A common man marvels at uncommon things. A wise man marvels at the commonplace. CONFUCIUS

Tuesday 13 October 2009

The Blacksmith

This is Planxty - one of the greatest ever Irish folk bands. From left to right are: Donal Lunny (yes, that's him from the 'Transatlantic Sessions'), Andy Irvine, Liam O'Flynn (playing the uilleann pipes) and Christy Moore (Paul Brady took over from Christy in a later reincarnation of the band). This video must date from the very early 1970s. Their compilation album 'The Planxty Collection' was never far away from my turntable at that time...

3 comments:

Grizz………… said...

Ah, this is, indeed, a fine old Planxty tune. I remember it and them from the Thistle and Shamrock broadcast. Been a while since I heard anything of theirs, though. I can't remember whether or not I have anything of theirs on CD.

Dominic Rivron said...

Brilliant.

Planxty is just the name of a musical form, apparently, so the following is just a pleasant coincidence:

Or may the maledictions
of Lousyfear fall like nettlerash on the white friar's father that
converted from moonshine the fostermother of the first
nancyfree that ran off after the trumpadour that mangled Moore's
melodies and so upturned the tubshead of the stardaft journalwriter
to inspire the prime finisher to fellhim the firtree out of which
Cooper Funnymore planed the flat of the beerbarrel on which
my grandydad's lustiest sat his seat of unwisdom with my tante's
petted sister for the cause of his joy! Amene.
Poof! There's puff for ye, begor, and planxty of it, all abound
me breadth!

I think Finnegans Wake is probably like the Bible: if you look hard enough you can find what you like in it.

The Solitary Walker said...

They are just fantastic folk musicians, aren't they?

I fear I can not read 'Finnegans Wake' the whole way through. Dipping into it a short while is verbal hedonism enough. Like the Bible. Sort of!