The Island Guitar Chords And Lyrics
Paul Brady. Also recorded by Dolores Keane, Celtic Woman These chords in chordpro are by Bob Sharpe, and this is the way he plays it. The Island is of course ''Ireland''. The lyrics suggest the song is about the troubles in Northern Ireland, with such words as '' Now we're still at it in our own place ''. Paul Brady plays this in the key of C Major, just place a capo on the 5th fret and play these chords. Also recorded by Celtic Thunder. Among other well known songs by Paul Brady include Mary And The Soldier Song .
Introduction
Paul Brady is a renowned Irish singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He is considered one of the most influential and versatile artists in the Irish music scene, with a career spanning over five decades. Brady's unique blend of folk, rock, and traditional Irish music has earned him critical acclaim and a dedicated fan base worldwide. In this thesis, we will delve into the life and career of Paul Brady and explore his impact on Irish music.
Early Life and Musical Influences
Paul Brady was born on the 19th of May, 1947, in Strabane, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He grew up in a musical family, with his father playing the fiddle and his mother singing in the local choir. From a young age, Brady showed a keen interest in music and began playing the piano and guitar. He was also heavily influenced by American folk and blues artists such as Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, and Bob Dylan.
Musical Career
Brady's musical career began in the late 1960s when he joined the Irish folk band, The Johnstons. He left the band in 1974 to pursue a solo career and released his debut album, 'Welcome Here Kind Stranger.' The album was well-received by critics, and his songwriting abilities were praised. This was just the beginning of a long and successful career for Brady.
In the 1980s, Brady's music took a turn towards a more rock-oriented sound, incorporating elements of traditional Irish music. This fusion of genres became his trademark and set him apart from other Irish musicians. His 1985 album, 'Hard Station,' was a commercial success and established him as a solo artist. The album featured the hit single, 'Crazy Dreams,' which became a staple in his live performances.
Brady continued to release critically acclaimed albums throughout the 1990s and 2000s, showcasing his versatility as a musician. He collaborated with renowned artists such as Bonnie Raitt, Mark Knopfler, and Van Morrison, further solidifying his status as a respected musician in the international music scene.
Impact on Irish Music
Paul Brady's impact on Irish music cannot be overstated. He has been instrumental in bringing traditional Irish music to a wider audience by fusing it with other genres. His songs have become part of the Irish music canon, and he is often referred to as one of the pioneers of the modern Irish music movement.
Brady's influence can also be seen in the younger generation of Irish musicians. Many cite him as a major influence on their music, and his songs have been covered by artists such as Sinead O'Connor, Maura O'Connell, and Ronan Keating.
In addition to his music, Brady has also been a vocal advocate for Irish unity and social justice. He has used his platform and influence to speak out on political issues, often incorporating these themes into his music. This has further endeared him to his fans and solidified his place as a cultural icon in Ireland.
Awards and Accolades
Paul Brady's contributions to Irish music have not gone unnoticed. He has received numerous awards and accolades throughout his career, including two Irish Meteor Awards, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and the prestigious Ivor Novello Award for his songwriting.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Paul Brady's impact on Irish music is undeniable. He has had a long and successful career, spanning over five decades, and has remained a relevant and influential artist throughout. His unique blend of folk, rock, and traditional Irish music has earned him a dedicated fan base and critical acclaim. Brady's legacy will continue to inspire and influence future generations of Irish musicians, cementing his place as a legend in Irish music.
Paul Brady is a renowned Irish singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He is considered one of the most influential and versatile artists in the Irish music scene, with a career spanning over five decades. Brady's unique blend of folk, rock, and traditional Irish music has earned him critical acclaim and a dedicated fan base worldwide. In this thesis, we will delve into the life and career of Paul Brady and explore his impact on Irish music.
Early Life and Musical Influences
Paul Brady was born on the 19th of May, 1947, in Strabane, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He grew up in a musical family, with his father playing the fiddle and his mother singing in the local choir. From a young age, Brady showed a keen interest in music and began playing the piano and guitar. He was also heavily influenced by American folk and blues artists such as Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, and Bob Dylan.
Musical Career
Brady's musical career began in the late 1960s when he joined the Irish folk band, The Johnstons. He left the band in 1974 to pursue a solo career and released his debut album, 'Welcome Here Kind Stranger.' The album was well-received by critics, and his songwriting abilities were praised. This was just the beginning of a long and successful career for Brady.
In the 1980s, Brady's music took a turn towards a more rock-oriented sound, incorporating elements of traditional Irish music. This fusion of genres became his trademark and set him apart from other Irish musicians. His 1985 album, 'Hard Station,' was a commercial success and established him as a solo artist. The album featured the hit single, 'Crazy Dreams,' which became a staple in his live performances.
Brady continued to release critically acclaimed albums throughout the 1990s and 2000s, showcasing his versatility as a musician. He collaborated with renowned artists such as Bonnie Raitt, Mark Knopfler, and Van Morrison, further solidifying his status as a respected musician in the international music scene.
Impact on Irish Music
Paul Brady's impact on Irish music cannot be overstated. He has been instrumental in bringing traditional Irish music to a wider audience by fusing it with other genres. His songs have become part of the Irish music canon, and he is often referred to as one of the pioneers of the modern Irish music movement.
Brady's influence can also be seen in the younger generation of Irish musicians. Many cite him as a major influence on their music, and his songs have been covered by artists such as Sinead O'Connor, Maura O'Connell, and Ronan Keating.
In addition to his music, Brady has also been a vocal advocate for Irish unity and social justice. He has used his platform and influence to speak out on political issues, often incorporating these themes into his music. This has further endeared him to his fans and solidified his place as a cultural icon in Ireland.
Awards and Accolades
Paul Brady's contributions to Irish music have not gone unnoticed. He has received numerous awards and accolades throughout his career, including two Irish Meteor Awards, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and the prestigious Ivor Novello Award for his songwriting.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Paul Brady's impact on Irish music is undeniable. He has had a long and successful career, spanning over five decades, and has remained a relevant and influential artist throughout. His unique blend of folk, rock, and traditional Irish music has earned him a dedicated fan base and critical acclaim. Brady's legacy will continue to inspire and influence future generations of Irish musicians, cementing his place as a legend in Irish music.
The Island Song Lyrics & Guitar Chords In G
[G] They say the [C] skies of [G] Lebanon are [C] burning
[G] Those mighty [C] Cedars [G] bleeding in the [C] heat
[G] They're showing [C] pictures [G] on the tele-[C]-vision [G]
Women and [C] children [G] dying in the [C] street
[F] Now we're still at it in our own place; Still trying to
[C] Reach the [G] future through the [C] past ; Still trying to
[F] Carve tomorrow from a tombstone
Chorus :
But [C] Hey! Don't listen to me!
[C7] Cos this wasn't meant to be no [F] sad song
We've [Had-sung] too [G] much of that [C] before [G-C]
Right now I only want to [G] be here with you
Till the [F] morning [G] dew comes [C] fa-a-lling
I want to take you to the [F] island
And trace your [G] footprints in the [C] sand [G-C]
And in the evening when ;**the [G] sun goes down
We'll make [F] love to the [G] sound of the [C] ocean
.
[G] They're raising [C] banners [G] over by the [C] markets
[G] White-washing [C] slogans [G] on the shipyard [C] walls
[G] Witch-doctors [C] praying [G] for a mighty show-[C]-down
[G] No way our [C] holy [G] flag is gonna [C] fall
[F] Up here we sacrifice our children ;To feed the
[C] Worn-out [G] dreams of [C] yesterday
And teach them. [F] Dying can lead em into glory...
