Luke Kelly - An Irish legend

As a young lad, up in Dublin 1980-ish(either looking for or in between jobs), I remember myself & my mate going into O'Briens pub on leeson St. (not sure if it is still there!).
In those days, not everybody had a Watch, so this guy next to me was reading the Evening Press (a now defunct broadsheet), I excused myself & asked him for the "time"....... to my suprise, he flicked the page over, & told me it was near 6 o'clock!......... That man was none other than the great late Luke Kelly(R.I.P.)!
 
Stuff the Goat said:
As a young lad, up in Dublin 1980-ish(either looking for or in between jobs), I remember myself & my mate going into O'Briens pub on leeson St. (not sure if it is still there!).
In those days, not everybody had a Watch, so this guy next to me was reading the Evening Press (a now defunct broadsheet), I excused myself & asked him for the "time"....... to my suprise, he flicked the page over, & told me it was near 6 o'clock!......... That man was none other than the great late Luke Kelly(R.I.P.)!
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Heard quite a few stories like that man, he was an avvid newspaper reader & would sit in the pub all day reading & gettin hammered, until later when he'd have the boozer rockin!

O'Briens is still there man: http://www.m-obriens.ie/ :cool:
 
What a Legend. One of my all time favourite folk singers. "The Aul Triangle" would be one of my favourites that he sang. I enjoyed the rendidtion of Dirty old Town that he did, especially the look he gave Barney McKenna (the Banjo Player) for Over Playing and trying to upstage him. Same show as the one Ivor posted I think..
 
tyrone red said:
What a Legend. One of my all time favourite folk singers. "The Aul Triangle" would be one of my favourites that he sang. I enjoyed the rendidtion of Dirty old Town that he did, especially the look he gave Barney McKenna (the Banjo Player) for Over Playing and trying to upstage him. Same show as the one Ivor posted I think..
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There's quite a few pubs in Dublin named after Luke Kelly songs or songs that he covered:

The Auld Triangle

A hungry feeling, came o'er me stealing
And the mice were squealing in my prison cell

To begin the morning, the water boiling
Get up out of bed boy, and clean up your cell

And the auld triangle, went jingle jangle
All along the banks of the Royal Canal

On a fine spring evening, the lag lay dreaming
And the seagulls were squealing high above the wall

Oh the day was dying and the wind was sighing
As I lay there crying in my prison cell

And the auld triangle, went jingle jangle
All along the banks of the Royal Canal

Oh the screw was peeping and the lag was sleeping
As he lay there weeping for his poor gal

And the auld triangle, went jingle jangle
All along the banks of the Royal Canal

In the female prison there are seventy women
And I wish to God it was with them that I did dwell

And the auld triangle, went jingle jangle
All along the banks of the Royal Canal

And the auld triangle, went jingle jangle
All along the banks of the Royal Canal


http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b91/ctesiphon/IMG_0558.jpg


The Foggy Dew

When I was a bachelor, airy and young
I followed the roving trade
And the only harm that ever I've done
Was courting a servant young maid
I courted her all Summer long
And part of the Winter too
But many's the time I roved my love
All over the foggy dew, dew, dew
All over the foggy dew.

One night as I lay in my bed
A taking a pleasant sleep
This pretty young maid she came to me
And bitterly she did weep
She tore her hair and she wrung her hands
Saying: "Oh, what shall I do?
For tonight I resolved to sleep with you
For fear of the foggy dew, dew, dew
All over the foggy dew."

All in the first part of that night
We rolled in sport and play
And in the latter part of that night
She in my arms did lay
And when broad daylight did appear
She cried: "I am undone"
"Oh, hold your tongue, you silly young girl
For the foggy dew is gone, gone, gone
For the foggy dew is gone."

"Supposing you should have a child
It would make you laugh and smile
And suppose you had another one
It would make you think a while
And suppose you have another one
And another one or two
It would make you leave off those foolish young tricks
And think on the foggy dew, dew, dew
All over the foggy dew."

