Irish Artists - Luke Kelly

Feeling a bit maudlin' today. Must be the sheets of dreary, june rain peppering the kitchen window. Had my music set to random and Luke Kelly's voice echoed around the house, and what a voice it is. Brims with power and emotion. The Irish seem to love people who can make them laugh and cry within a short few breaths. Polished performers who have perfected their trade over years never seem quite as real as someone like Kelly who believed in what he sang. He recorded songs dealing with social issues, the arms race, workers' rights and nationalism while never appearing aloof from his audience, his people.


I don't know whether he resonates as powerfully with people from outside Ireland, but some of his songs never fail to draw me in and cause even a little throat clearing.

His version of "Raglan Road" came about when the poem's author, Patrick Kavanah heard him singing in a pub in Dublin city then called the Bailey. After some initial reluctance he came up with this.




And then there's this. One of the few songs that made my heart feel like bursting at the first listen.
Ireland
Songwriter: Phil Colclough

Lyrics:
Walking all the day, near tall towers
where falcons build their nests
Siver winged they fly,
they know the call of freedom in their breasts
Saw Black Head against the sky
with twisted rocks that run down to the sea
Living on your western shore,
saw summer sunsets, asked for more
I stood by your Atlantic sea
and sang a song for Ireland

Talking all the day with true friends
who try to make you stay
Telling jokes and news,
singing songs to pass the night away
Watched the Galway salmon run
like silver dancing darting in the sun
Living on your western shore
saw summer sunsets, asked for more
I stood by your Atlantic sea
and sang a song for Ireland

Drinking all the day in old pubs
where fiddlers love to play
Someone touched the bow,
he played a reel
it seemed so fine and gay
Stood on Dingle beach
and cast in wild foam we found Atlantic bass
Living on your western shore,
saw summer sunsets asked for more
I stood by your Atlantic sea
and sang a song for Ireland

Dreaming in the night I saw a land
where no man had to fight
Waking in your dawn
I saw you crying in the morning light
Lying where the falcons fly,
they twist and turn all in you e'er blue sky
Living on your western shore,
saw summer sunsets asked for more
I stood by your Atlantic sea
and sang a song for Ireland





But he was also some man for the craic, which just added to his persona and ability to connect with people.

Octopus jig - Encore!


Take her up to Monto

Love the last verse -
The Queen she came to call on us,
She wanted to see all of us
I'm glad she didn't fall on us, she's eighteen stone.
"Mister Me Lord Mayor," says she,
"Is this all you've got to show me?"
"Why, no ma'am there's some more to see, Pog mo thoin!"