Chorus
[G] Now I know us [C] plain folks [G] don't see all the [C] story
[G] And I know this [C] peace and [G] love's just copping [C] out [G]
And I guess these [C] young boys [G] dying in the [C] ditches [G]
Is just what [C] being [G] free is all [C] about
And how this [F] twisted wreckage down on main street
Will bring us [C] all to-[G]-gether in the [C] end
And we'll go [F] marching down the road to freedom FREEDOM?
[G] Those mighty [C] Cedars [G] bleeding in the [C] heat
[G] They're showing [C] pictures [G] on the tele-[C]-vision [G]
Women and [C] children [G] dying in the [C] street
[F] Now we're still at it in our own place; Still trying to
[C] Reach the [G] future through the [C] past ; Still trying to
[F] Carve tomorrow from a tombstone
Chorus :
But [C] Hey! Don't listen to me!
[C7] Cos this wasn't meant to be no [F] sad song
We've [Had-sung] too [G] much of that [C] before [G-C]
Right now I only want to [G] be here with you
Till the [F] morning [G] dew comes [C] fa-a-lling
I want to take you to the [F] island
And trace your [G] footprints in the [C] sand [G-C]
And in the evening when ;**the [G] sun goes down
We'll make [F] love to the [G] sound of the [C] ocean
.
[G] They're raising [C] banners [G] over by the [C] markets
[G] White-washing [C] slogans [G] on the shipyard [C] walls
[G] Witch-doctors [C] praying [G] for a mighty show-[C]-down
[G] No way our [C] holy [G] flag is gonna [C] fall
[F] Up here we sacrifice our children ;To feed the
[C] Worn-out [G] dreams of [C] yesterday
And teach them. [F] Dying can lead em into glory...
Chorus
[G] Now I know us [C] plain folks [G] don't see all the [C] story
[G] And I know this [C] peace and [G] love's just copping [C] out [G]
And I guess these [C] young boys [G] dying in the [C] ditches [G]
Is just what [C] being [G] free is all [C] about
And how this [F] twisted wreckage down on main street
Will bring us [C] all to-[G]-gether in the [C] end
And we'll go [F] marching down the road to freedom FREEDOM?
This second version was worked out by Marc which includes the riff. To play along to Paul Prady use a capo on the 5th fret to change key to F major.
Chords: G=(3-2-0-0-3-3)
Intro: C-F-C-G (5x)
They say the (C)skies of (G)Lebanon are (C)burning (G)
Those mighty (C)Cedars (G)bleeding in the (C)heat (G)
They're showing (C)pictures (G)on the tele-(C)-vision (G)
Women and (C)children (G)dying in the (C*)street
(F)Now we're still at it in our own place; (G)
Still trying to (C)reach the (G)future through the (C*)past ; (F)
Still trying to carve tomorrow from a tombstone (G)
Chorus
But Hey! Don't (C)listen to me! (G)
This wasn't meant to be no (F)sad song
We've (G)heard too much of (C)that before (G-C)
Right now I only want to (G)be here with you
Till the (F)morning (G)dew comes (F)fal(C)ling
I want to take you to the (F)island
And trace your (G)footprints in the (C)sand (G-C)
And in the evening when the (G)sun goes down
We'll make (F)love to the (G)sound of the (C)ocean .
They're raising (C)banners (G)over by the (C)markets (G)
White-washing (C)slogans (G)on the shipyard (C)walls (G)
Witch-doctors (C)praying (G)for a mighty show-(C)-down (G)
No way (C)our holy (G)flag is gonna (C*)fall
(F)Cause up here we sacrifice our children (G)
To feed the (C)worn-out (G)dreams of yester(C*)day (F)
And teach them dying will lead us into glory... (G)
Chorus
Now I guess us (C)plain folks (G)don't see all the (C)story (G)
And I suppose this (C)peace and (G)love's just (C)copping out (G)
And I know these (C)young boys (G)dying in the (C)ditches (G)
Is just what (C)being (G)free is all a(C)bout (G)
And how this (F)twisted wreckage down on main street(G)
Will bring us (C)all to(G)gether in the (C*)end (F)
And we'll go marching down the road to freedom…freedom.? (C)
* Bridge (Optional):
1---2---3---4---
C F
e|----------------|-
B|2---------------|1
G|------------0---|-
D|----0-2-3-------|3
A|3---------------|-
E|----------------|-
Irish song lyrics G-J
Chords: G=(3-2-0-0-3-3)
Intro: C-F-C-G (5x)
They say the (C)skies of (G)Lebanon are (C)burning (G)
Those mighty (C)Cedars (G)bleeding in the (C)heat (G)
They're showing (C)pictures (G)on the tele-(C)-vision (G)
Women and (C)children (G)dying in the (C*)street
(F)Now we're still at it in our own place; (G)
Still trying to (C)reach the (G)future through the (C*)past ; (F)
Still trying to carve tomorrow from a tombstone (G)
Chorus
But Hey! Don't (C)listen to me! (G)
This wasn't meant to be no (F)sad song
We've (G)heard too much of (C)that before (G-C)
Right now I only want to (G)be here with you
Till the (F)morning (G)dew comes (F)fal(C)ling
I want to take you to the (F)island
And trace your (G)footprints in the (C)sand (G-C)
And in the evening when the (G)sun goes down
We'll make (F)love to the (G)sound of the (C)ocean .
They're raising (C)banners (G)over by the (C)markets (G)
White-washing (C)slogans (G)on the shipyard (C)walls (G)
Witch-doctors (C)praying (G)for a mighty show-(C)-down (G)
No way (C)our holy (G)flag is gonna (C*)fall
(F)Cause up here we sacrifice our children (G)
To feed the (C)worn-out (G)dreams of yester(C*)day (F)
And teach them dying will lead us into glory... (G)
Chorus
Now I guess us (C)plain folks (G)don't see all the (C)story (G)
And I suppose this (C)peace and (G)love's just (C)copping out (G)
And I know these (C)young boys (G)dying in the (C)ditches (G)
Is just what (C)being (G)free is all a(C)bout (G)
And how this (F)twisted wreckage down on main street(G)
Will bring us (C)all to(G)gether in the (C*)end (F)
And we'll go marching down the road to freedom…freedom.? (C)
* Bridge (Optional):
1---2---3---4---
C F
e|----------------|-
B|2---------------|1
G|------------0---|-
D|----0-2-3-------|3
A|3---------------|-
E|----------------|-
Irish song lyrics G-J
Paul Brady song The Island
Miriam O'Callaghan interview with Irish folk / traditional musicans Paul Brady and Andy Irvine
Miriam meets on rté raidió one with Miriam O'Callahan my guest this morning both of course two celebrates Paul Brady celebrating the release of his new album dancer in the fire a Paul Brady anthology this weekend his personal selection of favorite recordings that span a career from the 1960s up until today Andy Irvine is celebrating turning 70 this year with a reunion of old musical friends at a special gig that's June the 16th at Baker Street here in Dublin Paul and Andy first met in Dublin on the folk scene in the 1960s and ended up playing together for a couple of years and 1970s recording and releasing an iconic album called Andy Irvine Paul Brady in 1976 though they've taken different musical paths over the years they still play together from time to time you're both very welcome thank you very much can you remember when you first met well I think the first time I saw Andy was in a Sweeney's man performance in a pub called O'Mara's on the key this was the time when every every week there will be a new ballad lounge opening and Dublin was right in the middle of the huge ballad boom in the mid 60's and I went down to see Sweeney's band play one night and Andy was on stage with Johnny Moynihan and I think it was Terry Woods yeah yeah so I immediately loved the music that were playing because a lot of it was kind of sort of influenced by
old-time American music would he go through some of the Appalachian mountain music and stuff like that which I had always loved and here were people actually on stage and Dublin playing it and Reed playing it very well instead of me listening to it on a record so I was very impressed I think it was maybe before that that I first saw Paul I do remember Paul playing and I'm sure it was Duncan and Brady Leadbelly tune yeah yeah I was I was amazed at this kind of a Strabane Delta you know and it was I remember that really well I've impressed me then and his voice is ever ever since impressed me as well subhan delta that's good yeah the deep south so how did you end up playing together the first time how did that come about you know there was a guy called Galway Joe Dolan who spent his entire life trying not to be mixed up with somebody else in the same name he was the original guitarist in Sweeney's man and in June 1967 when the war broke out between the Arabs and Israel he immediately left the band and went to Israel and I think he liked he he was really know he got nervous because we had a hit we had a hit single at that time just been successful but we asked Paul would he would he join Sweeney's Men and and we missed him by about a week as a week earlier he had joined the Johnsons I was in an apartment open or a flat open round and Rathmines and Palmerston road above Mick
Maloney and Dónal Lunny who were in this group called the Emmett folk group they flashed that must have been above each other it was amazing we spent all the time playing poker all night my Northern Ireland University ground disappeared Mick was asked to join the Johnston's who were a big chart-topping success group in Ireland and eventually he asked me to join and I joined and then a week later Andy Irvin came to me saying would you join Sweeney's man too late would you have gone for them over the johnstons that was the most diplomatic cap on my head I would have to honestly say that I think that the Sweeney's man music could have been more compatible with me and I probably would have had more fun in the long run but he did play one gig with us and it was in in the it's name of the hotel down Limerick the Royal George Royal Gorge hotel an American but as we all drove back to Dublin we were thinking damn we missed in power because he was good but in the end you did end up getting to play together was that in planks - well if you German sending him to sticky messy and in America in the early 70s and I find myself stuck out there on my own you must have gone to the States to try and break America and that often breaks a lot of bounds yeah and break America exactly I mean when we got there like there was the first what they call Creole crisis and at that time record companies needed oil to make vinyl and
