Quinn

Just Guessin' probably J Bar - been done before. Never learn !

Not all YouTube vids will copy. Some put a block on them.

The first vid just makes it through the 'Irish Folky Door' as it was recorded in County Clare. Carl Barat (who he you may ask) is the sparring partner of Pete Docherty of the band 'Babyshambles/Libertines'. My chum and ex business partner appears in the film as 'the father' - baldy head and bushy beard. He's appeared in many TV movies usually playing an Irish drunk or corpse - as in 'The Whitechapel Murders' with Dublin standing in for victorian London. We had a Saddlery/Leather workshop in the UK for over 5 years but I had to move on and thanks to that bitch Thatcher got a job back in the print trade. My chum followed his dream and went to live in Ireland - play his banjo and drink Guinness - both of them badly. ! The village where he lives in County Clare is 'Lisdoonvarna' - Famous for it's yearly event of 'Matchmaking' - nothing to do with 'Swan Vestas' - but single people seeking other singles. The town of some 800 people swells to over 40,000 at this event. There used to be a music festival but this was discontinued in 1983 when the event was marred by a riot and the accidental drowning of 8 people. (You coudn't make this up). Anyway back to the music - Christy Moore (him again) wrote a song called ---- "Lisdoonvarna' Phew !

I thought the version of "The Lakes of Pontchartrain" by Brady et al. I posted on page one was the better one ! 55555

Not for the first time I bet !

Cait O'Riordan with The Pogues. Traditional song - despite some people citing The Pogues as originators ! I used to go out with a fat lass who did an excellent version of this. !

Dexy's not the best version of the song I've heard - I was just looking out for something different.

He won't be exploring Sunny's Denim Shorts for a while !

Kevin Rowland - he of the late Dexy's Midnight Runners - warbling 'Curragh of Kildare' - and showing off his 'Donegal Tweeds' ! Not. !

The mind boggles !

Back in the day my town centre local was run by a great bloke called Don(al) - he was London Irish. We regularly had music nights there - very informal. A fairly regular drop in was Luke Kelly - usually when The Dubliners were playing the 'Soup in a Basket' circuit popular in the 60's/70's. Luke would chat and sing and shift the Guinness. Top Feller. !

"From Clare to Here" is a song about the heartache and hardship faced by Irishmen working abroad in the 1960s and 70s. It sums up the plight of Irish immigrants so well that many people assume it’s an Irish song but in fact it was written by the English singer songwriter Ralph McTell. McTell says he heard the phrase while working as a labourer with some Irish friends in the early 60s. There was a conversation about how the lives of Irish people changed when they swapped their family homes in Ireland for cheap lodgings in England. Reflecting on the changes, one of the men said: “Yes, it’s a long way from Clare to here.”

Well well - Seamus O' Grunt - Irish now ! Why was you hanging around with a band named after a Spanish Ladies Headress ? Anyway this bloke Hansard - can't say I've ever heard of him. The song however I know well after running a Folk 'n' Blues Club for 10 years with an Irishman. I did though recognise one of the punters on stage - Paul Brady - excellent singer and guitarist - from the band Planxty. Here's his rendition of 'Arthur McBride. Not only but also another song by Brady - 'The Lakes of Pontchartrain' - not an Irish song but very popular with Irish folkies. This is a version from the seventies. There is a link with these songs ! Bob Dylan. ! Both these songs Bob has belted out. On You Tube there is an interview with Brady and he tells how he was asked to visit Bob (in London) to teach him the pickin' etc of this song (it's in an open 'G' tuning). Brady obliged and went to see Bob and sorted his finger picking out. listen.

You may scoff - but quite often I used to use a 'dip pen' for drawings ! 5555 Think I've seen footage of Gerald Scarfe using one! Ha !

Daybreak. Almost gone. !

Drat - Missed it. I'm not on Face*uck. !

You have a front door ?? !!

Giuseppe Grunt wafting down 'The Far-Canal' to see his bint. !

Quite !

The Big Hole. The Council are now looking into it. !

Well past being a Rear Gunner ! 555