Ireland in the rare old times
A trip around Ireland in 1977 was an adventure. We didn't know anything about Crowley's Pub. An insignificant shop front in the main street of Kenmare, it was our second choice that evening. It wasn't until around 9 pm that the locals arrived and the music really kicked in. By stumps we were almost legless. As always, my friend David Hudson's note taking was impeccable. Below is how, he recorded the night:
'Crowley’s Bar, Kenmare, Co. Kerry 20 January 1978We started the night drinking with an old farmer by the name of Sullivan. He sang traditional ballads, including some from Ulster: Bonny Irish Boy, Erin’s Lovely Shore, Lovely Derry on the Banks of the Foyle.
Later, as the pub filled, we heard a great mixture of traditional Irish, rebel Irish, pop, folk, country and western, and even light opera. And the publican, Mrs Crowley, took out her fiddle from behind the bar to play The Boys of Blue Hill and other jigs and reels.Kevin Sullivan tore a piece off his cigarett packet and was away on the guitar strings. His songs included:Black Velvet Band, Blackboard of My Heart, Danny Boy, Folsom Prison Blues, Jambalaya (and other Hank Williams songs), Loch Lomond, Okie from Muskogee, Po Kare Kare Ana, Those Wedding Bells Will Never Ring for Me, Tie Me Kangaroo Down, When the Saints Go Marching in, and White Christmas
Francie gave us:Lonely Is a Man Without Love, Thrashing Machine, Tie a Yellow RibbonTommy:James Connolly, Kevin BarryBilly:Goodbye (from ‘The White Horse Inn’), Town I Loved So Well'.
Peace after the storm
The morning after a big drinking session. I still remember it..
Did you mention Ryan's Daughter?It was a blockbuster film, but a relation of mine, Molly Campbell, nee Cleary, was irate about it. 'Racist, imperialist and generally derogatory about the Irish,' she told me when I visited her in 1973. Niece of my grandfather, John Cleary, Molly was a political firebrand. And she was right. But the scenery was simply beautiful.
Ryan's Daughter school house on the Dingle in Ireland as it looked in 1978.
Do you remember that barbaric scene in front of the school? It was just what the British wanted to believe about the Irish. Funny that it came to our screens about the same time as the Bloody Sunday Massacre in occupied Ulster!
Looking towards the school
Ryans' Daughter scenery
Now those are cliffs.In 1978 there were no buses, guides or designated viewing platforms atop the Cliffs of Moher. What a sight!
My friend David Hudson on Banna Strand, where Roger Casement landed during the war of independence.
Donegal. I suggest you listen to Paul Brady's version of 'The Homes of Donegal'.
Somewhere in Donegal
The beach, not far from the house, depicted in the gun running scene in Ryan's Daughter.
The schoolhouse has deteriorated since these photos were taken in 1978.
The Tom Barry-led ambush at Kilmichael was only rivalled by the East Limerick Flying Column's attack at Dromkeen. David Hudson has a look at the Kilmichael monument on Friday 20 January 1978.
Kylemore Abbey in Galway