Shane
MacGowan once said that “….there’s no point in Ireland getting the six counties
back, if Irish culture has been totally forgotten and destroyed. That will have meant that they’ve won in the
end.” ( “A Drink With Shane MacGowan,
Victoria Mary Clarke, 2001, Grove Press)
And
bands like the Mickey Finns always remind us, of how much of an important part
of Irish culture, the music really is.
With
their third CD release, “Prayers and Idle Chatter”, The Mickey Finns are proof
positive that no matter how much you drink,there’s not the slightest chance of
Irish music being forgotten.
Beginning
this new Mickey Finns bout with “Return of the Prodigal Son”; you can
feel that whiskey-inspired Ceili-Country rhythm that brought so many fans to
Paddy Reillys, night after night, to sing and dance to that rowdy Urban Cowboy
sound that is the Mickey Finns. If Lucinda Williams and Christy Moore ever got
together, The Mickey Finns would be their bastard child. Bastard, in a positive sense of the word,
perhaps like a Culchie troubadour, who, while he may be without a father, due
to lack of family ties, he has the freedom to wander, busking on street corners,
traveling the way of the Hobo musician, giving Boxcar Willie a few lessons on
the way, with only a banjo and a coonskin cap to keep him company. Okay, maybe
not. Maybe Boxcar Willie would get him drunk, pick his pockets and get him
involved in a late night poker game, where he would lose his coonskin cap and
his banjo. And didn’t we all learn about the evils of drinking and gambling in
Sunday school ? So maybe this bastard child isn’t a saint, and has many musical
parents, but who cares who the father is when the son is rocking the roof right
off that roadhouse? Its that something special, that Irish
Rogue-gypsy-hobo-culchie sound that will pack dance halls, pubs and roadhouses
every night with an infectious Irish Rock n’ Reel mass appeal, that is 100%
Mickey Finns. And bandmates Ray Kelly, and Brian Tracey, formerly of NY’s
legenadary, The Prodigals, have a proud family tradition that transcends blood
and lineage. Believe it.
Afterwards, “Sweet
Clare Girl” keeps us wandering these County Clare moors and beyond, in
search of a musical sweetheart.
Just
be careful with that “Sweet Clare Girl”, ladies and gentlemen, because she’s
bound to break your heart :
“Said that love was only for the fools,
But you were never playing by the rules…..”
Despite the subject matter, this is really an upbeat
tune that tells you to take it easy and not take things so seriously. A tune
that would make Johnny Cash proud, whether or not the song makes you reminisce
about unrequited love, or just a holiday romp with a beautiful Colleen, this
tune is bound to become a crowd-pleaser.
Next, “McGuinness’ Mass” allows us to
contemplate on the mysteries of life while totally banjaxed, or as they say in
the States, “shit-faced”. This mighty pub sing-along is probably one of the
best drinkers anthems ever written and is really about the existential nature
of Alcohol & Religion. Like a Priest drunk on his own sacramental wine, we
delve deep into the heart of intoxicating Ceilidh rhythms, libations, and
toasts to friends, fiends, winos, langers, and family :
“Some
men fought in wars and some tasted defeat
While
others chased girls on their cold blistered feet,
But
this was their haven, a safe place from harm
A
place filled with song and with chatter and charm……”
A rocking and rolling pub sing along song of cheer
and warmth that might even cause some to reschedule their Sunday afternoons.
And while I wouldn’t recommend this tune to recovering alcoholics, I couldn’t
recommend it enough to everybody else. Unless you’re a Jesus Freak. In that
case, just stick to your Christian Rock and Gospel.
If that wasn’t enough of an
alcoholic reverie for your tattered soul, than “Absinthe (Makes The Heart
Grow Fonder)” shall give Hank III, Waylon Jennings and Luke Kelly (R.I.P.)
a run for their money. From the hallowed halls of musical legends (driven to
drink), comes the spirit of true “don’t cry in your beer, just guzzle it and
smile”, reminding us, yet again, that life and love can be but a joke, even in
the darkest of times. Hallellujah buddy ! This got to be one of the best
drunkards prayers, this side of the Mississippi.
But probably one of the best tragic Irish love songs
tackling the dark subject of sectarianism, is the Mickey Finns, “Tanks and
Barbed Wire”, a mighty tune that will tug at your heart strings, and cause
you to hope that people on both sides of the religious divide will wake up and
reject the British propaganda of the “old divide and rule”, and put the
religious hatred----- behind them. This song always moves me, in a way that
only a deeply stirring and emotional song can. Beautiful and tragic, like
Ulster.
Next, “The Jester”, is a happy tune that
reunites us with our old chums in the drinking schools of McLean Avenue or the
Quays. And with every rebel who breaks the mold , class clown that disrupts the
boredom of school, or huckster who tries to talk us into playing his shell
game, there’s always a Jester that stands tall amidst all the chicanery,
turmoils and challenges of life, and keeps his head held high, because :
“Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall,
But the Jester still stands tall...
He’ll remain a rogue all his life, whiskey and the road , shall be his
wife”
Whether or not this song for you, represents the
rebel, the outlaw, or just the class clown, “The Jester” is an absolutely
happening song, and one that Ken Bruen, The Mc Court Brothers, or Brendan
O’Carroll would definitely relate to, and yet another amazing melody on a
phenomenal CD that is almost all originals, written by The Mickey Finns. (The
three instrumentals are the only covers on the entire CD). Really, you can’t
get much better than that.
If that wasn’t crack-a-lackin’ enough for you, from
the jubilant mirth of “The Jester”, we’re given more brilliant gypsy
harmony that calls us to the road and the wanderers path, beyond the
suffocating confines of city life and suburbia, “Dark Roll Down The Dawn” is
one of a hell raiser and is destined to raise the roof where ever the mighty
Mickey Finns take the stage.
But truthfully, the last ballad of this album, “The
Ballad of Duffy’s Cut”, really must be the best song the Mickey Finns have
written yet. And next to their equally great ballad “Tanks and Barbed Wire”,
probably one of their most seriously heavy duty ballads, hands down. Telling
the tragic true story of fifty-seven Donegal, Tyrone, and Derry natives, who
emigrated in 1832 to work for railroad contractor, Phillip Duffy, near Malvern,
Pennsylvania, and in less than two months, all of these hardworking sons of
Ireland were all to die in disputed circumstances, most of them to be buried in
mass graves, one account that they died of a cholera pandemic, while others say
that they were massacred by Protestant nativists. Recent excavations and
research has shown forensic evidence that more than a few of these 57 workers,
were indeed murdered, by gunshot, and blunt force trauma, to the head.
Additionally, many of those buried in unmarked mass graves, died due to the
refusal of anti-Irish nativist locals , to allow them proper medical care:
“You’d thought you’d be in heaven, where the streets
are paved with gold,
But you found yourself on a railway line, digging
ditches in the cold...
There were 57 men, and 57 dreams
And 57 bodies in the ground, from evil schemes..”
A better song, in my opinion, by far, than the Willy
Page “Duffys Cut” song that Christy Moore and others have covered, its also the
best ballad on the tragedy of immigration and xenophobia, ever written. Fair
play to the Mickey Finns, who can party hard and than get dead serious with
you, and who’ve created one of the finest Irish Rock n’ Roll albums that I have
ever heard. And believe me, I’ve heard many !
-- Rory
Dub., Radio Rebel Gael