I loved that girl with all my heart
She's as dear as my lovely life
But in the latter part of the year
She became another man's wife
But I never told him of her faults
And I'm damned if ever I'll do
But many's the time as she winks and smiles
I think on the foggy dew, dew, dew
All over the foggy dew.

http://www.jndstravelog.com/Europe/Dublin2006/Images/Pub_FoggyDew.jpg
 
tyrone red said:
This guy needs no introduction. In my opinion the best vocalist that has walked these shores. Died at such a young age. A true Legend.

Born in England, I've always called him an Irishman..


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Lynott
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Aul Phillo is a legend alright & although born in England, was raised in Dublin & is as Irish as they come - barring his skin colour of course, and Dublin moulded him into the man & musician he was!

Gone but never forgotten :cool:

Phillo statue outside Bruxelles bar in Dublin: http://www.dublinblog.ie/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/286885753_4b90c95d5a_b.jpg

Tyrone Red - You should start a thread on Phillo man, plenty of folk would be into that!
 
Luke Kelly is God in my Book. Bob Dylan claims he was the best Folk Singer ever. I'd agree with him. Would have loved to see he man sing in his day. That young lad George Murphy does some stuff similar to him.
 
bazalini said:
Luke Kelly is God in my Book. Bob Dylan claims he was the best Folk Singer ever. I'd agree with him. Would have loved to see he man sing in his day. That young lad George Murphy does some stuff similar to him.
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Never heard that, interesting :cool:

Luke had such a powerful voice & that cheeky smile, raging out ballads with passion & sometimes with humour added in too!

My Uncle is a huge fan of Trad & Luke is his hero, he spent alot of his spare time in Dublin & all round the country following Irish Traditional music. He was a painter & decorator so he worked for himself & could take time off to do the rebel thing as much as he could. He never married because in many ways he was married to the music & life of Irish Traditional music & of course the beers & sessions!

He remembers fondly of his days all over Dublin pubs. The sessions in the 60's 70's & 80's would last days on end. You'd be in one Pub such as O'Donoghues for about 3 days, then you'd end up in Slattery's on Capel Street for another 3 days until the money ran out or the pub stopped the slate. He knew Luke - as did most people back in those days who drank in the sessions. If you ask many of these people still around they'd all say that that was Irelands greatest period, where many didnt have much but felt part of Irelands golden generation of music & craic!

Its sad when I head back up North & speak to my Uncle, he'd ask me about certain pubs & if they still had Trad Sessions, and sadly I'd have to tell him "no, there's very few in Dublin City Centre these days & none on Capel Street anymore.." You can tell the sadness of him hearing that but see the happiness when he reminisce's about the "good oul days.."
 
bazalini said:
Luke Kelly is God in my Book. Bob Dylan claims he was the best Folk Singer ever. I'd agree with him. Would have loved to see he man sing in his day. That young lad George Murphy does some stuff similar to him.
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I've seen him a couple of times Baz and he is not even in the same league. Quite simply there is nothing that even comes close.
 
Red Hand Devil said:
Never heard that, interesting :cool:

Luke had such a powerful voice & that cheeky smile, raging out ballads with passion & sometimes with humour added in too!

My Uncle is a huge fan of Trad & Luke is his hero, he spent alot of his spare time in Dublin & all round the country following Irish Traditional music. He was a painter & decorator so he worked for himself & could take time off to do the rebel thing as much as he could. He never married because in many ways he was married to the music & life of Irish Traditional music & of course the beers & sessions!

He remembers fondly of his days all over Dublin pubs. The sessions in the 60's 70's & 80's would last days on end. You'd be in one Pub such as O'Donoghues for about 3 days, then you'd end up in Slattery's on Capel Street for another 3 days until the money ran out or the pub stopped the slate. He knew Luke - as did most people back in those days who drank in the sessions. If you ask many of these people still around they'd all say that that was Irelands greatest period, where many didnt have much but felt part of Irelands golden generation of music & craic!

