Irish Accents: Wake Up Now

Big Bag of Sticks: Wake Up Now

[contact Big Bag of Sticks to purchase the album Short Term Memory]

Ireland is an island nation. As such, music from many lands has reached her shores. The bouzouki is an instrument that has become popular with traditional Irish musicians, but it was brought to the Emerald Isle by Greek sailors. Still, Irish reggae? I’ve got it right here.

Wake Up Now dates from 1997, when the ska craze from England was reaching Ireland, and UB40 were still popular. Still, the fiddle parts here make the song definitely Irish. It’s a combination that shouldn’t work, but does. In 1997, Big Bag of Sticks were a working band. Much later, members would go on to form Queen Elvis, still a highly original group, but with music that connects more solidly with Irish traditions. That’s how I first heard of them. Surprisingly, Big Bag of Sticks still exists, but now they only get together for special occasions.

Irish Accents: Rainy Night In Soho

The Pogues: Rainy Night In Soho [purchase]

I remember it well.

The table is strewn with empty pint glasses, the ash tray is overflowing and last orders were called longer ago than the man behind the bar cares to remember.  Reluctantly, you stagger out into the hazy London evening, the streets wet and glistening and the icy drizzle doing its utmost to keep you awake long enough to find your way to the tube station.  At Piccadilly Circus you go your separate ways - some head home, some wander off in search of a late license.  You'll see everyone again tomorrow, of course, thirsty as ever.

Except when you don't.  Rainy nights in Soho seem an awfully long way away now, preserved in romantic memories of the good times, untainted by anything but an intellectual understanding that there were bad times too.  We watched our friends grow up together and we saw them as they fell: some of them fell into Heaven, some of them fell into Hell.  Too true, and one can't help but wonder which way one would or could have fallen had one just tripped one time too many.

The swooning romance of this song always appealed to me, romantic that I was.  That I am.  You're the measure of my dreams, Shane tells his companion, and our hearts soar.  One day I met the measure of mine and she made sure I didn't fall into Hell.  This week's theme is in honour of St. Patrick's Day, of course, but I think I'll break ranks and wish everyone a Happy Persian New Year instead: it's about renewal and hope, and my fervent hope is that when you fall you fall into Heaven too.

Irish Accents: Rise Above It

Afro Celt Sound System : Rise Above It

[purchase]

My very first SMM post featured this fantastic group, Afro Celt Sound System. That week's theme was Instrumentals, so I couldn't post this song at the time, but it's my favorite. To me it exemplifies their sound: a unique blend of traditional Irish melodies with African rhythms and rock overtones. In addition to the regular (large) membership, we're treated to guest vocals by Irish singer/songwriter Mundy and a special treat of Eileen Ivers on fiddle.

Irish Accents: “Danny Boy” Collected

Frank Patterson: Danny Boy

[purchase]

Sam Cooke: Danny Boy

[purchase]

The Pogues: Danny Boy

[purchase]

Richard Thompson: Danny Boy

[purchase]

Jackie Wilson: Danny Boy

[purchase]

Elvis Presley: Danny Boy

[purchase]


“Danny Boy” has to a certain degree become the Irish-American anthem, with its overtones of exile, of loved family left behind, and the hazy prospect of return in the far future. So it’s a touch ironic that the tune – the “Londonderry Air” – is an anthem of Northern Ireland, that the lyrics were written by the Englishman Frederic Weatherly, that the song’s only about a hundred years old, and that the fist recording seems to be by a German singer. None of this means anything, of course; by now, there are any number of references to “Danny Boy in Irish-American culture, books that take almost every line of the lyrics as titles, and even a “Danny Boy” Premium Irish whisky (see picture). Any reference to the song is instant Hollywood shorthand for the Emerald Isle.

Before the song got wrapped up in manufactured Blarney, “Danny Boy” took roots in America in the ‘30’s and the ‘40s – promoted in part by versions by Bing Crosby and (in the movie Little Nellie Kelly) Judy Garland. In the 1950’s, it became one of a handful of ‘white’ standards that R&B artists added to their songbook, and at the same time, it drifted into the country repertory as well, (including Bill Monroe, Willie Nelson, and Johnny Cash in 1965 and again in the American sessions at the end of his life).

