Nick Cave Sings "A Rainy Night in Soho" at Shane MacGowan's Funeral

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.

The Waxies Dargle - Sweeney's Men 2012

Remembering Shane.

Shane & Van.

Tonight, I feel that I should say a few words about the passing of Shane MacGowan who died today. Although I knew he had been ill for a long time it was still a shock to hear that he has gone. It has been a sad year for Irish music with Shane’s close friend and collaborator Sinead O’Connor also dying this year. They were both rebels against the authority and hypocrisy of the establishment, as well as being brilliant singer-songwriters. On the news and on social media people have seemed to focus on Shane’s ‘notoriety’, alcoholism, and lifestyle. I would rather he was remembered for being one of the greatest songwriters of his generation which is how his friend Nick Cave described him. Shane wrote the best Christmas song of all time in my opinion which is Fairy Tale Of New York (See video below). 

Shane & Bruce.

It is totally different to any other Christmas song because it tells the truth about what Christmas is really like for many people, poverty, loneliness and broken relationships. Many people only know Shane from that song, but he has left a legacy of dozens of great songs. His fans included the likes of Johnny Depp, Christy Moore and Bruce Springsteen. Van Morrison invited Shane to sing with him at the Brit Awards in 1994. He singlehandedly created a new genre of music by combining punk rock with Irish folk music, added poetic meaningful lyrics and made something totally unique. He was a genius. His huge influence can be seen in such acts as Flogging Molly, The Dropkick Murphys, The Mary Wallopers, Fontaines D.C., Lankum, Damian Dempsey, Lisa O'Neill and many more. When people complain about his ‘lifestyle’ they forget that it was his lifestyle that was the source of his inspiration. He wrote about the denizens of the dark streets of London with an eye as sharp as Charles Dickens. It was what he witnessed and wrote about. You could criticise other great writers like Dylan Thomas or Brendan Behan for the same reason, but I know they couldn’t have achieved such great art without their chosen lifestyle. 

Johnny & Shane.

I think I only saw Shane three times. The best times were at Glastonbury in the 80s when The Pogues were at their peak. The sheer exuberance of their music was something to behold, and the audiences used to go wild. Live performance was definitely their forte. I’m sure many music fans have been looking back today with happy memories of seeing The Pogues. I’d also like to pay a tribute to Shane’s wife Victoria Mary Clarke. Shane was a lucky man to have found such a devoted wife who looked after him to the end. Despite what the critics may say Shane had a life that was well lived. He won’t be forgotten.

Shane & Sinead.

R.I.P. Shane MacGowan

King Crimson - I Talk To The Wind

It Was Sixty Years Ago Today.

These days sometimes I can barely remember what I did yesterday, but I can still vividly remember the events of sixty years ago today, November 22 1963. I had just turned twelve years old and was in my first year at the Kings School, Peterborough. My main interests at the time were pop music and sports, especially football. That week Gerry & The Pacemakers were number 1 in the charts with You’ll Never Walk Alone. The Beatles were number 2 with She Loves You. Other great songs in the charts that week were by The Searchers, The Ronettes, Roy Orbison, Billy J Kramer, Chuck Berry, The Crystals, and Trini Lopez. Peter, Paul & Mary had just entered the charts with Blowing In The Wind written by an almost unknown in Britain singer called Bob Dylan. School had finished for the week, it was a Friday, so I was looking forward my team Peterborough playing Brentford the next day. We had only got a TV in our house in 1960, and colour TV was still five years away, so my memories of that fateful evening are in black and white. In Britain in those days you had a choice of only two channels BBC or ITV. We were gathered around the telly in the living room watching the Tonight programme on BBC presented by Cliff Michelmore and then switched to ITV to watch a popular quiz show called Take Your Pick hosted by Michael Miles. Towards the end of the show the transmission was interrupted by a NEWSFLASH which said that news was coming in that President Kennedy had been shot and injured in Dallas Texas. It was a huge shock. We switched back to BBC to see if there was any more news. On the screen was just a globe going round and round… and then a voice said, “It has just been announced that the President has died”. It was chilling news. I think all scheduled programmes apart from News were cancelled for the rest of the evening. 

My dad had been on the afternoon/evening shift at Perkins, and when he got home he was really upset about the news. My parents were Irish and catholic, so as you can imagine with President Kennedy’s background being of Irish descent and being the first catholic President he was extremely popular in our household. Being so young and having such an attractive wife as Jackie Kennedy also added to his charisma. Just a few months earlier he had made a very successful state visit to Ireland which my parents had followed with great interest. Later that evening we heard that Lee Harvey Oswald had been arrested for the slaying of JFK. First thing the next morning I ran up to Wrights the newsagents on Oundle Road and bought the Daily Mirror which was the popular newspaper for working class Labour Party supporting people like us. The Headline on the front page just said KENNEDY ASSASSINATED. The whole paper, even the back page was covered in the almost unbelievable news. Two famous writers, Aldous Huxley and C.S. Lewis both died on the same day, but that news barely got a mention in the papers. 

That Saturday evening the BBC showed the first episode of Doctor Who which was to be extremely popular with young viewers especially when The Daleks were introduced. That show is still going sixty years later. Another interesting fact is that Lee Harvey Oswald was paraded before the press in a midnight press conference. A young British disc jockey called John Ravenscroft who was working on a Dallas radio station bluffed his way into the press conference by claiming to be a newspaper reporter from England. Apparently, he can be seen in the TV pictures, but I have never spotted him. He later returned to England, got a job on pirate radio, changed his name to John Peel and became one of the most influential figures in British music. Another person who used his connections to the local police to attend that press conference was a local strip club owner who also had connections to mobsters named Jack Ruby, who the following day filmed live on television shot Lee Harvey Oswald.

There were many other events in the 1960s and 70s that have stayed in my mind to this day. Cassius Clay against all the odds beating Sonny Liston to become World Heavyweight Champion and changing his name to Muhammad Ali, England winning the World Cup, the killings of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon, the deaths at the Munich Olympics, and the death of Elvis Presley to name but a few. However, no news has ever shocked me more than the tragic event that shook the world on November 22 1963.