O'Donoghue's - Andy Irvine video free download


55,922
Duration: 07:32
Uploaded: 2013/01/24

Andy Irvine at Mighty Fine Guitars, Lafayette, CA, September 2012. A Vortex Production, filmed and edited by Jeff Peach.

Song lyrics graciously supplied by Patrick from 'AndyzFanz'.

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O'Donoghue's

Words & Music: Andy Irvine

It was August 1962

When I first set foot in O'Donoghue's

A world of music, friends and booze

Opened up before me

I never could've guessed as I walked through the door

Just what the future had in store

A crossroads for my life I saw

Lying there to taunt me.

Well, I was an actor, I played straight

I played at the Gaiety, played at the Gate

My mother in 1928

Had trod those boards before me

I was getting tired of the company

An actor's life did not suit me

I said "Goodbye; you'll never see me

Back here at Neary's."

Johnny Moynihan in his fusty coat

Was the first to play there in Meirion Row

And he brought the bouzouki to Ireland, you know

"Way storm along, John!"

Paddy and Maureen O'Donoghue

Ciaran Bourke, Luke Kelly, Ronnie Drew

Barney McKenna and me and you

In the early 1960's.

Well, Paddy and Maureen very very sound

Though she liked to camp on the moral high ground

If you had long hair you were outward bound

Go down blood red roses

Ronnie Drew in his fine suit of blue

And a voice like gravel that would cut you in two

We thought he was Dublin through and through

But he blew in from Dun Laoghaire

Joe Ryan and John Kelly in the front bar

There fiddles are form the County Clare

Joe Heaney sings in the cold night air

In the laneway after closing

Our sea shanties in perfect tune

And Séamus Ennis in the afternoon

It was all over much too soon

Days of Wine and Roses.

Well, Banjo Barney calling the tune

Mary Jordan's a whizz on the spoons

Up the Swannee and Down the Broom

Barney's rising to it

They carry him bodily out to the jacks

He empties his bladder and they carry him back

He swallows his pint and he's right back on track

How the f*ck does he do it?

Any afternoon you might find there

Luke Kelly and his banjo and his red hair

O what times what an atmosphere

What more could a young man wish for?

How I'd spend my time was never in doubt

This is what life was all about

A bowl of soup and a pint of stout

Agus fáigamid siúid mar a tá sé

David Smythe never short of a witty phrase

Sonny Brogan love the way he plays

Ted McKenna, God bless the days

Of Italian mandolinos

At closing time we didn't go far

Just down the road to the Pike Coffee Bar

"The usual suspects; there you are!

Have yez no homes to go to?"

Putting up a note on the message board

Sweeney's Men have a gig, O Lord

We have to meet at 12 o'clock

For the journey down to Galway

Bu the Sweeney van broke down at the door

And we didn't get started until a quarter past four

To the merry tune of the Dolan snore

Haul away me Rosie

It all came to an end in '68

The rest of the world was lying in wait

And I started out for a new landscape

Set sail for the Pirin Mountains

From the old North Wall sailed away

And all me friends were there on the quay

Won't be back for many's a day

But it was bloody great while it lasted!

It was August 1962

When I first set foot in O'Donoghue's

A world of music, friends and booze

Hastening towards me

I never could've guessed as I walked through the door

Just what the future had in store

A blueprint for my life I saw

Lying there before me.

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Comments

9 years ago

Italo Celt

JRR Tolkien was right when he said "If more of us valued food and cheer above hoarded gold it would be a merrier world". Andy, your a true Irish Hobbit! God Bless you!!!

9 years ago

grant marshall

Sadly missed him in the arts centre in Downpatrick. Our fabulous Irish musicians always had a story to tell before the music began

10 years ago

Micheal Carney

If I knew more (and by that I mean anything) about Dublin geography a lot of this would make more sense.

10 years ago

Michael Crowe

"O'Donoghue's ...I gave you all the best years of my life".

10 years ago

Micheal Carney

O'Donoghue's Pub, birthplace of the Dubliners. Holy ground.

10 years ago

ThreeTimesThrough

Kind of makes you want to travel in that time machine back to O'Donoghue's...

10 years ago

Wotkenmendo88

Priceless! It is quite fortunate that we can very easily record and preserve this stuff, awful to think what has been lost in the past.

11 years ago

AndyzFanz

Dear Jeff, ;-)) Thank you for uploading this one also! Great also to hear his preamble relating the story of their pub-crawl from Meirion Row to Nelson's Pillar in O'Connell Street, which never actually completed the journey! ... ;-D ... With kind regards; Patrick.

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