As far as I go, there’s no recorded version anywhere that sounds as good as it does when sung sometime after 1 AM with a bunch of friends, all several sheets to the wind. But it seems wildly unjust to subject anyone not wearing beer headphones to that experience, so – a few judicious nominations.

My own personal favorite is by Frank Patterson, a classically trained tenor who decided to follow in the Irish tenor tradition established by the likes of John McCormack. This is the version that’s best known from the Thompson gun scene in Miller’s Crossing.

Sam Cooke covered it on his first secular album. Predictably, Cooke sang the hell out of it (compare Jackie Wilson's version, from his first album; he took it to some very unusual places that I’m not sure it was supposed to go to).

Finally, two down-to-earth takes: a reverent a capella cut by Cait O’Riordan and the Pogues from the unfortunate film Straight to Hell, and a live set-closer from Richard Thompson. Good stuff.

Guest post by Neil

Irish Accents: Bull Run Paddy/On the Turnpike

David Bromberg: Bull Run Paddy
[purchase]

Despite appearances, David Bromberg is not actually a NY Jew (as I previously suggested) : he hails originally from NJ and his current domicile is Delaware ( = none of the above).

Among the most eclectic and most accomplished guitarists alive, (his official website lists the multitude of concerts he has performed over the years!), the man is a stringed instrument master. He's a finger picker par excellence (you know when they use those thumb and finger picks that they're serious) in addition to playing slide guitar, fiddle and more. His genres include folk, rock, country ... and span various cultural influences: not the least of which includes the Irish.

For my part (in addition to his obvious comfort on the stage), one of his most endearing skills is the way he can tell a story in the midst of a song. In fact, this is a trademark of his style: he puts the song on pause and adds a few lines of related dialogue - bring in the audience, comment on the saga behind the song, and then continue. His better known tunes such as Sharon, I Like to Sleep Late and Demon in Disguise are classics of this style (and you can watch him do them here.)

As for the Irish, he's done several tunes over the years. Herewith/above, you'll hear a fiddle medley from his 1977 Reckless Abandon album , complete with a call out to the Irish of America in the lyrics: …” if it hadn't a been for Irishmen, what would your Union done ...?”  This song's got the Irish "stomp", the fiddle, the "whistles" -  what more could you want?

A tip o' the hat to both Darius and Bert for their backing "vocals" in bringing this your way.

Irish Accents: O’Carolan’s Welcome

Joe Ross, Janet Naylor and Friends: O’Carolan’s Welcome

[purchase]

There’s little music as dear to my heart as that of Turlough O'Carolan, last of the Irish bards. Born in 1670, he moved with his family to the Roscommon-Leitrim area while very young. His father was employed at an iron foundry. Totally blinded in his teens by smallpox, Turlough O'Carolan was taken in by Mrs. MacDermott Roe at the Alderford house near Boyle. Here, he studied under a harper for three years. A more creative tale claims that O’Carolan once slept on a fairy rath and forever after heard fairy music to inspire him.

In 1998, an album I produced with harper Janet Naylor (from Eugene, Or.) called "The Harper's Reverie" captures some of O'Carolan's fanciful musings such as the piece offered here, “O’Carolan’s Welcome.” At age 21, equipped with a horse, a guide and money, O'Carolan began his career as an itinerant harper in the province of Connacht. In Irish bardic tradition, the harper was popular and held high social status in the "Big Houses," and tunes composed for his patrons are called "planxties" (musical tributes). Much more than a mere musician or composer, O'Carolan was an honored guest of his patrons and regarded as a sage who articulated eloquence, wit and profundity. And, of course, he kept his patrons informed of the latest gossip collected while traveling the Irish countryside. At one "Big House" in Connacht, O'Carolan was no doubt inspired to write “Welcome” in return for a hot meal and soft bed.

If, by chance, he encountered a less than hospitable host (as he once did at the house of Jennings of Mayo), O'Carolan might be heard ranting, "Devil take the glass that was meant for a dwarf, and the same for the hand that didn't fill it by half!" O'Carolan had numerous romantic affections, and many of his compositions written for his lady loves (such as those to Bridget Cruise) have been irretrievably lost. The influences of Italian composers such as Geminiani and Corelli show in some O'Carolan works.

