The Contender Song Lyrics And Guitar Chords
This song was written by singer / songwriter Jimmy McCarthy ,another classic by Jimmy is Katie [ lyrics ] which Mary Black had a hit with.-this one is all about the life of Jack Doyle , who boxed only a few hundred yards from where I live. And who else could do it justice but Christy Moore. It was recorded by Paul McGrath in 2016. Also by Irish contemporary singer Tommy Flemming and by Piaras Ó Lorcáin .
About The Contender Song By Jimmy McCarthy
'The Contender' is a song about a man who had everything and blew it. Britain had never seen anything like Jack Doyle. In 1933, he drew 90,000 fans to the White City to watch him box. He was earning £600 a week on stage as a singer, and all of this at the age of nineteen. Born into a poor family in Cobh in County Cork in 1913, it was Jack Doyle's dream to fight like Jack Dempsey and to sing like John McCormack.
His good looks, charm and athletic figure brought him to Hollywood, where this fine-featured, six-foot-five Adonis socialised with such greats as Clarke Gable and Errol Flynn. He had an affair with the motor-industry heiress Delphine Dodge. The singing playboy's motto was 'a generous man never went to hell' and, by the time he was thirty, he was well on his way to squandering his three-quarters of a million pound fortune.
Later he fell in love with the Mexican singer and movie star, Movita. He married her and they returned to Britain and Ireland where their touring show reaped huge financial rewards. The couple achieved a celebrity status comparable to Burton and Taylor, arguably more attractive but with equal fire in the relationship. But Jack's drinking, carousing and sexual exploits destroyed the marriage. Movita fled to America and Doyle ended up singing for his supper in the bars of London and Dublin, where he spent much of his time in a brothel in the red-light district run by the legendary Madam Dolly Fawcett, who held the fallen idol in great and tender esteem. Movita later married Marlon Brando.
Doyle never really got over the love of his life. He missed Movita desperately as he sank, literally, to gutter level. But throughout his bad times, he maintained an incredible spirit and dignity as he moved through the nether- worlds of Dublin and London, where he died penniless on the street in 1978. He was brought back in triumphant fashion to his native Cobh where he was buried with great style and celebration.
I first heard something of the Jack Doyle story from my father who got drunk with the legendary hell-raiser when Jack and 'Iron man' Butty Sugrue, on their way to a demonstration bout at Puck Fair in Killorglan, dropped in to the Terence Hotel bar in Macroom, which belonged to my grandmother Hannah MacCarthy.
She had bought the premises when it was called The Victoria but changed the name to The Terence in memory of the hunger striker Terence MacSweeney.
This was my parents' first home after they married and it was here I was born on 28 January 1953. Some years later, my father discovered Alcoholics Anonymous and adhered to its philosophy for the rest of his life, bar the occasional lost weekend. I returned home to my parents' house at the age of thirty and, with my father's incredible support, I surrendered to the same programme - to hand my life over to God as I understood him to be, and, one day at a time, not to take that first drink. I have been sober now for nine- teen years and, though still very far from perfect, I feel I owe my blessed life to this programme. I wonder if Jack Doyle had found his way into any of the countless AA rooms all over the world would his story have been a different one. It was with this recognition of a fellow alcoholic that I wrote "The Contender' and 'That Face'.
"That Face' is a collection of lyric scraps that were all written in a state of hangover (at which I excelled) and conveniently fell together to make this piece.
Jimmy McCarthy
'The Contender' is a song about a man who had everything and blew it. Britain had never seen anything like Jack Doyle. In 1933, he drew 90,000 fans to the White City to watch him box. He was earning £600 a week on stage as a singer, and all of this at the age of nineteen. Born into a poor family in Cobh in County Cork in 1913, it was Jack Doyle's dream to fight like Jack Dempsey and to sing like John McCormack.
His good looks, charm and athletic figure brought him to Hollywood, where this fine-featured, six-foot-five Adonis socialised with such greats as Clarke Gable and Errol Flynn. He had an affair with the motor-industry heiress Delphine Dodge. The singing playboy's motto was 'a generous man never went to hell' and, by the time he was thirty, he was well on his way to squandering his three-quarters of a million pound fortune.
Later he fell in love with the Mexican singer and movie star, Movita. He married her and they returned to Britain and Ireland where their touring show reaped huge financial rewards. The couple achieved a celebrity status comparable to Burton and Taylor, arguably more attractive but with equal fire in the relationship. But Jack's drinking, carousing and sexual exploits destroyed the marriage. Movita fled to America and Doyle ended up singing for his supper in the bars of London and Dublin, where he spent much of his time in a brothel in the red-light district run by the legendary Madam Dolly Fawcett, who held the fallen idol in great and tender esteem. Movita later married Marlon Brando.
Doyle never really got over the love of his life. He missed Movita desperately as he sank, literally, to gutter level. But throughout his bad times, he maintained an incredible spirit and dignity as he moved through the nether- worlds of Dublin and London, where he died penniless on the street in 1978. He was brought back in triumphant fashion to his native Cobh where he was buried with great style and celebration.
