Agree 100%, In the 80s/early 90s songs like this and others from the dublin city ramblers/dubliners etc used to make the charts.. but when do you ever hear proper music like this on the radio these days? Never.
Damien Dempsey is doing a great job at keeping Irish music stronger than ever. Luke Kelly would be massively proud of him. He is a great great poet, musician, artist, entertainer and a genuine guy with no airs or graces or shite. The sooner we all, as a nation, get behind this man, the quicker hes gona get the global recognition he deserves, coz hes gona be huge eventually anyway. Its true, Damos no luke, but I tell ye, no matter how great luke was, hes no damo either. And so were spoiled!
Here! here!..everyone should realise what he is and that is a damn good, raw, honest, powerful, passionate singer who sings for his cause and people..thats who Damien Dempsey is and if there is comparisons made between him and another great Irish singer Luke Kelly well then Damo would be certainly humbled and chuffed. Is mise John Paul
Amazing video the best version since the late luke Kelly,give me chills watching this,seen damo in derry in november and he was class.Also great to see him with the dubliners
@tony10396861 man luke kelly was my idol, he most definately is the voice of ireland.. but be grateful that dempsey is keeping this great music alive.. No need to compare them ...luke done what he loved and moved the world, damien writes beautiful music and shares this beautiful music also he carries on this great tradition.
Iahy16 have to agree wit wat u say if its irish love it dont be slaggin damo hes a ledgand and has real music talant along with alot of others luvin da fact dat he hasnt lost da dub accent in his singin wat a man
For today's generation who never knew Luke Kelly, Damien is a great substitute in a live situation, and while he'll never be Luke, he's very very good!
lahy16 is bang on. Why bother comparing them? We will never see the like of Luke again. We all know that. But let's just enjoy this for what it is. A beautiful piece of music sung by a great singer.
I LOVE THIS SONG!!!!!!!!!!! GMAN DAMIAN BOY KEEP IT UP!!!! FUKIN DONN RUA LIKE!!! LUKE PADRAIC AND EAMON LIIIIKE! PLAYIN AWAYINTO THE SUN !!!!! D BAYYYYYYZZZZZZ!! YUP!!! HUP !!!!
there really is no point in comparing them, fair play to damien for continuing the great tradition, having sen both of them perform live i can only say that damien is good, at times he's very good but luke was OUTSTANDING.
This is a desperately beautiful rendition of a song which lies like a jewel on the bosom of Ireland. Luke's rendition was masterful but this one is an equal alternative.
What Sinead actually said was "He takes the traditional singers 'LIKE Luke Kelly' & mops the floor with them." It wasn't a slur on Luke Kelly or Paul Brady, Ronnie Drew or Liam Clancy, It was high praise for Damo. She referred to his passionate Irish intensity & Shane feels the same way!! Damo stands with the greatest traditional singers & has a hard edge--like a big healthy Shane! I can't presume to judge Irishness but trust Shane & Sinead on it. Damo's Rocky Rd. to D. is the best!
Tony, Damo is a singer & SO MUCH MORE, he is a poet & a visionary & a LEADER. He is a one-man Mandela Truth Commission set to music. The anger is channeled, it's mostly acknowledgement & forgiveness & a fierce will to move on & above all a stubborn optimism that the future will be better. I applaud Luke's social justice work too. But Damo has taken it to a new level, he has become the people's heart. Shane & Sinéad see this. I LOVE his RR but we're talking about apples & oranges I think.
Tony, Inspired by your devotion--YOU LOVE LUKE THE WAY I LOVE BILLY JOE SHAVER & I respect that--I went Luke surfing & discovered his DEFINITIVE Foggy Dew. I stand corrected. I still love Damo madly of course but they're most surely apples & oranges or maybe apple & grapefruit since Damo's so husky. I understand you were responding to Sinéad's comment PERIOD & that not even Damo mops the floor with him! Did Luke ever do Spancil Hill or Eileen Aroon or the Parting Glass? I hope so. Thanks!
Damo in his own right is a brilliant unique singer and musician. The man is forever being hailed by other Irish Musicians, who've been around years and would know more about Irish music than any one of us. He definetly would not be up there singing with the Dubliners, with Christy Moore and with Sharon Shannon if he was 'Bloody awful!!!'.