Sources for most tunes played on “The Harper’s Reverie” album are Edward Bunting's collections of "Ancient Music of Ireland." Bunting transcribed many of the tunes heard at the 1792 Belfast Festival of Harpers, a gathering of musicians interested in preserving this important heritage. At the Harpers' Festival, Bunting witnessed only one harper still using the old fingernail technique (rather than the flesh of the finger), and by the 1820s the great school of Irish harp playing had greatly disappeared.

In 1738, O'Carolan died and was buried at the old 6th century O'Duignan Abbey at Kilronan, his grave adjoining the vault of the MacDermotts. In 1990, my wife (also a harpist) and I were fortunate to attend the Turlough O'Carolan Thirteenth International Harp Festival and visit O'Carolan's gravesite. The Festival is held in the picturesque Irish village of Keadue, County Roscommon, near the shores of Lough Meelagh. Near Castlerea, one of O'Carolan's harps can be found at the 45-room Clonalis House, the ancestral home of Clan O'Conor, who gave 11 high kings to Ireland and 24 kings to Connacht. It was a treasure and inspiration to behold. Another of O'Carolan's harps, a large sycamore instrument with 35 strings, is on exhibit in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.

During his years of itinerant minstrelsy, O’Carolan was said to have composed about 200 pieces of music, although many have been lost. “O’Carolan’s Welcome” will take you on a musical journey back to Ireland. That song (and album it’s from) shape a portrait of another age, one that displays the joys and revelry of life that marked O'Carolan's day. The Irish simply called it "Luinneach" (merry music). Whenever I hear or play Turlough O'Carolan's musical compositions, I experience an epiphany from the beauty, color, emotion, gentleness and melodic expression. I hope you’ll do the same.

Irish Accents: Trouble (With a Capital T)

Horslips: Trouble (With a Capital T)

[purchase]

For a music geek like me, having access to a radio station’s library of music made me feel like a kid in a candy store. When I started training to be a DJ at WPRB, we were encouraged to come to the station’s beautiful basement studios and listen to music. One of the first records I picked out to explore was Horslips’ The Man Who Built America. I think it was the band’s unusual name that grabbed me at first, then the positive review that someone had written on a sticker on the album cover.

I immediately enjoyed their mix of Celtic music and rock; with the prominent flute, it sounded like Jethro Tull without the bombast. Over time, I investigated the other two Horslips albums the station had, Aliens and The Book of Invasions, and saw them as a trilogy—The Book of Invasions was about Irish folklore, Aliens was about the Irish experience immigrating to America, and The Man Who Built America was about the Irish experience in America. I also thought that these were the only three albums the band recorded—it wasn’t until years later, and because of the existence of Allmusic, that I found out that they had recorded a number of albums before these three, and many of them were considered to be better than the three I knew—their earlier sound was more like Fairport Convention or Steelye Span, with some prog rock influences.

The Book of Invasions is subtitled A Celtic Symphony and tells the story of the mythical, pre-Christian colonizers of Ireland, the Tuatha De Danann. Listening to the album as a whole, the band transforms traditional Irish music into rock songs, and there is a mix of modern, electric instruments, and more traditional Celtic sounds. The critics loved this album, much more than the next two, and after a couple more poorly received releases which progressively deemphasized the Celtic folk influences, they broke up. There was a time, in the late 70’s and even the early 80’s, where music like this would be heard on commercial radio, but Horslips never broke through in the U.S. Nevertheless, they are a band worth exploring.

Irish Accents : Christchurch Bells

Hothouse Flowers : Christchurch Bells

[Purchase]

Sorry U2. Hothouse Flowers' 1988 album  People, was the best selling debut in the history of Irish pop. Direct musical and spiritual descendants of Van Morrison and The Waterboys, The Dublin band specialized in a Celtic brand of soul. Bono recently called The Flowers' lead singer, Liam O' Maonlai, "the best white soul singer in the world". You really need to own either People or 1990's Home. Probably both.

