning, to the modern system where all the semitones are equally distanced apart. Great ear and a life full of music.
https://youtu.be/lLe9etQ0iwQ
Rebecca
O mother of jasus Seamus, where in the name of god did you get that hanky..I’m still recoverng from the sight of it….rest in peace
The Dogs Bollix… on the corner of Abby Street and Newtown Road… in Auckland?… sure it’s a small world we live in… I have been there many a time… well at least as many times as I have been in Auckland… mind you, if you have ever travelled to that city… and are of our denomination… chances are you have worshiped at that old church… good ol’ spot… I saw the White Stripes there back in early 2002… my ears are still ringing… 2002… Jeasus I’m old… sadly I don’t think it made it made it to the other side of the plague… I was in Auckland a few weeks back and rocked up of a Friday evening for a little R&R… sadly it was closed… I was forced to frequent my backup den of disrepute… The Thirsty Dog… around the corner on Karangahape Road… No music… there was a comedy open mic on that night… enough said… and no Bulmers… I had to settle for a craft artesian cider… it looked and tasted like, I was at best, the second person to have drunk it… but any port in a storm… and it is a cracking venue… and it was open for business
Thank you for taking to time to read my scribble… and although it seems completely random – I’m guessing a guy from Coolock… hanging in Australia… sending you a song and a fable is not an everyday event – but this for me was a remarkable if not bizarre episode – a testament to your influence and talent that is recognized around the world… and so it prompted me to track you down and write… with no expectations of reply might I add…
Rolling back to that night in Scruffy’s … I sang my ditty – Pierced the Heart of My Soul… I pray no one caught that on video… but for some inexplicable reason… nostalgia, melancholy, drunkenness, insanity… take your pick… a pub full of people, who were absolutely pissed off that they could not sing their party karaoke pieces… listened to my dreary elegy and added acapella to Irish ballad… and got the answer Christy Moore…
My humblest apologies… but the patrons of that pub… that night… absolutely battered and butcher some of the finest songs in your repertoire… and they enjoyed every minute
The call outs were… a lady who hailed from Mumbai… India… she sang and interesting interpretation of Back Home In Derry…. unexpected choice I thought… and by the way… that song takes on a whole different connotation when sung in a thick Indian accent… with a more than a subtle twist of Bollywood… anyway… turns out this lady had spent 18-months incarcerated in Killybegs (on secondment for work)… fell in with the wrong crowd who dragged her against her will to one of your gigs at the Great Northern in Bundoran… a fan ever since… pick a song… she will sing it for you in Hindi… fantastic
And the kicker… the one that tipped me over the edge… so many of your fine songs had been slain that evening that when an African American Lady from Gonzales… a town between Baton Rouge and New Orleans in the deep south… a gospel singer in her Baptist church choir… took the staged… she apologized for not knowing a Christy Moore song… I kid you not… and then proceeded to sing a spectacular haunting rendition of Clannad’s In a Lifetime (she sang both side of the duet… impressive as)
Anyway… all this to say… It was a ripper of a night… unknowns to you, in a non-descript pub in the middle of the Sydney CBD… the spontaneous fun and joy that your music and talent created was nothing short of mighty… thank you
Had the great pleasure of seeing Usher’s Island and Lisa O’Neill on Sunday night. Wonderful sounds. Couldn’t help but think of Planxty whilst the boys were tearing into The Blacksmith and how long lasting the gift of Planxty has been,Miss Liam, but the rest are going as.as well as ever . Lisa O’Neill is an amazing talent too- very original voice and thought provoking songwriting. We are blessed with the talent we have. Great to read of the 6000th gig and still packing them in. Long may it continue.
Fair play to you Hilary, the ‘researchers’ are out and on the ball.
Hi Christy you old fart. I am in my back yard listening to your 2006 live album and I am thrilled that you are still at it. I might plan a trip to the North in October to hear you in person. My heritage is Donegal and Tyrone. I wish your family the best. July 17, 2023. I am 10 years younger and running out or gas paying taxes!
Curly, ye aul shart..
we’re still here,thanks be,
bangin out ballads to bate the band
Hi All. Talk about a River of Song, Ed Coyle it seems that the origins go back even farther !! Prothalamion, is a poem by Edmund Spenser in which he describes two swans at the Thames, relating it to the myth of Jove and Leda. According to the myth, Jove falls in love with Leda and comes to court her in the guise of a beautiful swan. The poet feels that the Thames has done justice to his nuptial song by “flowing softly” according to his request: “Sweet Thames run softly till I end my song”. The poem is often grouped with Spenser’s poem about his own marriage, the Epithalamion. American-born British poet T. S. Eliot quotes the line “Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song” in his 1922 poem The Waste Land. English composer George Dyson (1883–1964) set words from Prothalamion to music in his 1954 cantata Sweet Thames Run Softly. Versions, variations, adding verses, deleting verses , building on past work and maybe giving rise to Two Island Swans by Felix Pappalardi, who knows ?? Enjoy the Waterford gigs Christy and your Summer hols. Beir bua agus beannacht. H
I could’nt have put it better myself H
Hi Christy,been a while..it’s funny how life experiences change perspective…when I began writing 30 years ago at the ripe old age of 30 it was all about getting“the break” and breaks came and went and were good and bad in turn but now that my parents and some great friends have passed on ,if Elvis himself came out of the grave and recorded ten of my songs I’d trade every bit of it to spend 5 minutes with my Da or share a tune with my Ma over a cup of tea.
I found myself last month watching an old interview with you and was very moved by a particular 5 minute section that said so much to me.
Literally the day after watching,this song arrived.
It’s dedicated to you ,to say thank you for all the years of music,for being part of my own journey and life at a certain place and time and for always carrying the flame.I’m glad we’re still writing and making music.Long may you run.
Dave McGilton
https://youtu.be/QbjMAMU06zc
Thank You Dave….your verses carried me back to early boyhood years….your guitar sound and picking very unique.. thanks for sharing your lovely song …for all the years of listening too…
I never once got to sing for my Father….I still miss those precious singing times with my Mother…just the two of us….she had a great ear and would tell me what I needed to hear
Dear Christy ,
as the seabirds call around my workplace today i rejoiced in their noise of freedom.
Tomorrow is Mandela day, marking the greatest human of my lifetime, i shall sing and play The Specials “free nelson mandela”.
Perhaps i shall also play that wonderful song ‘no time for love’ , which stirs the soul every time i hear it, for all those brave men and women whether in Ireland, South Africa, Latin America or wherever.
A Luta Continua.
Rory
Rory…belated reply….I’m thinking of myself and Wally in that lock-in snug with Dessie Tutu….the two boys were lorryin into the black nectar….Wally & The Bish gettin on like a house on fire …the great song “Biko Drum” was concieved….mirabile visu