Its sad when I head back up North & speak to my Uncle, he'd ask me about certain pubs & if they still had Trad Sessions, and sadly I'd have to tell him "no, there's very few in Dublin City Centre these days & none on Capel Street anymore.." You can tell the sadness of him hearing that but see the happiness when he reminisce's about the "good oul days.."
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There will always be trad sessions, it's just knowing where to go. I am a big admirer of the fleadh ceol eireann inwhich I have participated in over a decade through 1990-2000. I have All Ireland Medals for playing button key accordian and I've also the privelage in the early 90's to busk along with Sharron Shannon who was selling CD's on the streets of Clonmel.
 
tyrone red said:
There will always be trad sessions, it's just knowing where to go. I am a big admirer of the fleadh ceol eireann inwhich I have participated in over a decade through 1990-2000. I have All Ireland Medals for playing button key accordian and I've also the privelage in the early 90's to busk along with Sharron Shannon who was selling CD's on the streets of Clonmel.
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I totally agree man, its finding a good one that can be hard enough though. It also depends in what vibe of Trad your into aswell. There's the Pub Songs vibe, Rebel Songs & the raw Traditional Irish vibe around Dublin, personally i like a combination of it all. Some places will play alot of Irish Pub Songs with U2 & the like thrown in also - not a big fan of hearing U2 amongst some old classics like the Irish Rover / Black Velvet Band etc... or after a good reel etc.. kinda sick of hearing contemporary Irish band music on a night out expecting to hear rebel songs & lots of diddlyi tunes!

City Centre's can be pretty crap for Trad, you sometimes kinda need to waver outside the CC zone to be honest. Temple Bar District has its Irish sing-alongs but they're really geared for the tourists & will play a varied range of Irish music aswell as Irish Pub Songs too!

My local - The Cobblestone, is top-notch every night of the week: http://www.dublinks.com/index.cfm/loc/11/pt/0/spid/08F0D17F-528A-4BD9-948C91B5CB782769.htm in here you'll hear the raw element of Traditional music with haunting vocals etc... so if this is the type of Trad you like I thoroughly recommend goin there... the vibe is a really good one aswell - a good mix of locals, blow-ins & tourists!

http://www.dublinks.com/index.cfm/loc/16-7/pt/28/spid/66F64B25-01FB-4BA4-AA2B93F2167EE565.htm

If you like a good oul singsong, The Temple Bar is a good place to go, but the price of a pint is extortionate. I bought 2 pints in there only last month at €16.90.... so i wouldnt recommend a session in there, otherwise your money will run out pretty sharpish!

The Celt Pub on Talbot Street is very good, although if you choose the wrong night you could end up hearing some bloke singing Ronan Keating ffs, thats what happened the last time I was in there (2 months ago). The singer must of decided that he'd play songs by the Irish regardless of keeping it Traditional or folk music. I nearly choked on my pint hearing him singing Keating. Its a touristy atmos, with alot of hotels & hostels located around that area, but i'd highly recommend it: http://www.dublinevents.com/dublin-bars/celt-pub.php

O'Neills Bar on Suffolk Street: http://www.oneillsbar.com/index.htm is an ok den, although they advertise Irish music every night from 9pm onwards, i wouldnt go along with that though. The Sunday sessions are very good, so i'd recommend that very much!

With regard to yourself & the accordion - great stuff man. Congrats on winning All-Irelands :) Sharon Shannon is a living legend & again one of my uncles favourites of all time. That must of been unreal for you to play alongside her in Clonmel, atleast you can say you jammed with her - not many can say that :cool:
 
Red Hand Devil said:
I totally agree man, its finding a good one that can be hard enough though. It also depends in what vibe of Trad your into aswell. There's the Pub Songs vibe, Rebel Songs & the raw Traditional Irish vibe around Dublin, personally i like a combination of it all. Some places will play alot of Irish Pub Songs with U2 & the like thrown in also - not a big fan of hearing U2 amongst some old classics like the Irish Rover / Black Velvet Band etc... or after a good reel etc.. kinda sick of hearing contemporary Irish band music on a night out expecting to hear rebel songs & lots of diddlyi tunes!

