Quinn

I thought the 'girl' around 0.56 was very LBish !

The Chieftans with Ry Cooder

Michael Bentine - one of the original 'Goons' was of Peruvian descent ! - As indeed was Paddington Bear !

Mary Coughlan. The Magdalene Laundry The Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, also known as Magdalene asylums, were institutions usually run by Roman Catholic orders, which operated from the 18th to the late 20th centuries. They were run ostensibly to house "fallen women", an estimated 30,000 of whom were confined in these institutions in Ireland. In 1993, unmarked graves of 155 women were uncovered in the convent grounds of one of the laundries.[1][2] This led to media revelations about the operations of the secretive institutions. A formal state apology was issued in 2013, and a £50 million compensation scheme for survivors was set up by the Irish Government. The religious orders which operated the laundries have rejected activist demands that they financially contribute to this programme.[3]

Cheers for that !

McAlpine's Fusiliers is an Irish ballad set to a traditional air, popularised in the early 1960s by Dominic Behan (not written by him as he often claimed). The song relates to the migration of Irish labourers from Ireland to Britain during the 20th century. The ballad's title refers to the eponymous construction company of Sir Robert McAlpine, a major employer of Irish workmen at the time. This I think is one of the better versions as - lyrics included - so you can 'sing a long'.

The Foggy Dew - Sinéad O’Connor & The Chieftains. "Foggy Dew" is the name of several Irish ballads, and of an Irish lament. The song chronicles the Easter Rising of 1916, and encourages Irishmen to fight for the cause of Ireland, rather than for the British Empire, as so many young men were doing in World War I.

Hmm ! 'Wet Leg' - very interesting. I gather they are from the Isle of Wight - where Grunt once trod the ground. Are they by any chance related. ?

Thankyou our man on the spot !

Yeah - fan of Steve Earle. Saw him a couple of times with the Dukes in the 90's. Excellent. Back to the Irish. !

The 'Toe Tapper' for today is 'The Minstrel Boy'. An Irish patriotic song written by Thomas Moore (1779–1852) who set it to the melody of 'The Moreen', an old Irish air. Once again recorded by thousands. The version here is by Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - used in the movie 'Black Hawk Down'. 'ere - Joe Strummer main man from The Clash ? Yes indeedy. Ahem ahem - I once met Joe - way back in 1975 at a pub gig (Black Swan in Sheffield). He was fronting a band called the '101'ers' and they played a great set - a mix of rock, rockabilly etc etc. With my chums we got talking to Joe after the gig and he was a pleasant guy. Passed round his bottle of whisky - top feller. A year later at the same pub 'The Clash' played their first gig. I wasn't there. Fast forward to December 2002 - I had just landed at 'Swampy' in Bangkok on my way back from Vietnam. Passing a news stand I spotted the 'Bangkok Post' and a single paragraph - 2 inch story announcing 'Joe Strummer Dead'. I was shocked and stunned. ! Gone way too early. !

"Wild Mountain Thyme" (also known as "Purple Heather" and "Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go?") is a Scottish/Irish folk song. Popularised in the late 50's - early 60's by the McPeake family of Belfast who played many of the folk clubs around the UK. It became a sort of tradition in the clubs that everyone would join in this 'singalong' as a closure to the evening. Alternatively it would be 'Leadbelly's "Good Night Irene" - "I'll get you in my dreams" our local folk hero Tony Capstick would insist. ! I never initiated the singalong at the club I ran but would leave it to the final performer to do. However I was once dragged up on stage to join other singers in the finale. This was at a club where I'd played a half hour spot. The club was run by an Irish guy on the Island of Crete - I went back the following week but it had been replaced by a disco. ! Versions of this song run into a cast of thousands - the good, bad and the tedious. I like this version by Bert Jansch - giving a hard edge to it.

"Blackwaterside" - Bert Jansch (Scottish) and Anne Briggs (English). Irish/Scottish Ballad. First heard Anne Briggs sing in 1962 in Nottingham - her home town -at a concert (Centre 42) arranged by the playwright Arnold Wesker. This launched her onto the folk scene in the UK. Always very well received but she never fully committed herself to the whole 'movement'. In fact after about 5 years she more or less disappeared emerging occasionaly - travelling round Ireland and Scotland - also joining up with Andy Irvine and his band 'Sweeneys Men'. Around 1965 when I was running a Folk/Blues Club - I had booked Martin Carthy - who in fact turned up with Dave Swarbrick (later of Fairport Convention) and Anne Briggs. A memorable night. One of the 'perks' of running a club apart from booking the artistes, getting the room ready, organising the musicians - is finding the main turn somewhere to stay (usually someones floor in those days) so the 3 of them all crashed at my place - a small attic flat. Quite a few of Berts recordings of 'Blackwaterside' on You Tube - his superb baroque style of tuning and playing learnt from Davey Graham. The tune emerged years later recorded by a popular 'Beat Combo' but now called 'Black Mountain Side' which they promptly copyrighted. !

Filth !

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