record companies were in serious trouble because vinyl became extremely expensive so record companies were not only not signing new acts they were dropping half the roster they already had so it was a very bad time to be trying to break America but breaking America the concept was just so ludicrous thinking about what's your memory of how you did join Planxty ? I woke up one morning in the place in Queens in New York and a letter was lying on the ground and from in the letterbox and I picked it up when it was suddenly Emma Flynn the piper and he said look Christy Moore is just planning to leave the band in a few months and we would like you to join the band and at this stage I immediately wanted to do it because I had been trying to get out of the situation I was in for weeks but I didn't even have enough money to get an air ticket back so I had to go working in a guitar school out in Long Island for a couple of weeks to get the airfare home but you know I mean it's it's a fond memory of Paul said yes that way that was a great lift to the band because it was kind of sinking fast at that time would the first meeting I think we had on your return to Ireland was in one chronic trauma yeah and he came to Cromwell because that's where planks he was playing and he came to the gig and then later in the in the pub he took out the guitar and he played or Arthur McBride and we were all blown away as everybody being ever since was that the first time
you'd heard him yeah or heard that I said would was the first time I'd heard him doing what was his thing at that time because before that he'd in the Johnston's he was I mostly sang harmony Johnson's and I took a sort of a background see he wasn't it so he wasn't anyway soloists in Hanson's but I had some cheek you know I mean coming back sitting in and then singing Arthur McBride which was one of your songs on the recent planks the album and I had a totally different version of it which was a sort of a solo guitar arrangement and it was my it was my party piece at the time so I had to sing earth you had to I think you apologized to me before you sang it today I'm sure you do which attraction did you prefer Andy the one you done or oh I never compared the two I mean I still do i I have a different arrangement of it but I still do the one that I did with with blanks tea and I wouldn't compare the two you know it's like they're coming from totally different places like also individuals very different people did you have good times in plank state I mean you were hugely successful were you aware of that at the time how successful were we by the time you joined the band I mean we had we weren't I joined the bar that that was it it was really successful from the very beginning but that's success if you look back it and I could at it and you're quite frank that success didn't really last more than eighteen months what I feel about it is this I feel that you're you had your
major success in Ireland before I joined a band undoubtedly but I feel that the period that I was in the band but a year and a half was when the band was consolidated in places like Europe absolutely Holland and England yes we did we played a lot more in England Europe I'd like to feel a brother for something to didn't just bury before you got into the two of you together why did you break up and flying to you how did that happen well I think we were just tired of it you know I mean clanks he toured all the time you know that white van was always outside the door yeah and somebody nothing on it saying and there was never any right and there was never any real solid structure there like managerial fiscal budget rate or anything like that it was just chaos and what it was like didn't Liam describe it as four people on the train throwing my jumper said to Paul you said to him I'm leaving this job no I tell you what I tell you what did happen Liam called a meeting and we all knew what it was going to be yeah and we went to the meeting in Belmont Avenue in Donnybrook Des Kelly our manager's office and there was a bit of kind of humming and harming and laughing how are you doing and eventually the meeting was called to order and Liam said well he said I'd like to leave the band and we all as a as a man said we went down to
Madigan's and we had a few drinks to bury the band I mean luckily we didn't reform it before closing time of the joke but the folk singer who won the lottery and he was asked what he's going to do he said well I keep all gonna keep on gigging till the money's all gone so it was it was it was definitely a group decision but mad I was less yeah we had a lot of fun it was mad fun but it was great but you two obviously did get on well because then you went and played together for another few years which is when you did this iconic album yeah well but we felt very compatible musically yeah and I was always interested in Andy's music I mean Andy's music particularly the music he brought back from Eastern Europe on his travels I was always very interested in that and wanted to know what that was about because I'd never played that kind of music for you spoken about those years being kind of glorious years or shiny years I mean was it during the time with Andy maybe but you got your own confidence to believe you could be a performer in your own right all by yourself yeah fundamentally yeah I mean I think that was the period I mean I mean the final days in plank state and the whole period with Andy where when I came out from the shadows really and decided I wanted to be a solo performer you know yeah I think that's absolutely right because at the end of planks even when we formed a duo it was mainly my songs you didn't you didn't have an awful lot of material yeah and gradually as as he got the
lakes Of Pontchartrain and Mary and the soldier and all these things I'm and we began to kind of equal yeah in terms of materials Paul's confidence rose tremendously when I found my voice and and when I stood up and when I started to be able to perform with the guitar and sing songs and see a reaction coming back and people going here you know it gave me strength and it give me belief in myself and you know Gerry Rafferty came along with an album called city to city and the song Baker Street which is a huge iconic hit ever since and I suddenly felt I want to do that I mean I don't want to be Gerry Rafferty but I certainly want to pull off that an entire cocoon whatever it is I'm in and I want to find if there's somebody else in here and really that was the impetus that made me start to write songs in 1979-1980 and eventually I started to find I could write songs and I could also express parts of myself that I wanted to express through my own songs then I made the decision to break from folk music because in a way there was no way you could the two things could be done together I've never had to make a complete break and leave into a whole different sense of who I was was like walking into a different room inside myself that I hadn't realized was there and suddenly finding all these toys there that I wanted to play with and I lost interest in the room I'd been in for the pre this decade because I was so excited but what I was finding here and that
basically was the shape of my life for the next couple of decades but you never had the desire to do what he did which is strip back whatever you were and do lots of other things no I've been happy and I still am happy with traditional songs which which have a great emotion in the manner I I don't think it can be surpassed I also write I write a lot of songs I have to say that the shape that you're in is is much more multi-dimensional than almost anybody I know I mean you don't need to go anywhere else because there's so much goes on it's a large room it isn't there's lots of toys we're going to take the first piece of music and the lovely thing is you have brought your instruments and you're going to play this live for me tell me about it it's the plains of Kildare yes it's one of the one of the first songs I think that we got together I'd kind of worked out the basics I knew what I was doing and we were rehearsing with Donald and the two of them were were working out what they were going to play on it and it was it was wonderful to behold as an observer the two of them creating this accompaniment I do yeah learning that stuff was magical you know do you still like playing it personally I would rather play it more often I mean it's such complex music this when I look back and and sit here recordings and see stuff from YouTube of us playing those tunes like you know as young man we were
flying all over yeah it's it's it's you have to really work hard at it no tell me before you play it why it's complicated it's influenced a lot by the music that Andy loved and Bulgaria Romania just which is like very complex time signatures every note is in its place the plains of Qatar you go over there come on Yvonne sportsmen and listen to my story that was fantastic data bars complicated you still enjoy pain oh yeah well yes do you think you might have to do another album to me well I'm probably the one who's more likely to push for that I think it would be a great idea I would do it in the morning if I had if I had enough material if I had a bunch of five songs now that I was really well me I'm Henry check out some huh well I actually have two or three but yes if I had enough material I'd be very happy to do it me too me too tell me about your own background Andy because I hear an English voice where were you born well I was born in London I didn't stay there too long I was farmed out to boarding school at the age of three and a half three and a half yeah well so they say I mean I have very little memory of it because I think I think it caused a traumatic beginning to my life because surprised both my parents are