City Centre's can be pretty crap for Trad, you sometimes kinda need to waver outside the CC zone to be honest. Temple Bar District has its Irish sing-alongs but they're really geared for the tourists & will play a varied range of Irish music aswell as Irish Pub Songs too!

My local - The Cobblestone, is top-notch every night of the week: http://www.dublinks.com/index.cfm/loc/11/pt/0/spid/08F0D17F-528A-4BD9-948C91B5CB782769.htm in here you'll hear the raw element of Traditional music with haunting vocals etc... so if this is the type of Trad you like I thoroughly recommend goin there... the vibe is a really good one aswell - a good mix of locals, blow-ins & tourists!

http://www.dublinks.com/index.cfm/loc/16-7/pt/28/spid/66F64B25-01FB-4BA4-AA2B93F2167EE565.htm

If you like a good oul singsong, The Temple Bar is a good place to go, but the price of a pint is extortionate. I bought 2 pints in there only last month at €16.90.... so i wouldnt recommend a session in there, otherwise your money will run out pretty sharpish!

The Celt Pub on Talbot Street is very good, although if you choose the wrong night you could end up hearing some bloke singing Ronan Keating ffs, thats what happened the last time I was in there (2 months ago). The singer must of decided that he'd play songs by the Irish regardless of keeping it Traditional or folk music. I nearly choked on my pint hearing him singing Keating. Its a touristy atmos, with alot of hotels & hostels located around that area, but i'd highly recommend it: http://www.dublinevents.com/dublin-bars/celt-pub.php

O'Neills Bar on Suffolk Street: http://www.oneillsbar.com/index.htm is an ok den, although they advertise Irish music every night from 9pm onwards, i wouldnt go along with that though. The Sunday sessions are very good, so i'd recommend that very much!

With regard to yourself & the accordion - great stuff man. Congrats on winning All-Irelands :) Sharon Shannon is a living legend & again one of my uncles favourites of all time. That must of been unreal for you to play alongside her in Clonmel, atleast you can say you jammed with her - not many can say that :cool:
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Thanks for the heads up RHD. It's a shame the support that the real live sessions used to have is in decline. I do concur that there are a shortage of places that even provide the music that launched this Country worldwide. My father has been a Traditional Folk singer all his life and played in many bands through his musical career. He has also had to adjust from style to style to enable work. He once told me that he would've played 7 nights a week with a few evening sessions thrown in. His band at that time included a banjo, fiddle, guitar and bodhrán with himself singing. All the songs that you've mentioned I've grown up with, and had the pleasure of learning from a very young age. In saying that he has had to become more Various with the music that he plays in order to gain work, Something that he never thought would happen in his lifetime. One of my favourite songs that he sings is the Johnny McEvoy Classic "The Ballad of Michael Collins"

Irish music will always be a part of my life and Luke Kelly with his "perfect dictitave voice" will always be a Legend.
 
tyrone red said:
Thanks for the heads up RHD. It's a shame the support that the real live sessions used to have is in decline. I do concur that there are a shortage of places that even provide the music that launched this Country worldwide. My father has been a Traditional Folk singer all his life and played in many bands through his musical career. He has also had to adjust from style to style to enable work. He once told me that he would've played 7 nights a week with a few evening sessions thrown in. His band at that time included a banjo, fiddle, guitar and bodhrán with himself singing. All the songs that you've mentioned I've grown up with, and had the pleasure of learning from a very young age. In saying that he has had to become more Various with the music that he plays in order to gain work, Something that he never thought would happen in his lifetime. One of my favourite songs that he sings is the Johnny McEvoy Classic "The Ballad of Michael Collins"

Irish music will always be a part of my life and Luke Kelly with his "perfect dictitave voice" will always be a Legend.
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Great story man, but sad to hear that your Da has had to be a little more alternative than he would like to over the years :):(

I'll try to keep this brief because I can talk shite all day & wouldnt wanna bore anyone :eek:

The sad thing as regard to Irish music TR, is that youth generations of the last 20+ years have slowly but surely lost interest because there have been so many forms of music around since the heyday of Traditional Music to choose from!