 The Christ Church referred to in this cut from Home is the medieval cathedral in Dublin. When ringing a peal, the 19 bells in its tower are among the loudest in the world. Liam told an interviewer he and guitarist Fiachna O' Braonain could certainly hear them as they were writing songs in his apartment.

Irish Accents: One Set Reel

Brigan Ensemble: One Set Reel

[free download from archive.org]

The first name that came to mind for me for "Irish tunes" was David Bromberg. I know that he has an affinity for music from those parts (despite his NY Jewish roots). That said, I had to revert to my tried and true resource: archive.org. A search there for Irish/folk brings up numerous alternatives

- from which I present the following: Brigan Ensemble playing "One Set Reel". You can find lots more information online than I can (or should) provide here about the "reel", but basically it is a dance style that often includes a fiddle (and a stomping rhythm)

The One Set Reel recording here is part of a free and legal file set from jamendo.com by way of archive.org

It is backed by a solid strumming guitar line with numerous winds: several flutes of some kind and what appears to be an accordion.

Since my first edit, Darius has dug a little deeper, and reports that Brigan Ensemble appears to be an Italian trio who focus on Celtic music.

Irish Accents: An Irishman in Chinatown

Luka Bloom: An Irishman in Chinatown

[purchase]

This week, we are going to go a little barmy over St Patrick’s Day here on Star Maker Machine, and celebrate for the entire week. They say everyone is Irish on St Pat’s, so all of our songs will be Irish in some sense as well. The fun will be in seeing what that means from song to song. I’m going to start us off pretty close to home. Luka Bloom is an Irish singer-songwriter, and this song has a very traditional sound, musically. But the scene is New York City. Here is a displaced Irishman, a frequent theme in Irish song and story, who meets a woman displaced from China. Or does he? The song also displays that wonderful sense of humor for which the Irish are so justly known.

Goodbye: Goodbye Dreaming Fields

Martin Newell (with Andy Partridge): Goodbye Dreaming Fields

[purchase]

If, as I did, you discovered Martin Newell and his song Goodbye Dreaming Fields after the fact, you might be tempted to dismiss it, musically, as an XTC knockoff. Indeed, Andy Partridge was the producer, played many of the instruments, and can even be heard on background vocals. But, the XTC albums that sound most like this, Oranges and Lemons and Nonesuch, came out after this one. So, it would be more correct to say that Martin Newell’s influence on XTC is clear. As for the lyrics, Newell is a very different kind of writer than Partridge. Newell is in no hurry, letting his words and images accumulate to great affect. Here, he presents a series of characters who are trying to come to grips with the departure of their youth. The characters have a distinctly English feel to them. Newell was not aiming for universality, but rather was describing what he knew best. The song has a jangly pop feel, paired with a bittersweet lyric to great effect.

Goodbye: Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

Jeff Beck: Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
[purchase]

Charlie/Charles Mingus' Goodbye Pork Pie Hat is a song that I have listened to again and again since way back when, including such versions as Joni Mitchell's, from her Mingus album (see below). Unintentionally, it seems to segue well with Ramone666's immediately previous post.

Among those things I consider myself lucky to have been there for is a Jeff Beck concert in Philly (must have been the Main Line in '72, but it was so long ago ...). Amazing guitar. Beck's "Wired" is probably my favorite of his works (from whence his original version  and the purchase link above comes). It dates to the same era as a similarly guitar-predominant work that I also hold dear and for some reason associate with this same era: Robin Trower's "Bridge of Sighs". Both include that same "sigh" - the lingering, well-timed pause of the guitar note before the guitarist moves on to the next. That wait is part of their personal/professional interpretation of a song: the timing that makes it their own.

Pork Pie Hat is so loosely structured that it really takes someone so confident and experienced as Jeff Beck or Joni Mitchell to bring it off. This live version of Pork Pie Hat appears to include Jaco Pastorius (not sure, really) ... I would have wished to give you the "Wired" version, but the belt on my turntable has - alas - finally given out and my only copy on hand is this live version from somewhere or other. The purchase link *is* to the Wired version, however.