quite long dead now so I have no way of actually finding out but my mother had been an actress before the war and that could be one factor that she she was the kind of woman who needed to be the center of attraction all the time I mean she gave up the stage but she never gave up acting that might have been one factor another factor might have you know that my mother my father loved her very much in a possessive way and I think that he didn't really care for me very much well it's not meant to be because it's all a long time ago and I was long since got over it well it was the war you know yeah did you have brothers and sisters I had a half-sister 10 years older than me so basically it was only true and how did you end land up in Ireland I was I was an actor I was a child actor and I I when I was about 18 I got a job on the B.B.C. rep which was a Ravager company we had at the time for radio there were an awful lot of Irish people in the BBC at the time and and they were the people I gravitated to for some reason people like like Louie McNeese was it was a good friend of mine and a lot of Irish actors I knew and probably because I discovered that the demon drink by this time I was drinking in the gorge the BBC pub and that was largely populated by people so I decided to to come to Dublin in 1967 there 62 I came to are in 62 and went into this pub O'Donoghue's and there I was introduced to an entire range of society which blew me away and
I never really I never looked back that was it was the beginning of of the real handy advice yeah but had you been playing any music before that I know you were an actor but yes I've been playing I've been sitting on my bed playing Woody Guthrie and and I did a wonderful copy of Woody Guthrie do you still do that no I don't but it is his home sorry you don't one of the things you used to do with Sweeney's man that I used to know you're talking blues yes but well you know it's it's the centenary of Woody's birth this year and I do have a plan to make Woody Guthrie album would you usually make it instead of half the Masters her making Woody Guthrie I absolutely do well that's that's that's why I want to make it I grew up on Strabane but I didn't have any history there in the sense that my mother and father moved to Strabane simply because they were both teachers of primary school teachers and my father was trained in the south and the mother was chained to the north they both wanted to work after they were married so they had to live in a border town and that's the only reason I grew up in Subang opposite an accident did you like Strabane well yes except that I have to say I didn't really know much officer bonkers I didn't go to school there I to school inside mills which was three miles south of the time in my mother's teaching school so basically all my schooling was at a a very unusual school in Ireland which was mixed sex and mixed
religion I always look back on that as a magical thing that up until the age of eleven I was at school with boys and girls and Catholics and Protestants and I mean the whole thing that happened afterwards I couldn't know I mean it was a great experience and I thoroughly recommend it and then you got sense boardings good as well did you I could sent to boarding school at the age of eleven not quite three and a half but I still I still was barbaric I went to sing columns and dairy and there was a thing gone round at the time that you know television had just come in and television was the Antichrist and the and and kids had to be protected from it and you know send them to boarding school or else they'll spend all their time watching diction of dark green or something you know I sympathize with it in the way my parents generation were the first of the sort of Irish nationalist Catholic generation of the north who began to see a way out so they wanted to make sure their kids were really well educated and so we were sent to boarding school because they thought we would do better the new actually dropped to 80 ECD did they mind oh we did yeah yeah but there was an ambivalence there in a sense that my mother always liked to see me in in the media but you couldn't be in the media unless you were a celebrity and you couldn't be a celebrity if you were going to be studying all the time so she had this ambivalence like you know on
the one hand she wanted me to get me a degree to fall back on I hate that phrase I'm the owner hound she was quite happy to see me famous in The Johnstons you know so and he was talking about his mum and dad they you are the did you have a difficult relationship with your mother or not well my mother and I were very similar and we had a testy relationship all the time you know yes we did I suppose in latter years I probably felt that my mother might have been trying to live through her children in a way and I began to you know as a child a natural thing might be to resent that you know that you know maybe you're only interested in me for what how it reflects on you sort of thing you know I mean I don't know if this getting sort of armature cycles here but but I felt uncomfortable sometimes with my relationship with my mother yeah yeah the way you wrote that song mother in song yeah I mean it took my mother's passed on it took some years after after that for me to actually dismantle and decompress and you know actually feel what I actually felt about her and I did love her very much and I'm sure she loved me very much but we just were very different people before she died did you feel closer to her or not um no we never really you know we never really in the final years she sort of withdrew into herself a bit and we never
really managed to have a closeness that that I kind of would have wanted you know mm-hmm yeah what else you know my father was I got on very well with him because he was easygoing and loved music and and drama and you know wasn't all that worried but you know how I turned out as long as I was happy you know away because so neither of you in a way he had a very close relationship or a very good relationship with your mother's I supposed to this day it's a it's a scar with me that I didn't see very much of my mother you know because she died when I was 17 yeah she has had she's had a an influence on me emotionally it has occurred to me to go to a psychologist or somebody to try and get some memories out because I don't have any memories so I was about nine and I have very scant memories last night but I'm not going to do it because it's it's it's it's all coming anywhere where actually dear listener we're both lying on couches but in terms of music do you think music is a good way of almost not reconciling difficulties in your love iceberg resolving issues in your own head even for yourselves I do absolutely do III don't think I would have been I wouldn't have had the creative impetus that I have had if my parents had been different I think I have to give that to my parents too I
can remember fond memories of in winter time and the house sort of sitting around the piano of the race with a raging fire and my mother and father are playing and singing we would have been maybe 9 or 10 at the time you know 8 or 9 and those were very fond memories and yes I was interested in music from a very early age and yes I think music is a wonderful way of relating to the world you know I mean singing it and listening to it and letting it move through your psyche and it's an emotional released yeah yeah it's wonderful music but the next song we're going to take is from your new anthology which is coming out this weekend for which is dancer in the fire and it's called Paddy's green shamrock Shore that originally was on the album welcome here kind stranger which was my first solo album after I and II and I went our separate ways back in the late seventies but of course we played on each other's records and Andy came and played on this album of with me and on this song he plays mandolin and harmonica so busy the songs you've chosen Alan taught you the songs that mean most you may be the anthology to me is is a collection of songs that weren't the family favors for instance there's nothing on this ecology that was on my best of episode a decade ago 13 years ago and then the way I feel that there's a lot of songs on this compilation that maybe fell through
the cracks and deserve a second listen you know so we're going to listen to Paddy's green shamrock shore that was Paddy's green shamrock shore both of you on that Andy and Paul from your new anthology pole dancer in the fire listen you both live in Dublin I don't you yes yes I also have a Hudson from Anna hideaway yes which I which I tend to call my home but it's a beautiful plant enough people know us were my mother's from I'm I live in Dublin yeah you ever go back up north I do yeah not as often as perhaps I'd like to having written something like the island is this amazing to go back now though and see how things have changed things have changed in many ways yes but an awful lot hasn't either and it takes an awful long time for things to fundamentally change where it's it's it's no longer an issue any anymore we're not near about the stage yet what things have changed yeah he brought songs political songs or songs of protest throughout your career yes I have well you know I mean what do you go through you as my first influence on and I took on board everything that would he had to offer including his political political outlook our songs the protest still as relevant today as they might have been in the 1960 I'm not sure I like the word songs approach the phrase songs approaches I just feel that there are too many people in this country and the world in general who've got too much money you know it's not