There are so many different forms of youth cultures that its sometimes impossible to keep up with, whereas back in the 60's - 80's there werent as many. This lead to pubs changing the music policy because of two reasons: (1) young(ish) people wanted to hear the new vibe & werent drinking in the usual Traditional Music pubs so bar owners changed the policy to accomodate this, or (2) bar owners had to sell up due to loss of business & new owner bring's a new musical vibe in to generate greater business & go with the flow!

This has been on-going for a vast number of years. Take for example Slattery's on Capel Street. That place was a heart-beat like many establishments during the heyday of Trad, but it is very rare to hear Traditional in there now - much to my uncles heartbreak. They've had Brazilian & Dance nites these past few years & possibly St. Patricks day will be one of the only times of the year you'll hear Traditional Music!

It seems that St. Patricks Day is the only day that people will open their minds to our National Music & treasure, and even at that - the pubs popular with youth will be pretty much playin dance & rock music!

There's not a year that goes by that I'm not ranting on Paddie's day about the lack of Trad & I see this year as being no different!

Anyway, have a great weekend i'm off home & GLORY GLORY MAN UNITED :devil:
 
feckin Love Luke Kelly. Amazing voice, great front man and true Irish legend. The video below was taken from St. Patrick's Day session we played in Camberwell. It's an honour to sing his (and also Paddy Kavanagh's) stuff


The video is sidwards because the missus was feckin around with the camera
 
Kinky Melinky said:
feckin Love Luke Kelly. Amazing voice, great front man and true Irish legend. The video below was taken from St. Patrick's Day session we played in Camberwell. It's an honour to sing his (and also Paddy Kavanagh's) stuff


The video is sidwards because the missus was feckin around with the camera
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Jesus man you didnt half pick a tough tune to sing - fair play to ya :cool:
 
Red Hand Devil said:
Jesus man you didnt half pick a tough tune to sing - fair play to ya :cool:
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The sound quality is shite to be honest. It's a million times better when you're actually at the gig but the mic in the camera picks up the background noise, too much violin etc etc. Typical shite involved in not having the right equipment.

I think Raglan Road is one of the most beautiful love songs ever written. I tip my hat to Patrick Kavanagh, and for the melody Luke Kelly
 
Tumbling-Dice said:
That was feckin brilliant Kinky !

Superb voice you have there fella.
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Cheers man.......I was a little disappointed with the sound quality to be honest but as I say above, the camera we use has a shit mic, so all the noise in the background was picked up. I think all in all, the best way to hear the song for what it's truly worth is to be at the session. At the best of times people in the background shut up and listen, but on Paddy's day we had a shit load of blow ins. I hate that phrase because I'm of the belief that anybody is welcome in any pub (so long as they behave) but there were quite a few new faces who wouldn't be accustomed to the normal trad session
 
Luke Kelly alive & well.....

MikeCommodor.jpg


Great news :D
 
Decotron said:
:lol: thats excellent.

Watched that rte documentary on him a few weeks back.

Its called "Luke". A very worthwhile watch. Probably the most intense vocalist I've ever heard.
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Yeah i watched that too - bloody great documentary it was :cool:

I've his Dvd at home:

lukedvd.JPG


Its excellent & I find myself sticking this on after a few gargles. His voice sends shivers up the spine & also brings much joy in the heart. Absolute legend of a man & a true Son of Ireland - not Stephen Ireland btw :D
 
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