Goodbye: Everytime We Say Goodbye

John Coltrane: Everytime We Say Goodbye

[purchase]

Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye was composed by Cole Porter for a musical called Seven Lively Arts. Slowly but surely it became a jazz standard, losing the apostrophe in the title along the way. It was taken on by many a talented musician over the years, but Trane's melancholy interpretation has to my knowledge never been surpassed. Incidentally, this (1961) was the first time he played the soprano sax on an album, an instrument none other than Miles Davis had bought for him when they were touring Europe together.

Goodbye: Goodbye California

Dick Feller: Goodbye California

[purchase (vinyl only, out-of-print)]

If music fans remember Dick Feller at all, it's most likely for a series of mid-charting country novelty records he released in the 1970s -- most notably "Making the Best of a Bad Situation," "The Credit Card Song" and "Uncle Hiram's Homemade Beer." While those are fine, fun songs, it's a shame they obscure Feller's talents as a skilled songwriter and accomplished acoustic guitarist.

Dick Feller landed in Nashville in the late 1960s. He bounced around as a writer and backing musician. Johnny Cash, who had a habit of mining songwriting talent, signed Feller to House of Cash. The Man in Black enthused to Rolling Stone magazine, "There's a new writer named Dick Feller. Just watch for him. He's going to be great someday." Somehow Cash got away with singing Feller's "When Uncle Bill Quit Dope" on network TV in 1970. He also recorded Feller's "Orphan of the Road" and "Any Old Wind That Blows." After the association with Cash ended, Feller signed with Jerry Reed's Vector Music. Reed recorded many of Feller's songs, and scored hits with "Lord Mr. Ford" and "East Bound and Down." Others covered Feller's music as well; one of John Denver's last hits was Feller's "Some Days Are Diamonds, Some Days Are Stones." Feller eventually moved away from country music, writing commercial jingles and collaborating with humorist Lewis Grizzard.

Unfortunately, Feller wasn't a particularly prolific recording artist. He released just three albums of original material, the last in 1975. All are stellar and decades out of print. In the past 35 years, he's put out only an obscure live album and a self-produced set, made up mostly of re-recordings. "Goodbye California" is taken from his first album, Dick Feller Wrote. It boasts the musical cadence and vocabulary that typify Feller's compositions, as well as some hot guitar picking.

Goodbye: Goodbye

Patty Griffin: Goodbye

[purchase]

First time I heard Patty Griffin’s “Goodbye,” it felt like she was channeling emotions and thoughts I had during times of loss and grief -- except her thoughts were more organized and her words more articulate. I've had too many opportunities to revisit Griffin's lyrics in recent years, including this week, as we had to say goodbye to our treasured family pet, who died in our arms, after more than 16 years of companionship and love.

Goodbye: Goodbye

The Postmarks: Goodbye
[purchase]

Nothing complex here, and that’s precisely the point. An intricate progression would infer a deep issue worth mulling over. Instead, The Postmarks bless us with a plucky, punctual melody that says this is it, don’t wreck yourself thinking about it.

Goodbye, I’ll be gone when you open your eyes, Tim Yehezkely begins singing as the first notes on 2007’s eponymous album are played. I’m skipping town like a stone thrown across the water.

Echoing the jangly, indie, retro-pop sounds of overseas counterparts like The Clientele and Belle and Sebastian, The Postmarks weave an ultra-catchy song that could only sound more French influenced if it contained an accordion. Only half a dozen notes ring out from the trumpet, a call-and-response line repeated a number of times throughout the song, and the vibraphone, strings, guitar, and bass all play more in sync than in juxtaposition, giving the tune a liquid, calm feel.

The lyrics match these instrumental parts just as flawlessly, as Yehezkely explaining simply that she is moving on, but offering no hints (nor suggestion of relevance) as to any reasons. The lyrics here are so nondescript regarding the characters within that the listener is left unaware even of their relationships. Are they lovers? roommates? friends? Does it matter? No, because this song isn’t about the past; it’s about the future and moving on. For whatever reason, the narrator has already decided to move on, and that’s where the song begins. Her only message is a reminder to her subject: you need to move on too; don’t stress out over this relationship. Don’t leave a key underneath the mat for me, ‘cause I won’t be coming back around here.