it's not fair and it seems just it just seems wrong to me that people should be be starving and rat poor when other people are stinking rich you know that's it's just there's too big a gap between the rich people and the poor people well you've always felt like that and that's always been the case and I mean that has informed an awful lot of the music that you've made and that's why I think what attracted you to Woody Guthrie in the first place yeah but I'm definitely not a political songwriter and I don't I don't mean the the island is if it's a political song it's a political song by an accident it wasn't designed to be that I've had a difficulty with what you call protest you know because I've always sort of felt you know that there was another side to the story I've always found myself seeing all sides at all times and I've never felt like nailing my colors to one particular mast so although I've ranted and raved a few times and songs I wouldn't call myself a political songwriter know so would you disagree in a sense over the kind of a lot of my song and a lot of my socially particular songs are about they are in the past you know they are about people who I admire greatly for instance Mother Jones who was an American agitator for coal miners who is having a plaque put up for her in her birthplace in Cork in August so yeah a lot of my salaat of my songs are songs about people III who are my heroes but in many ways I'd like to see you as as someone who loves who's a
historian and ways and yes loves history and and who has always been interested in songs that are if you like as much historical documents as political documents absolutely that's that's actually true yeah yeah I mean I don't write songs about what's happening in Ireland or the world you know I just I find that too difficult because times change situations change and and your song might become redundant very quickly and I and I spend a lot of time writing songs and I don't want to write songs that are redundant tomorrow when you're writing a song how do you write the honest answer to that is I do not know to me it's a magical process and quite often an ingredient a lyrical ingredient that might have sat in the book for a year was and I'll pick up a piece of music that I might have written five years before that and for some magical reason they'll feel fit and I will have the width at the time to realize that they're fitting and then take it that step further and finish it but there's no formula for me and any and I hate songs that are obviously written to formula Oh have so I don't really know how to do it and I hope I never discover it well that's interesting I I thought like when you first started writing songs yeah you you undertook it as a disciplined and yeah yeah I mean I tried to to deconstruct songs and figure out what it was that made them successful and what is attractive about a song and what isn't and on what levels that attraction works I have an instinct for what it is
but to describe it it would take a long time but I agree with you totally about there's no formula I also agree that it's a fantastic thrill it's the biggest thrill you can get I think is when you suddenly have constructed a verse that is exactly what you wanted to say and said in exactly the way you wanted to say it and in the timeframe you wanted to say it you see the thing about the difference about songs and novels is like you have like 500 pages to say what you want to say in a novel in a song you've got three minutes or three and a half minutes and it's really really hard to say say what you want to say in that amount of time do you know when you've written a song that's going to be a big big hit well I wouldn't be looking at that I'd be living only in fact in all things I'm looking for for self-satisfaction yeah you know I've been lucky that my self-satisfaction has satisfied other people to some extent as well so I wouldn't be writing a song to be a hit that or Donohue's song that you've written and like songs in the west coast of Clare I mean they're big hits yeah well yes but there will always be big hits well I suppose when I when I'd finished writing or Donohue's I thought well this is going to make a bit of a star in Dublin at least it's a stunning song yeah but yes yeah I mean you know when you've written something that is likely to catch on yeah so don't be shy no I yeah exactly
well you know you know yes you get an inkling of the fact that you're excited by the prospect of performing it and people going oh that's great do you ever get sick of performing your demise no I have that from my mother I'm a constant performer I I have to be honest you know because I mean I would not be where I am today wherever that is if it hadn't been for the drive that my mother had you know because my father was very lazy affair and there's an awful lot of me like that too and I sometimes just as soon sit on a couch and do nothing but it was her drive that made me go and want to get noticed you know that's really interesting you're turning 70 this year on challenge because you're having this big concert in focus trees in the 16 June what's it like approaching 70 it's only a number and who's going to be in this concert well approaching 70 is probably a little bit more traumatic than being 69 you suddenly realize that your your days are numbered and and you wonder how how many you have left but I was sitting there with my with my wife and and I thought well let's mark this this birthday like you know and I know it's not something I would normally have done that I kind of put the idea out and and it took on so it's Sweeney's Men this is my first band it might be with Terry woods Terry if you're listening please give us an answer and then there is mosaic the band
that the kind of multicultural band that I that I like very much with Dónal Lunny and Bruce Malsky Nicola paraffin rents van der sound and then there's me and Paul and we might we might because there's also Liam and Donal and Paddy Glackin in a band that were unofficially calling LAPD ridiculous that's great that's quite good Liam Andy paddy we both to earth McBride I mean we've tossed a cool I don't see why don't we do your version survivors I really don't mind I don't this is your night on day well I don't really you know okay I suppose it's mine I don't really want it to be my night I want it to be a joy and a pleasure of the music that I thought I've been part of you know and I have only been part of it and we're going to record it and we might even film it and I will be remembered I'm not going under without being real about your mortality are you spiritual are you religious am i what spiritual or no I am not in the least neither of them I know I'll put that on the long finger I consider the fact that we human beings are so humble we know so little that there isn't any point in considering what the what or if there is an outcome afterwards if I if I was pushed to depend on my car I'd probably say that anything is possible I have no idea anything or nothing is possible and
I just I I consider that we do not have the information to continue the conversation any further than that but look we're going to go right in another piece of music which is from your anthology it's called you win again tell me I mean this there's gonna play this live I mean the song is a Hank Williams song you win again which I've always loved Hank Williams and Andy and I performed this back in 1977 for about one or two gigs that in some club in New York State which we came across a tape of recently and then I later subsequently went and recorded my own version of it which is what appears on this anthology but but why we sang it here today was sort of Ripley's the way we've done it all those years ago just as two people and it was fun then and it's going to be fun now it's going to be a great fun look you go both over there now and get ready to do you win again thank you both very much for being my guest could be my absolute pleasure I hope you do this again and another 30 years that'll be fantastic my thanks on sound today to Alec to Gormley's done a brilliant job the music to my producer Arlene heron your concert Andy is on the 16th of June and Street bloomsday tickets through all the usual outlets and Paul your anthology which is called dancer in the fire a Paul Brady anthology is released this weekend yeah my thanks to everybody today for listing will be here at the same time next Sunday until then goodbye
Miriam meets on rté raidió one with Miriam O'Callahan my guest this morning both of course two celebrates Paul Brady celebrating the release of his new album dancer in the fire a Paul Brady anthology this weekend his personal selection of favorite recordings that span a career from the 1960s up until today Andy Irvine is celebrating turning 70 this year with a reunion of old musical friends at a special gig that's June the 16th at Baker Street here in Dublin Paul and Andy first met in Dublin on the folk scene in the 1960s and ended up playing together for a couple of years and 1970s recording and releasing an iconic album called Andy Irvine Paul Brady in 1976 though they've taken different musical paths over the years they still play together from time to time you're both very welcome thank you very much can you remember when you first met well I think the first time I saw Andy was in a Sweeney's man performance in a pub called O'Mara's on the key this was the time when every every week there will be a new ballad lounge opening and Dublin was right in the middle of the huge ballad boom in the mid 60's and I went down to see Sweeney's band play one night and Andy was on stage with Johnny Moynihan and I think it was Terry Woods yeah yeah so I immediately loved the music that were playing because a lot of it was kind of sort of influenced by
old-time American music would he go through some of the Appalachian mountain music and stuff like that which I had always loved and here were people actually on stage and Dublin playing it and Reed playing it very well instead of me listening to it on a record so I was very impressed I think it was maybe before that that I first saw Paul I do remember Paul playing and I'm sure it was Duncan and Brady Leadbelly tune yeah yeah I was I was amazed at this kind of a Strabane Delta you know and it was I remember that really well I've impressed me then and his voice is ever ever since impressed me as well subhan delta that's good yeah the deep south so how did you end up playing together the first time how did that come about you know there was a guy called Galway Joe Dolan who spent his entire life trying not to be mixed up with somebody else in the same name he was the original guitarist in Sweeney's man and in June 1967 when the war broke out between the Arabs and Israel he immediately left the band and went to Israel and I think he liked he he was really know he got nervous because we had a hit we had a hit single at that time just been successful but we asked Paul would he would he join Sweeney's Men and and we missed him by about a week as a week earlier he had joined the Johnsons I was in an apartment open or a flat open round and Rathmines and Palmerston road above Mick
