The Legend of Sweeney's Men.

Some new music arrived here on Monday, a compilation 2CD album from 2004 called The legend of Sweeney’s Men. I had ordered it about ten days ago and a few days later I heard the sad news that Shane Macgowan had passed away. That was a strange coincidence because one of Sweeney’s Men was Terry Woods who later became a member of Shane’s band The Pogues. Some of the Sweeney’s songs such as The Waxie’s Dargle were also part of The Pogues repertoire, so you can see that they were a very influential band. I had been meaning to listen to Sweeney’s Men for a long time for various reasons. I first heard of them through my late brother Paul who told me that on various occasions he had two of their members Johnny Moynihan and Henry McCullough play in his pub in County Mayo in the 1990s. Paul got especially friendly with Henry. I remember a famous occasion when they met up at Glastonbury 1999 after Henry played on the acoustic stage. 

Anne Briggs & Johnny Moynihan.

Another reason I wanted to learn more about this band is because of their association with Anne Briggs who apart from Sandy Denny is my favourite folk singer of all time. For several years in the 60s to the early 70s Anne was Johnny Moynihan’s girlfriend and spent several summers with the band travelling and singing around Ireland. I actually think it is a shame that Anne didn’t join the band and record with them. Johnny wrote Standing On The Shore in 1969 for the album The Tracks of Sweeney. Anne said this about the song, “This song was Johnny Moynihan’s vision. He expresses what he saw so beautifully and sadly and seems to convey this feeling of endless whiteness”. Anne recorded this song two years later for her album The Time Has Come on which Johnny played. Anne also recorded Step Right Up written by Henry. Johnny is famous for having introduced the bouzouki to Irish folk music. Anne learned how to play the bouzouki from him and recorded Living By The Water playing that instrument. There are extensive sleeve notes to this 2CD set expertly written by Colin Harper. He is a wonderful writer about the folk scene in Britain and Ireland. I have one of his books Dazzling Stranger the definitive biography of Bert Jansch. 

The sleeve notes tell us that the band got their name from Sweeney who was a mythical mad king of Ireland in the humorous classic At Swim Two Birds by Flann O’Brien who I must say is one of the funniest writers I have ever read. The original group members were Andy Irvine, Johnny Moynihan and ‘Galway’ Joe Dolan (not to be confused with the other Joe Dolan of Make Me An Island fame) They made some successful singles and then Dolan left to go to Israel. He was replaced by Terry Woods. After they recorded their first album Andy Irvine left for an extended visit to eastern Europe. He was replaced by Henry McCullough who had just been fired from his band Eire Apparent. Henry later joined Joe Cocker’s Grease Band and become the only Irish musician to play at Woodstock in 1969. He also later joined Paul McCartney in Wings. During Henry’s brief time with the Sweeney’s they went down a storm at the 1968 Cambridge Folk Festival. I wish I had been there. 

I should mention also that although he wasn’t ever a member of the band Paul Brady sometimes filled in with them on stage. Sweeney’s Men eventually dissolved, Johnny and Terry fell out with each other. Ashley Hutchings formerly of Fairport Convention tried to form a new band with them, but only Terry was recruited for the new group which became Steeleye Span. There are 41 tracks on these two CDs, so I’m not going to talk about each song and tune, but I love it, right from the very first track Old Maid In A Garret. As well as Irish music you can hear influences of English folk music, sea-faring songs and American Appalachian sounds. There are songs made famous by The Dubliners such as Black Velvet Band and McAlpines Fusiliers. I think my favourite songs on CD1 are Willy O’Winsbury which Anne also recorded, Sally Brown and Waxie’s Dargle, but I like all of them. 

The CD2 isn’t quite as traditional, with tracks like Autumn Gold, Dreams For Me, and Go By Brooks showing almost an acid-folk influence. As well as Sweeney’s Men there are tracks by the likes of The Capitol Showband, Anne Briggs (Willy O’Winsbury & Sullivan’s John), Steeleye Span, The Woods Band and Rain On The Roof which all feature various members of the band. The album ends with my favourite Andy Irvine song My Heart’s Tonight In Ireland which tells in song the story of Sweeney’s Men. I am very pleased that I bought this album and learning a lot more about the legend of Sweeney’s Men. I am sure that in years to come their legend will continue to grow. PS, since their demise there has been occasional reunions of the band. You can see a video below which is from Andy Irvine’s birthday celebrations in 2012. PPS, I found the photo of Anne & Johnny on the internet. I hope whoever owns the photo doesn't mind me using it. Cheers.