Goodbye: Last Goodbye

Jeff Buckley: Last Goodbye [purchase

I almost didn't post this song.  Don't get me wrong: it was the first thing that came into my head when the esteemed Darius announced this week's theme, but I actually began to second-guess myself out of concern that the choice was just that little bit too obvious.  As I've said before, though, sometimes the obvious choice is only obvious because it's just so correct.

Anyway, everyone knows the story by now, so rather than repeat it I'll just let the song do the talking.  And it's a strange record, make no mistake.  For one, it has neither a chorus nor anything approaching the structure of a four-minute rock or pop record.  For another, the song's protagonist does and says nothing to excuse or explain his bad behaviour - all the regret and self-flagellation is signaled through the emotion in that voice.  That a man who died so young's arguably most famous song is called Last Goodbye is, of course, almost too bitter an irony, but as hard as it is to separate the singer's story from that told by his music, it's always worth doing.  Buckley, this song and Grace, the album on which it features, deserve better than to be regarded as just another morbid rock 'n' roll ghost story.  

Goodbye: Goodbye

Mary Hopkin : Goodbye

[Purchase]

The first two official Apple Records releases were The Beatles' "Hey Jude" and a single, based on a Ukranian folk song that Paul McCartney had found. The singer would be a shy, pretty 17-year old Welsh girl by the name of Mary Hopkin. "Hey Jude" spent three weeks atop the NME singles list before it was dethroned by Mary's "Those Were The Days" which stayed on top for five weeks. In 1969 McCartney wrote a new song just for Mary: "Goodbye". The song reached Number 2 on the UK charts, held back from the top spot by The Beatles' "Get Back".

Eventually McCartney's interest in his songbird waned, especially after she bristled at his suggestion she sing "Que Sera, Sera". But the next day she dutifully showed up at the studio where Ringo was waiting at the drums. Fast forward 40 years and Paul McCartney is the most famous rock star on the planet. As for shy Mary Hopkin, she has firmly said "goodbye" to all that. She's back in South Wales where her website warns interviewers "Mary prefers to talk about new releases and not 'those' days."

Goodbye: Goodbye, So Long

Ike & Tina Turner: Goodbye, So Long

[purchase]

The late sixties and early seventies may have been the heyday of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, but the years leading up to River Deep - Mountain High and Proud Mary (to name but a few unforgettables) are just as interesting for lovers of sweet soul music. The collection of songs pictured above, which the dynamite duo recorded for the Bihari brothers' Kent label in the mid-sixties, makes a great starting-off point for further exploration. You only need to check out their gritty '65 single Goodbye, So Long to see what I'm on about. "Things ain't what they used to be - you can't do a thing for me..." Go Ikettes, go!

Goodbye: Goodbye Bessie Mae

Lonnie Youngblood: Goodbye Bessie Mae
[purchase]



In the mid 60s, Lonnie Youngblood had his own band under various names, including Lonnie Youngblood and the Bloodhounds and Lonnie Youngblood and the Red Jackets. It appears that Dartmouth College was on to him as a "great" since he was called back more than once (there is a story that his repeat appearances there are a part of the legend of the Animal House film). At about this time, he also sat in with Sam and Dave, Ben E. King and James Brown among others. If you've ever heard of him, you are most likely to have run across him on account of the guitarist he hired to play and record with him in New York in 1966 (apparently at about $25 per session) , a musician calling himself Jimmy James (or perhaps Maurice James, but still known as "Jimmy"). A few months after these sessions, this guitarist moved to London and started the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

My selection this week  comes across as a rather standard blues recording produced in a small studio in NYC. The historical notes about this recording are somewhat uncertain - various claims are made about who did what, but it does seem clear that Lonnie Youngblood did the vocals (and probably some of the sax) and Jimi Hendrix did the guitar parts. It sounds like a rather standard blues song in the mid 60s style, but I urge you to listen carefully to the intro guitar and the short guitar solo (at about 1:20) that - to me - certify that this is indeed Hendrix working his way toward the style we acknowledge as his.

Again, because the historical record is a bit fuzzy, in addition to the vocals that are credited to Lonnie Youngblood, I want to assume that at least some of the backing brass is Lonnie Youngbloood - being that his instrument was the saxophone. However, there is little doubt in my mind that the short guitar riffs you hear at the beginning, in the solo and throughout are %100 Hendrix.