Rock ‘n’ Roll kid Charlie is celebrating 50 years in the business
CHARLIE MCGETTIGAN REFLECTS ON HIS 50 YEARS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY, DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM LIFE EXPERIENCES, AND OF COURSE THE EUROVISION. THE LEGENDARY SINGER SPEAKS TO JESSICA FARRY.
CHARLIE McGettigan is one of the foremost singer-songwriters Ireland has ever being blessed to call one of our own. Indeed, the release of his new album, Tuesdays With Paul, this year will mark 50 years since Charlie moved to Dublin to be part of the thriving folk scene establishing itself in the city at that time.
Tuesdays With Paul, is now on pre-order and goes on release this Friday 23rd March.
Charlie explains the concept behind the album: “The album is loosely based on the play ‘ Tuesdays with Morrie’. Paul Gurney owns the oldest studio in Longford and I meet up with him on Tuesday and we might talk politics, or have a bit of a jam or record some music.
“We ended up with an album really from this. This is my 10 th album. Someone recently discovered that this is my 50 th year playing acoustic guitar so it is my 50 th anniversary really. I bought my first acoustic guitar in 1968.”
The album is largely comprised of songs containing both Charlie and Paul, but a number of songs feature guests. The pair have known each other a long time, which means they are well positioned to release an album together.
“It’s taken about a year. It wouldn’t be everyday of the year but there are days that we would take off. We’ve known each other for around 25 years so we know each other well and what goes together and what should go where,” added Charlie.
Charlie’s music is as popular as ever, and although it’s been 50 years since he really started, he is now busier than ever.
“It’s been 50 years but it doesn’t feel like it. I’m 67 now and I’m busier than I’ve ever been. I’m on a few boards, I’m on the board of the IMRO (Irish Music Rights Organisation), The Dock in Carrick-on-Shannon, I host radio shows on Shannonside as well.
“The music really has got me through, it would have been a much shorter 50 years without music.”
As he reflects on his lengthy and successful career, Charlie, who is based in Drumshanbo, recalls the early years when he played with musicians from Sligo.
“Music is something I do every day. Whether that’s practising, or recording or just messing around.
“I’ve played with a lot of Sligo people over the years. I played with Gerry Grennan, and Liam Gilmartin and Brendan Emmett in a band called Jargon in the 1970s. It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago, it seems like only yesterday that we were together recording music.
“We won the Letterkenny folk festival, then and Clannad had won it the year before, and Pumpkin Head won it the year before. They were a really seminal band with an Americana background. When I talk to you like this about all of that I just can’t believe it’s been so long ago. It all feels so recent.”
Of course, Charlie won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 along with Paul Harringon with ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids’. The pair’s success at Eurovision paved the way for European tours, with Irish music extremely popular on the continent.
“It was great fun. There was two of us so we went away on tour for 12 months and we had a lot of fun. We would speak through Irish a lot of the time so that people wouldn’t understand us.
“Irish trad was always popular in the likes of Germany, Denmark, and Italy, so we’ve been able to get in on the legacy of that. It’s not as popular as it was but it’s still a strong force.”
In fact, such is the popularity of Eurovision in Europe, that Charlie was invited to take part in a Eurovision event in Germany recently.
“I’ve actually just got back from Munich where we did a Eurovision event. Eurovision is a bit like country music in Ireland where people come along and they bring items they want autographed. They are so devoted to it all. They know your story, once they know you’re involved they make sure they know all about you.
“I’ve been lucky enough to make a living from music, particularly in the last 20 years since Eurovision. The fact that I’m a songwriter as well and I write songs for people like Mary Black and Daniel O’Donnell and the royalties from that can be quite lucrative.”
As for his song-writing, Charlie draws his inspiration largely from life experiences. The tragic death of his son Shane in America in 1998 has never left him. His son has been an inspiration for some of his songwriting, when he was alive and since his passing.
“Our son Shane died in 1998. He was a Leitrim footballer and I’ve had a couple of songs on other albums about him. It’s not just since he died, I wrote songs about him when he was alive too. Just because he died doesn’t mean I don’t stop thinking about him. There are always little reminders of him. He was only 21. So when I see other footballers running out on to the pitch I think about what kind of career he could have had. He was studying media in DIT so he might have been working in movie making now.
“I often wonder what would we be doing right now if he was still alive? Our lives would be very different for sure.”
He continued: “I’m a song-writer so I constantly use life-experiences in my writing, and sometimes it’s subconsciously picking up things. ‘You the Towers and Me’, is about students who spent a summer in New York and had a photo with the twin towers in the background. We visited there and now the towers are gone and there’s a whole sense of freedom lost.
“Another song, called ‘When I was a kid’ is about you know the classic older person who always says ‘when I was a kid we did this’. The freedom that I had as a child was great. I have six grandchildren now and they haven’t an iota of what that freedom was like. They can’t wander like we did. They have to be brought everywhere. Parents are paranoid about paedophiles, about traffic, about bullying and I regret that.”
At the moment, he has no intention of giving up music.
“It’s always an ongoing story, I never stop. If I stop enjoying my music then that’s when I’ ll stop. It’s great to have that ability to get up in front of a crowd and see them leave with smiles on their faces. I’ve never had a plan for a year. I’ ll keep busy with it now.”
The album is being distributed by Warner Music Ireland and will be available to purchase via mail order from the shop on both warnermusic.ie and Charlie’s own website charliemcgettigan.ie together with Golden Discs and many other independent stores nationwide.
THE MUSIC HAS GOT ME THROUGH THE YEARS. IT DOESN’T FEEL LIKE IT’S BEEN 50 YEARS.