Maloney and Dónal Lunny who were in this group called the Emmett folk group they flashed that must have been above each other it was amazing we spent all the time playing poker all night my Northern Ireland University ground disappeared Mick was asked to join the Johnston's who were a big chart-topping success group in Ireland and eventually he asked me to join and I joined and then a week later Andy Irvin came to me saying would you join Sweeney's man too late would you have gone for them over the johnstons that was the most diplomatic cap on my head I would have to honestly say that I think that the Sweeney's man music could have been more compatible with me and I probably would have had more fun in the long run but he did play one gig with us and it was in in the it's name of the hotel down Limerick the Royal George Royal Gorge hotel an American but as we all drove back to Dublin we were thinking damn we missed in power because he was good but in the end you did end up getting to play together was that in planks - well if you German sending him to sticky messy and in America in the early 70s and I find myself stuck out there on my own you must have gone to the States to try and break America and that often breaks a lot of bounds yeah and break America exactly I mean when we got there like there was the first what they call Creole crisis and at that time record companies needed oil to make vinyl and
record companies were in serious trouble because vinyl became extremely expensive so record companies were not only not signing new acts they were dropping half the roster they already had so it was a very bad time to be trying to break America but breaking America the concept was just so ludicrous thinking about what's your memory of how you did join Planxty ? I woke up one morning in the place in Queens in New York and a letter was lying on the ground and from in the letterbox and I picked it up when it was suddenly Emma Flynn the piper and he said look Christy Moore is just planning to leave the band in a few months and we would like you to join the band and at this stage I immediately wanted to do it because I had been trying to get out of the situation I was in for weeks but I didn't even have enough money to get an air ticket back so I had to go working in a guitar school out in Long Island for a couple of weeks to get the airfare home but you know I mean it's it's a fond memory of Paul said yes that way that was a great lift to the band because it was kind of sinking fast at that time would the first meeting I think we had on your return to Ireland was in one chronic trauma yeah and he came to Cromwell because that's where planks he was playing and he came to the gig and then later in the in the pub he took out the guitar and he played or Arthur McBride and we were all blown away as everybody being ever since was that the first time
you'd heard him yeah or heard that I said would was the first time I'd heard him doing what was his thing at that time because before that he'd in the Johnston's he was I mostly sang harmony Johnson's and I took a sort of a background see he wasn't it so he wasn't anyway soloists in Hanson's but I had some cheek you know I mean coming back sitting in and then singing Arthur McBride which was one of your songs on the recent planks the album and I had a totally different version of it which was a sort of a solo guitar arrangement and it was my it was my party piece at the time so I had to sing earth you had to I think you apologized to me before you sang it today I'm sure you do which attraction did you prefer Andy the one you done or oh I never compared the two I mean I still do i I have a different arrangement of it but I still do the one that I did with with blanks tea and I wouldn't compare the two you know it's like they're coming from totally different places like also individuals very different people did you have good times in plank state I mean you were hugely successful were you aware of that at the time how successful were we by the time you joined the band I mean we had we weren't I joined the bar that that was it it was really successful from the very beginning but that's success if you look back it and I could at it and you're quite frank that success didn't really last more than eighteen months what I feel about it is this I feel that you're you had your
major success in Ireland before I joined a band undoubtedly but I feel that the period that I was in the band but a year and a half was when the band was consolidated in places like Europe absolutely Holland and England yes we did we played a lot more in England Europe I'd like to feel a brother for something to didn't just bury before you got into the two of you together why did you break up and flying to you how did that happen well I think we were just tired of it you know I mean clanks he toured all the time you know that white van was always outside the door yeah and somebody nothing on it saying and there was never any right and there was never any real solid structure there like managerial fiscal budget rate or anything like that it was just chaos and what it was like didn't Liam describe it as four people on the train throwing my jumper said to Paul you said to him I'm leaving this job no I tell you what I tell you what did happen Liam called a meeting and we all knew what it was going to be yeah and we went to the meeting in Belmont Avenue in Donnybrook Des Kelly our manager's office and there was a bit of kind of humming and harming and laughing how are you doing and eventually the meeting was called to order and Liam said well he said I'd like to leave the band and we all as a as a man said we went down to
Madigan's and we had a few drinks to bury the band I mean luckily we didn't reform it before closing time of the joke but the folk singer who won the lottery and he was asked what he's going to do he said well I keep all gonna keep on gigging till the money's all gone so it was it was it was definitely a group decision but mad I was less yeah we had a lot of fun it was mad fun but it was great but you two obviously did get on well because then you went and played together for another few years which is when you did this iconic album yeah well but we felt very compatible musically yeah and I was always interested in Andy's music I mean Andy's music particularly the music he brought back from Eastern Europe on his travels I was always very interested in that and wanted to know what that was about because I'd never played that kind of music for you spoken about those years being kind of glorious years or shiny years I mean was it during the time with Andy maybe but you got your own confidence to believe you could be a performer in your own right all by yourself yeah fundamentally yeah I mean I think that was the period I mean I mean the final days in plank state and the whole period with Andy where when I came out from the shadows really and decided I wanted to be a solo performer you know yeah I think that's absolutely right because at the end of planks even when we formed a duo it was mainly my songs you didn't you didn't have an awful lot of material yeah and gradually as as he got the
lakes Of Pontchartrain and Mary and the soldier and all these things I'm and we began to kind of equal yeah in terms of materials Paul's confidence rose tremendously when I found my voice and and when I stood up and when I started to be able to perform with the guitar and sing songs and see a reaction coming back and people going here you know it gave me strength and it give me belief in myself and you know Gerry Rafferty came along with an album called city to city and the song Baker Street which is a huge iconic hit ever since and I suddenly felt I want to do that I mean I don't want to be Gerry Rafferty but I certainly want to pull off that an entire cocoon whatever it is I'm in and I want to find if there's somebody else in here and really that was the impetus that made me start to write songs in 1979-1980 and eventually I started to find I could write songs and I could also express parts of myself that I wanted to express through my own songs then I made the decision to break from folk music because in a way there was no way you could the two things could be done together I've never had to make a complete break and leave into a whole different sense of who I was was like walking into a different room inside myself that I hadn't realized was there and suddenly finding all these toys there that I wanted to play with and I lost interest in the room I'd been in for the pre this decade because I was so excited but what I was finding here and that
basically was the shape of my life for the next couple of decades but you never had the desire to do what he did which is strip back whatever you were and do lots of other things no I've been happy and I still am happy with traditional songs which which have a great emotion in the manner I I don't think it can be surpassed I also write I write a lot of songs I have to say that the shape that you're in is is much more multi-dimensional than almost anybody I know I mean you don't need to go anywhere else because there's so much goes on it's a large room it isn't there's lots of toys we're going to take the first piece of music and the lovely thing is you have brought your instruments and you're going to play this live for me tell me about it it's the plains of Kildare yes it's one of the one of the first songs I think that we got together I'd kind of worked out the basics I knew what I was doing and we were rehearsing with Donald and the two of them were were working out what they were going to play on it and it was it was wonderful to behold as an observer the two of them creating this accompaniment I do yeah learning that stuff was magical you know do you still like playing it personally I would rather play it more often I mean it's such complex music this when I look back and and sit here recordings and see stuff from YouTube of us playing those tunes like you know as young man we were
