The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
The master returns...
CHRISTY MOORE HAS A MUSICAL PEDIGREE LIKE NO OTHER. A FOUNDING MEMBER OF PLANXTY AND MOVING HEARTS WITH DÓNAL LUNNY. HIS NEWEST ALBUM, ‘LILY’, WAS RELEASED JUST LAST MONTH. KNOWN FOR HIS SPELL-BINDING LIVE PERFORMANCES AND HUGELY LOYAL FAN BASE, THIS YEAR
SOME OF THOSE RAPSCALLIONS ARE EXPECTING THIS OLD BOY TO BE PAST IT... BUT I’M NOT READY TO LIE DOWN YET I WANT TO WRITE A SONG FOR THE HEALY-RAE BRAND OF ENVIRONMENTAL EVANGELISM.
WHERE are your favourite places in Kerry to visit/ to play in?
To name one would be to slight others In recent years I have played in Knocknagoshel, Sneem, Tralee, Killarney, Dingle, Ventry. In earlier years I played in Kenmare, Castleisland, Ballybunion and Waterville.
In recent years I have played the INEC annually.. back in the 80s and 90s I used to play weekly in The Gleneagles. I first visited Ballyferriter back in 1957 and stayed in Bru an Óige with Father Tadg Manly and Fergus McAuliffe. A gang of Rapscallions down from Kildare to lab hair as Gaeilge, thats where I got my first taste of porter at the back of Kruger Kavanaghs. In the 70s Planxty spent time rehearsing in Ballyferriter and I have had good holidays in Killarney, Kenmare and over the Mountains in on The Sheep’s Head WHAT are the most memorable gigs you’ve played here?
The most memorable gig was The Dome in Tralee over 30 years ago. I met a horde of Beauty Queens from Tashkent, Istanbul, Bangkok and Liverpool. We were all upstairs in the tent with Gay Byrne and the Pretty Polly Tights (before Newbridge Silver took over). This resulted in the song “Me and The Rose of Tralee” which has never once been played on the radio. It’s on an album “King Puck” which sank without trace apart from the Lebanon where it enjoyed minor notoriety when our Troops were there. ANY quirky or compromising situations while in Kerry?
Yes indeed. Yes indeed. One night at the Gay Bachelor Festival in Ballbunion I found myself in a quirky and compromising situation. I won’t go into it just now as there may be a court case pending .
Another interesting night I met Páidí Ó Sé and Charles J Haughey in The Hillgrove in Dingle after a gig. Tom McCarthy was throwing a party for Moving Hearts…. it was our Roadie’s birthday. Charlie invited myself and Tom out to Innishvickallaune the following day. The weather was so bad that the Charlie’s chopper could not take off so myself and McCarthy adjourned to Brandon Village. There we had a mighty session and I began to write ‘St Brendan’s Voyage’ which
has since become a very popular song. Another night I met The Bomber Liston and he convinced me that The Cliffs of Dooneen was a Kerry song. I subsequently discovered that he was on the ball…. it’s a quirky auld spot. ARE there places and people in Kerry that have inspired songs – or simply inspire you?
I have been depressed in The Black Valley and High on Mangerton Mountain, I’ve plunged the deep at Brandon Creek and recorded the Ride On album out in Muckross. This album was a huge success and yielded up many song that still reverberate 30 years later. I trevailed The National Park by night in search of inspiration and met the Ghost of Herbert with his head turned backwards. TELL us about ‘Casey’. Did Martin Egan approach you or vice versa? Did you speak to Bishop Casey about the song?
Myself and Martin Egan got a lockin in Annascaul over 30 years. When we went to leave The South Pole there was 10 foot of snow at the back door so we had to go back in and wait for the thaw. Casey was nailed before we left… “O The Low Road goes from Killorglin, all the way to Annascaul” ………… .. apart from the confessional I never met the poor man… “The only harm in him was hanging out of him” (Behan). I was very impressed by Bishop Casey’s son recently on The Late Late Show. His mother reared him to be a lovely young man. AS a supporter of the H Block prisoners and widely regarded as having left wing Republican views, how have you found the 1916 centenary celebrations. Did the government get it right? No comment YOU’VE lots of connections in the North, do you share the sentiment by some who feel removed from the 1916 events as it marked the beginning of partition? No comment WHAT were your thoughts in penning North and South of the River - who came up with it first – Bono, The Edge or yourself ? Did it mark a crossroads in your views?
I met Bono in Canada. I was working on an early draft of the song. The following year we got together back in Dublin and finished it. Then Edge came in with some music. Working with Bono was a great experience. His voice, his attitude and his approach all bring excitement to the recording process. Bono was spontaneous combustion whilst Edge was more laid back and considered. I’d work with them again in a flash. YOU’VE said that Strange Ways is one of the heaviest songs you’ve written. There are powerful yet simple words in the lyrics. What, to you, is key to penning a song? Do all songs have to have a message? The current single ‘The Tuam Beat’ does not have a specific message. Some songs have had pointed messages. Songs like Arthur’s Day, The Stardust and Strangeways have something specific to say whilst songs like Lisdoonvarna, St Brendan’s Voyage and Boxer are trips of my imagination gleaned from a life on the road. WHAT can we expect at the INEC this time around? Any hidden gems from the back catalogue? Give a little bit of background on Lily and the motivations behind the new collection.
When we come to The Killarney Folk Festival we will have to be at our very best…. lots of exciting new bands will be playing there. We’ll need to be on our toes and playing our best. Some of those rapscallions and whip- persnappers will be expecting this old boy to be past it but I’m gonna go for it. I’m not ready to lie down yet. There will be new songs and old songs and songs that aint even written yet. I want to write a song for The Healy Rae Brand of Environmental Evangelism. I know they come to the odd gig and they surely deserve a good ballad in their name… please God my pen will flow in honour of those heroes of Kilgarvan - the best roads in Ireland. YOU are considered introverted when singing songs – apart from the one song per gig that you say in your documentary that you would take in. How do you retain the intensity in each and every song after all these years?
It’s all in the gene. Some of us are as intense about singing as The Kingdom is about football. Singing a song to me is like Mick O’Connell soaring for the high ball, like Mikey Sheehy darting through a crack in defence… once the song starts I’m gonna give it all I’ve got. I’ve been working the songs on this LILY album for three years now, some even longer - like I’ve been training towards the night when I will sing them. OUR ‘young’ country stars like Nathan, Derek Ryan and Mike Denver certainly aren’t shy - maybe the country lads are a bit more extrovert than their folk counterparts! Would you like to be starting out in your career alongside this generation?
I could never be like these lads you mention. I’d be more from The Begley/ Johnny Spillane/Johnny Leary end of the musical spectrum. Neither better nor worse... just very different. Christy Moore headlines Folkfest Killarney this Saturday, July 9 at the INEC, where he will be joined by Máirtín O’Connor, Cathal Hayden, Séamie O’Dowd and Jimmy Higgins. Tickets priced €39 are available from www.folkfestkillarney.com by calling 064 6671555.