This is a brillant version of this song.. However nobody can match the voice of the late Luke Kelly who is sadly missed... I admire Damien Dempsey in this respect for keeping the songs of Luke Kelly alive.
Damo's greatness doesn't diminish Luke's & I wish you could quit seeing them as competitors! Damo has not yet achieved Luke's level of fame around the world but he's still quite young. Damo is well known & well loved in the lands populated by the diaspora & I suspect the larger world will love him eventually. Being recognized by the world isn't what defines greatness anyway. I wish Sinéad had phrased it differently because the remark has caused so much unintended pain. I apologize for her!!!
Being the milestone of greatness is an achievement in itself. Sinéad could have named many great Irish singers--there's no shortage & she chose Luke. 'Mops the floor with him' isn't nice, ok. Sinéad's colorful & direct words are often disparaged but usually true. DAMO IS A STEP BEYOND THE GREATEST SINGERS. Says who? The other great singers! Damo sees past the suffering & offers a positive path for the future. His energy & passion are boundless, the audience sings along 'cause it's THEIR story!!!
A very good rendition of a beautiful folk song. It's unfair to compare it with Luke Kelly's version, although that's only natural for people to think in that way. Any singer suffers in comparison to Luke Kelly, since you're comparing them with the voice of God. RIP Luke.
lol, i completely agree with you on the fact that he shouldn't sing Luke's songs. But aren't being a bit too harsh on him here;)I don't think he actually believes he can even come close to Luke himself too..
I don't know what all this shite is about comparing damien to luke. Such a comparison cannot be made,and im sure damien would tell you that himself. What i believe is important here is that the songs are being kept alive,and shown to a new generation which is very important so as these song will be kept alive ,something that luke would commend damo for doing!
I think alot of people are missing the point here . Who said what, Who said damo's better blah blah What's important here is that Mr.Dempsey is bringing these songs to new audience of young people, I hav loaned 'the rocky road' to a few people who thought it sounded good, that's where there interest in Luke and the dubliners etc.. stems from ! Good on ya Damo !
You can't compare Damo with Luke. Luke was a powerhouse tenor who could sing anything, ballads, sea shanties, drinking songs. Damo is a unique singer whose style is closer to the Irish tradition. This is an English ballad, perhaps not best suited to his voice. Great effort though.
@tony10396861 They are BOTH great, that is not disputed. That Damo is a whole new breed does not detract from Luke's greatness. People are so obsessed with Sinéad's imagery that they miss her point entirely. Sinéad, Shane, Christy & many others share my views on DAMO. I LOVE Damo's rich, resonant passionate nuanced voice. I love the message of his songs. He does the best Rocky Road EVER, he's got a pair of lungs! You are free to like Luke better but we're all entitled to seek our own bliss.
He's very good and of course helped by the Dubliners it's a very nice rendition. Unfortunately I've been spoilt by Luke Kelly's version, so every time I hear someone else sing it I rate it against Luke's
Ok I wont listen to any more music on utube thank you for that ..just cos u dont agree with what I write ..But I still wouldnt go out of my way to listen to him..
Give the man a break, I'm as big a Luke Kelly fan as the next, but I think Damien does a solid job on this, obviously he's not gonna sound as great Luke but who ever has?
well said "passionate and powerful", singing is not just havin a great voice, its also about Delivery, bob dylan would not be classed as a great singer..... nice version damo
@OutlawMinniePearl I like Damo, he's a great songwriter and good honest musician unlike so many others who turn these songs into tourist shite. But anyone who says he's a great singer is deluded, or has their own reasons for saying it. To try and compare him with Luke, purely in terms of voice I mean, is ridiculous. As a rule it's unfair to compare anyone with Luke, no-one has sung like him before or since, but Sinead started it
I didnt go looking for his version, i waas directed to it, and gave an honest opinion of what i thought about it, you have your opinion i have mine, and to me its awful!
@OutlawMinniePearl Ah look I just don't see it, we're clearly not going to agree. I don't agree that he has taken anything to a new level. Luke moved people all over the world; How many foreigners have even heard of Damo? Irish people have an affinity and affection for Luke and the Dubliners that he can't hope to match in a million years. Apples and oranges, fair enough; that's why Sineads comment was so moronic
