Listening to my father, who was a famous ganger but not for McAlpine, was how I learned to judge men. One story stuck in my mind like superglue. A giant of a man turned up looking for work with a huge shovel strapped to his bike. He was given 'the start', but said he couldn't begin until the next morning, when he turned up with a normal shovel. He was asked where the big shovel was. His reply taught me to believe what a man does, not what he says or indicates he'll do. ' Ah. Well, now Sor, it's like this? That was the shovel I gets the work with, this is the shovel I does the work with.....'
Ahhh love that comment mo chara...big Ronnie in my opinion was the very essence of true Irishness not forgetting Luke Kelly...wee Barney et al...my kids love Irish music and so will their kids and their kids etc etc...Irish Diaspora around the world God Bless... Glasgow/Irish in particular😁😁😁HH...COYBIG...YNWA.
Eamonn Johnston you’ll probably recall they used to say WIMPEY stood for We Import More Paddy’s Every Year. My Da worked as a fairground boxer till he made enough for the boat fare, then stood singing for coppers on the platform at Crewe till he had the money to get to Birmingham
This is probably my favorite version. They sound tired, reminiscent, bitter, but without regret. Plus the way they show the venue, it looks empty, and fits the mood I get from the song: that of an old man who's wisdom seems to fall on deaf ears.
..speaking of keeping the mixer going ;)- Respect to the sound-guy who mixed all those musicians, I can distinctively hear everyone of the SEVEN stringed-instruments players!
Poor Ronnie was on his way out then...and he knew it! (as was Barney McKenna) There will never be their like again! Thank the great Christ almighty for utube!
john price I have the ability to copy on my phone and it has never had a miracle performed on it by a mythical being. Has anyone had such a process on their phone?
You can tell he was getting weaker and singing slower and his voice was getting more deeper not just because of his age but because of all the drinking and smoking he's been consuming over the years
John Tait : I lived in Hythe, Southampton, in the sixties when they were building Fawley Power station. Saturdays were a special treat. Pay day! Some of the lads were tunnelling under Southampton water under pressure, earning about.800 quid a week. They caught the ferry to Southampton to get new clothes. Always a new suit, which they wore every day to work then bought another the next weekend. Never a dull moment and they were always very eager to buy a round....... The facility is closed now and the site cleared, such is life.
And we're the kind of people that don't jump up and down and protest and wreck the place when we are called Paddy. My dad was an Irish Army soldier, a bren Gunner, served 6 months in the Congo as a UN peacekeeper. He came home finished his time and off to London for work. Worked in Cricklewood,Hendon Kilburn areas. He said they were all called Paddy.