flying all over yeah it's it's it's you have to really work hard at it no tell me before you play it why it's complicated it's influenced a lot by the music that Andy loved and Bulgaria Romania just which is like very complex time signatures every note is in its place the plains of Qatar you go over there come on Yvonne sportsmen and listen to my story that was fantastic data bars complicated you still enjoy pain oh yeah well yes do you think you might have to do another album to me well I'm probably the one who's more likely to push for that I think it would be a great idea I would do it in the morning if I had if I had enough material if I had a bunch of five songs now that I was really well me I'm Henry check out some huh well I actually have two or three but yes if I had enough material I'd be very happy to do it me too me too tell me about your own background Andy because I hear an English voice where were you born well I was born in London I didn't stay there too long I was farmed out to boarding school at the age of three and a half three and a half yeah well so they say I mean I have very little memory of it because I think I think it caused a traumatic beginning to my life because surprised both my parents are
quite long dead now so I have no way of actually finding out but my mother had been an actress before the war and that could be one factor that she she was the kind of woman who needed to be the center of attraction all the time I mean she gave up the stage but she never gave up acting that might have been one factor another factor might have you know that my mother my father loved her very much in a possessive way and I think that he didn't really care for me very much well it's not meant to be because it's all a long time ago and I was long since got over it well it was the war you know yeah did you have brothers and sisters I had a half-sister 10 years older than me so basically it was only true and how did you end land up in Ireland I was I was an actor I was a child actor and I I when I was about 18 I got a job on the B.B.C. rep which was a Ravager company we had at the time for radio there were an awful lot of Irish people in the BBC at the time and and they were the people I gravitated to for some reason people like like Louie McNeese was it was a good friend of mine and a lot of Irish actors I knew and probably because I discovered that the demon drink by this time I was drinking in the gorge the BBC pub and that was largely populated by people so I decided to to come to Dublin in 1967 there 62 I came to are in 62 and went into this pub O'Donoghue's and there I was introduced to an entire range of society which blew me away and
I never really I never looked back that was it was the beginning of of the real handy advice yeah but had you been playing any music before that I know you were an actor but yes I've been playing I've been sitting on my bed playing Woody Guthrie and and I did a wonderful copy of Woody Guthrie do you still do that no I don't but it is his home sorry you don't one of the things you used to do with Sweeney's man that I used to know you're talking blues yes but well you know it's it's the centenary of Woody's birth this year and I do have a plan to make Woody Guthrie album would you usually make it instead of half the Masters her making Woody Guthrie I absolutely do well that's that's that's why I want to make it I grew up on Strabane but I didn't have any history there in the sense that my mother and father moved to Strabane simply because they were both teachers of primary school teachers and my father was trained in the south and the mother was chained to the north they both wanted to work after they were married so they had to live in a border town and that's the only reason I grew up in Subang opposite an accident did you like Strabane well yes except that I have to say I didn't really know much officer bonkers I didn't go to school there I to school inside mills which was three miles south of the time in my mother's teaching school so basically all my schooling was at a a very unusual school in Ireland which was mixed sex and mixed
religion I always look back on that as a magical thing that up until the age of eleven I was at school with boys and girls and Catholics and Protestants and I mean the whole thing that happened afterwards I couldn't know I mean it was a great experience and I thoroughly recommend it and then you got sense boardings good as well did you I could sent to boarding school at the age of eleven not quite three and a half but I still I still was barbaric I went to sing columns and dairy and there was a thing gone round at the time that you know television had just come in and television was the Antichrist and the and and kids had to be protected from it and you know send them to boarding school or else they'll spend all their time watching diction of dark green or something you know I sympathize with it in the way my parents generation were the first of the sort of Irish nationalist Catholic generation of the north who began to see a way out so they wanted to make sure their kids were really well educated and so we were sent to boarding school because they thought we would do better the new actually dropped to 80 ECD did they mind oh we did yeah yeah but there was an ambivalence there in a sense that my mother always liked to see me in in the media but you couldn't be in the media unless you were a celebrity and you couldn't be a celebrity if you were going to be studying all the time so she had this ambivalence like you know on
the one hand she wanted me to get me a degree to fall back on I hate that phrase I'm the owner hound she was quite happy to see me famous in The Johnstons you know so and he was talking about his mum and dad they you are the did you have a difficult relationship with your mother or not well my mother and I were very similar and we had a testy relationship all the time you know yes we did I suppose in latter years I probably felt that my mother might have been trying to live through her children in a way and I began to you know as a child a natural thing might be to resent that you know that you know maybe you're only interested in me for what how it reflects on you sort of thing you know I mean I don't know if this getting sort of armature cycles here but but I felt uncomfortable sometimes with my relationship with my mother yeah yeah the way you wrote that song mother in song yeah I mean it took my mother's passed on it took some years after after that for me to actually dismantle and decompress and you know actually feel what I actually felt about her and I did love her very much and I'm sure she loved me very much but we just were very different people before she died did you feel closer to her or not um no we never really you know we never really in the final years she sort of withdrew into herself a bit and we never
really managed to have a closeness that that I kind of would have wanted you know mm-hmm yeah what else you know my father was I got on very well with him because he was easygoing and loved music and and drama and you know wasn't all that worried but you know how I turned out as long as I was happy you know away because so neither of you in a way he had a very close relationship or a very good relationship with your mother's I supposed to this day it's a it's a scar with me that I didn't see very much of my mother you know because she died when I was 17 yeah she has had she's had a an influence on me emotionally it has occurred to me to go to a psychologist or somebody to try and get some memories out because I don't have any memories so I was about nine and I have very scant memories last night but I'm not going to do it because it's it's it's it's all coming anywhere where actually dear listener we're both lying on couches but in terms of music do you think music is a good way of almost not reconciling difficulties in your love iceberg resolving issues in your own head even for yourselves I do absolutely do III don't think I would have been I wouldn't have had the creative impetus that I have had if my parents had been different I think I have to give that to my parents too I
can remember fond memories of in winter time and the house sort of sitting around the piano of the race with a raging fire and my mother and father are playing and singing we would have been maybe 9 or 10 at the time you know 8 or 9 and those were very fond memories and yes I was interested in music from a very early age and yes I think music is a wonderful way of relating to the world you know I mean singing it and listening to it and letting it move through your psyche and it's an emotional released yeah yeah it's wonderful music but the next song we're going to take is from your new anthology which is coming out this weekend for which is dancer in the fire and it's called Paddy's green shamrock Shore that originally was on the album welcome here kind stranger which was my first solo album after I and II and I went our separate ways back in the late seventies but of course we played on each other's records and Andy came and played on this album of with me and on this song he plays mandolin and harmonica so busy the songs you've chosen Alan taught you the songs that mean most you may be the anthology to me is is a collection of songs that weren't the family favors for instance there's nothing on this ecology that was on my best of episode a decade ago 13 years ago and then the way I feel that there's a lot of songs on this compilation that maybe fell through