I first heard something of the Jack Doyle story from my father who got drunk with the legendary hell-raiser when Jack and 'Iron man' Butty Sugrue, on their way to a demonstration bout at Puck Fair in Killorglan, dropped in to the Terence Hotel bar in Macroom, which belonged to my grandmother Hannah MacCarthy.
She had bought the premises when it was called The Victoria but changed the name to The Terence in memory of the hunger striker Terence MacSweeney.
This was my parents' first home after they married and it was here I was born on 28 January 1953. Some years later, my father discovered Alcoholics Anonymous and adhered to its philosophy for the rest of his life, bar the occasional lost weekend. I returned home to my parents' house at the age of thirty and, with my father's incredible support, I surrendered to the same programme - to hand my life over to God as I understood him to be, and, one day at a time, not to take that first drink. I have been sober now for nine- teen years and, though still very far from perfect, I feel I owe my blessed life to this programme. I wonder if Jack Doyle had found his way into any of the countless AA rooms all over the world would his story have been a different one. It was with this recognition of a fellow alcoholic that I wrote "The Contender' and 'That Face'.
"That Face' is a collection of lyric scraps that were all written in a state of hangover (at which I excelled) and conveniently fell together to make this piece.
Jimmy McCarthy
C
H------------------------------
H--------8-8~~-----------------
H-7-9-10-------7-9~~----------- (NYLON CLASSICAL)
H------------------------------
H------------------------------
H------------------------------
When[C] I was young and I was in my[F] day,,,Am7,,Dm
I could have[Dm] stole that woman's heart there was a[G] way
I'd sing and[C] dance into the morning
I'd blaze a[Dm]way until the dawning
Long be[F]fore I was the[G] man you see to[C]day
And I was born beneath the star that promised all
I could have lived my life between Cork Cobh and Youghal
But the wheel of fortune took me
And from the highest point it shook me
By the bottle live by the bottle I shall fall
[Chorus]
But[C] there is a[Dm] mirror[G] on the[C] wall
I see the[Dm] dream is fading,,[G]
From the con[Dm]tender[G] to the[C] brawl
The[Bb] ring , the rose , the matador is[F] rav[G]ing
And when I die I'll die a drunk down on the street
You can count me out 'till ten in clear defeat
Rap the starry plough around me
Let the pipers air resound me
There I'll rest until the lord of love I meet
But there is a mirror on the wall
I see the dream it is fading
From the contender to the brawl
The ring, the rose, the matador, raving
Rap the starry plough around me
Let the pipers air resound me
There I'll rest until the Lord of love I'll meet.
H--------------------------------------------
H-----------5-3-5-----------6-6p5------------
H-7-4-5-------------------5-------7-7p5------
H-------------------7-5-7---------------7-7~~
H-----3--------------------------------------
H--------------------------------------------
Dm G
H---------------------------------
H---------------------------------
H---------------------------------
H-------5-7-7-5-------------------
H-8-7-8---------8S10~~~-7-8~~-----
H---------------------------------
C
Rap the starry plough around me
Dm
And let the pipers air resound me
F G C
There I'll rest until the lord of love I meet
Am7 = xx2010
Bb = 113331 or xx3331
H------------------------------
H--------8-8~~-----------------
H-7-9-10-------7-9~~----------- (NYLON CLASSICAL)
H------------------------------
H------------------------------
H------------------------------
When[C] I was young and I was in my[F] day,,,Am7,,Dm
I could have[Dm] stole that woman's heart there was a[G] way
I'd sing and[C] dance into the morning
I'd blaze a[Dm]way until the dawning
Long be[F]fore I was the[G] man you see to[C]day
And I was born beneath the star that promised all
I could have lived my life between Cork Cobh and Youghal
But the wheel of fortune took me
And from the highest point it shook me
By the bottle live by the bottle I shall fall
[Chorus]
But[C] there is a[Dm] mirror[G] on the[C] wall
I see the[Dm] dream is fading,,[G]
From the con[Dm]tender[G] to the[C] brawl
The[Bb] ring , the rose , the matador is[F] rav[G]ing
And when I die I'll die a drunk down on the street
You can count me out 'till ten in clear defeat
Rap the starry plough around me
Let the pipers air resound me
There I'll rest until the lord of love I meet
But there is a mirror on the wall
I see the dream it is fading
From the contender to the brawl
The ring, the rose, the matador, raving
Rap the starry plough around me
Let the pipers air resound me
There I'll rest until the Lord of love I'll meet.
H--------------------------------------------
H-----------5-3-5-----------6-6p5------------
H-7-4-5-------------------5-------7-7p5------
H-------------------7-5-7---------------7-7~~
H-----3--------------------------------------
H--------------------------------------------
Dm G
H---------------------------------
H---------------------------------
H---------------------------------
H-------5-7-7-5-------------------
H-8-7-8---------8S10~~~-7-8~~-----
H---------------------------------
C
Rap the starry plough around me
Dm
And let the pipers air resound me
F G C
There I'll rest until the lord of love I meet
Am7 = xx2010
Bb = 113331 or xx3331
Below is the list of songs in the Christy Moore pdf song book. Over 50 of Christy's greatest songs
with sheet music and tin whistle notes. Price €8.75. The Contender is included.
with sheet music and tin whistle notes. Price €8.75. The Contender is included.