the cracks and deserve a second listen you know so we're going to listen to Paddy's green shamrock shore that was Paddy's green shamrock shore both of you on that Andy and Paul from your new anthology pole dancer in the fire listen you both live in Dublin I don't you yes yes I also have a Hudson from Anna hideaway yes which I which I tend to call my home but it's a beautiful plant enough people know us were my mother's from I'm I live in Dublin yeah you ever go back up north I do yeah not as often as perhaps I'd like to having written something like the island is this amazing to go back now though and see how things have changed things have changed in many ways yes but an awful lot hasn't either and it takes an awful long time for things to fundamentally change where it's it's it's no longer an issue any anymore we're not near about the stage yet what things have changed yeah he brought songs political songs or songs of protest throughout your career yes I have well you know I mean what do you go through you as my first influence on and I took on board everything that would he had to offer including his political political outlook our songs the protest still as relevant today as they might have been in the 1960 I'm not sure I like the word songs approach the phrase songs approaches I just feel that there are too many people in this country and the world in general who've got too much money you know it's not
it's not fair and it seems just it just seems wrong to me that people should be be starving and rat poor when other people are stinking rich you know that's it's just there's too big a gap between the rich people and the poor people well you've always felt like that and that's always been the case and I mean that has informed an awful lot of the music that you've made and that's why I think what attracted you to Woody Guthrie in the first place yeah but I'm definitely not a political songwriter and I don't I don't mean the the island is if it's a political song it's a political song by an accident it wasn't designed to be that I've had a difficulty with what you call protest you know because I've always sort of felt you know that there was another side to the story I've always found myself seeing all sides at all times and I've never felt like nailing my colors to one particular mast so although I've ranted and raved a few times and songs I wouldn't call myself a political songwriter know so would you disagree in a sense over the kind of a lot of my song and a lot of my socially particular songs are about they are in the past you know they are about people who I admire greatly for instance Mother Jones who was an American agitator for coal miners who is having a plaque put up for her in her birthplace in Cork in August so yeah a lot of my salaat of my songs are songs about people III who are my heroes but in many ways I'd like to see you as as someone who loves who's a
historian and ways and yes loves history and and who has always been interested in songs that are if you like as much historical documents as political documents absolutely that's that's actually true yeah yeah I mean I don't write songs about what's happening in Ireland or the world you know I just I find that too difficult because times change situations change and and your song might become redundant very quickly and I and I spend a lot of time writing songs and I don't want to write songs that are redundant tomorrow when you're writing a song how do you write the honest answer to that is I do not know to me it's a magical process and quite often an ingredient a lyrical ingredient that might have sat in the book for a year was and I'll pick up a piece of music that I might have written five years before that and for some magical reason they'll feel fit and I will have the width at the time to realize that they're fitting and then take it that step further and finish it but there's no formula for me and any and I hate songs that are obviously written to formula Oh have so I don't really know how to do it and I hope I never discover it well that's interesting I I thought like when you first started writing songs yeah you you undertook it as a disciplined and yeah yeah I mean I tried to to deconstruct songs and figure out what it was that made them successful and what is attractive about a song and what isn't and on what levels that attraction works I have an instinct for what it is
but to describe it it would take a long time but I agree with you totally about there's no formula I also agree that it's a fantastic thrill it's the biggest thrill you can get I think is when you suddenly have constructed a verse that is exactly what you wanted to say and said in exactly the way you wanted to say it and in the timeframe you wanted to say it you see the thing about the difference about songs and novels is like you have like 500 pages to say what you want to say in a novel in a song you've got three minutes or three and a half minutes and it's really really hard to say say what you want to say in that amount of time do you know when you've written a song that's going to be a big big hit well I wouldn't be looking at that I'd be living only in fact in all things I'm looking for for self-satisfaction yeah you know I've been lucky that my self-satisfaction has satisfied other people to some extent as well so I wouldn't be writing a song to be a hit that or Donohue's song that you've written and like songs in the west coast of Clare I mean they're big hits yeah well yes but there will always be big hits well I suppose when I when I'd finished writing or Donohue's I thought well this is going to make a bit of a star in Dublin at least it's a stunning song yeah but yes yeah I mean you know when you've written something that is likely to catch on yeah so don't be shy no I yeah exactly
well you know you know yes you get an inkling of the fact that you're excited by the prospect of performing it and people going oh that's great do you ever get sick of performing your demise no I have that from my mother I'm a constant performer I I have to be honest you know because I mean I would not be where I am today wherever that is if it hadn't been for the drive that my mother had you know because my father was very lazy affair and there's an awful lot of me like that too and I sometimes just as soon sit on a couch and do nothing but it was her drive that made me go and want to get noticed you know that's really interesting you're turning 70 this year on challenge because you're having this big concert in focus trees in the 16 June what's it like approaching 70 it's only a number and who's going to be in this concert well approaching 70 is probably a little bit more traumatic than being 69 you suddenly realize that your your days are numbered and and you wonder how how many you have left but I was sitting there with my with my wife and and I thought well let's mark this this birthday like you know and I know it's not something I would normally have done that I kind of put the idea out and and it took on so it's Sweeney's Men this is my first band it might be with Terry woods Terry if you're listening please give us an answer and then there is mosaic the band
that the kind of multicultural band that I that I like very much with Dónal Lunny and Bruce Malsky Nicola paraffin rents van der sound and then there's me and Paul and we might we might because there's also Liam and Donal and Paddy Glackin in a band that were unofficially calling LAPD ridiculous that's great that's quite good Liam Andy paddy we both to earth McBride I mean we've tossed a cool I don't see why don't we do your version survivors I really don't mind I don't this is your night on day well I don't really you know okay I suppose it's mine I don't really want it to be my night I want it to be a joy and a pleasure of the music that I thought I've been part of you know and I have only been part of it and we're going to record it and we might even film it and I will be remembered I'm not going under without being real about your mortality are you spiritual are you religious am i what spiritual or no I am not in the least neither of them I know I'll put that on the long finger I consider the fact that we human beings are so humble we know so little that there isn't any point in considering what the what or if there is an outcome afterwards if I if I was pushed to depend on my car I'd probably say that anything is possible I have no idea anything or nothing is possible and
I just I I consider that we do not have the information to continue the conversation any further than that but look we're going to go right in another piece of music which is from your anthology it's called you win again tell me I mean this there's gonna play this live I mean the song is a Hank Williams song you win again which I've always loved Hank Williams and Andy and I performed this back in 1977 for about one or two gigs that in some club in New York State which we came across a tape of recently and then I later subsequently went and recorded my own version of it which is what appears on this anthology but but why we sang it here today was sort of Ripley's the way we've done it all those years ago just as two people and it was fun then and it's going to be fun now it's going to be a great fun look you go both over there now and get ready to do you win again thank you both very much for being my guest could be my absolute pleasure I hope you do this again and another 30 years that'll be fantastic my thanks on sound today to Alec to Gormley's done a brilliant job the music to my producer Arlene heron your concert Andy is on the 16th of June and Street bloomsday tickets through all the usual outlets and Paul your anthology which is called dancer in the fire a Paul Brady anthology is released this weekend yeah my thanks to everybody today for listing will be here at the same time next Sunday until then goodbye
