PASSAGE WEST:

I have been living in the town of Passage West, County Cork for about 11 years now and about a year or so ago, an approach was made to me by a member of the local community who walked up to me in the street, pressed a book into my hand, and said, “John, would you ever write a song for Passage?”

Well, I was delighted with this approach, and gave him the standard reply:  “You’ve come to the right place, Walty boy.” “Congratulations!. Welcome to the Hit Factory!”

And then I sat down and wrote this song, a new ballad called “Passage West”! Hope you like it.

PASSAGE WEST
(Words & Music by John Spillane)

I met my love in Passage west
The sun was sinking down to rest
The river to the stars confessed
‘Twas the dark haired woman I loved best

We wandered down by the Chapel Square
And there was magic in the air
And Mother Nature gently pressed
The burning river to her breast

I offered her a golden ring
My hand, my heart and everything
I offered her a sweet love nest
By the flowing banks of Passage West

Oh, love, will you go, will you go, will you go?
Or, love, will you stay, will you stay, will you stay?
Oh, love, will you go, will you go, will you go?
Or, love, will you stay, will you stay, will you stay?

We watched the ferry come and go
We watched the river ebb and flow
The tide breathe in, the tide breathe out
We watched the Passage flowers grow

The ghostly forms of the hungry years
In sad procession did appear
With hope and sorrow made their way
For their passage west to Amerikay

Chorus

The famine queen stood tall and proud
On either bank the people bowed
From Passage West came a Fenian yell
Rule Brittania, rule in hell!

The grass grows green on the other side
And mighty ships sail out the tide
To far flung harbours across the sea
Far away from Passage, my love and me

Chorus

LOVERS LEAP:

Sometimes I play gigs in a place called the Lodge Bar outside Mallow in North Cork. Down behind the Lodge flows the river Blackwater, and there is a beautiful place on the river there, a great cliff, all covered with trees, and a small cave down at the bottom of it, and the river Blackwater flowing quietly by. And the beach and the trees and the horses in the field.

Anyway, I was playing there last winter and was talking to one of the locals, and I said, “Only that t’is dark now, Robbie, I would have gone for a walk down by that beautiful place by the river.”

He replied, “Lovers Leap!”

I said, “What?”

He said, “Lovers Leap! About a hundred years ago in the town of Mallow, a boy and a girl fell in love, but they were Catholic and Protestant, and were not allowed to get married. So, they took themselves down to that place by the river there, and drowned themselves in the river Blackwater. And ever since, the place has been known locally as Lovers Leap.”

I said, “Oh my God, what a story! I’m gonna’ write a song about it!”

And then I sat down and wrote this song. It’s not exactly a laugh-a-minute of a song, like, of course, being all about suicide drowning in the river Blackwater, in North Cork. But I hope you like it.

LOVERS LEAP
(Words & Music by John Spillane)

About a mile from Mallow Town
There is a place called Lover’s Leap
A beauty spot of great renown
A jagged rock that rises steep
A lonely cliff above the deep Blackwater

The gentry planted all these trees
The oak, the beech and the lonely pine
And courting couples often please
To wander there and take their time
And breathe the beauty by the shining river

About a hundred years ago
Or so the local people tell
Under a weight of great sorrow
A handsome courting couple fell
To their doom inside the great Blackwater

Lover’s Leap
Forever in endless peace
Together in blissful peace

A Catholic and Protestant
Had fallen for each other’s charms
Their families would not consent
They fled and sought each other’s arms
They sought each other’s arms and fled
And dived into their marriage bed
Inside the cold Blackwater

They reached the rocky height that night
One last kiss one last embrace
They cried and held each other tight
Then stepping into endless space
They wandered out into the air
And left this earth for ever more
And reached the sad Blackwater

Their bodies wrapped in endless night
Their souls sailed on into the bright
Encircling stars and the caring moon
The sun shone down upon their love
From heaven’s branches high above the great Blackwater

Chorus

The priest he offered up the host
The river offered up the moon
And Jesus wept to see his name
Divided in a crazy game
And Mary sent an angel down
Who wandered on through Mallow Town
And reached the sad Blackwater

Chorus

THE DANCE OF THE CHERRY TREES:

This is a song I wrote about the cherry blossom trees, who do the business on the streets of Cork in the springtime of the year.

I was being interviewed about it on the local radio by DJ Neil Prendeville, and he said to me, he said, ‘That’s a beautiful song you wrote about the cherry trees, John! You even have the trees talking, like! But come here! What were you on when you wrote it?”

Quick as a whip I replied, “I was on the bus to Passage West, Neil!”

I gave myself ten out of ten for that!

Fair play to me! Fair play to us all!

THE DANCE OF THE CHERRY TREES
(Words & Music by John Spillane)

Let me tell ya ‘bout the cherry trees
Every April in our town
They put on the most outrageous clothes
And they sing and they dance around.

Hardly anybody sings or dances
Hardly anybody dances or sings
In this town that I call my own
You have to hand it to the cherry trees
And they seem to be saying, to me anyway

“You know we’ve traveled all around the sun
You know it’s taken us one whole year
Well done, everyone, well done.”
On behalf of me and the Cherry trees,
WELL DONE! - Well done, everyone!

Cherry blossom in the air
Cherry blossom on the street
Cherry blossom in your hair
And a blossom at your feet

Chorus

You know me, sometimes I think I’m getting old
Not as young as I used to be
So it means even more to me
To see the dance of the cherry trees
And they seem to be saying, is it only to me?

Chorus

Unbelievable! I GOT IT!

There was a convention in Kansas City of all the Irish Festivals in America - 80 delegates from 24 different festivals. There was a great night of music there in the Boulevard Brewery, and performances by McPEAKE from Belfast, RAWLINS CROSS from Nova Scotia, THE ELDERS from Kansas, and ME!

They presented me with the award just before my gig. Well, I was delighted! It was a great honour to accept this award, a beautiful piece of workmanship, a Cetic Cross carved in wood with a map of Ireland fashioned from Conamara marble, with two hidden compartments, contained musical medals and medallions! I’ll try to put up a picture here, like!

ANYWAY - HAPPY DAYS IN THE HIT FACTORY - ANOTHER BALL IN THE BACK OF THE NET!

THANKS A MILLION TO THE IRISH MUSIC ASSOCIATION in America, and to everyone who voted for me.

And a special thanks to all at the KANSAS CITY IRISH FEST!

Thanks lads,
John.

I started with the biggest gig of my life (so far) when I had the great honour of singing the Irish National Anthem, Amhrån na bhFiann, in the middle of the pitch at the compromise rules game between Ireland and Australia.

There were 35,000 people at the game, with many millions more watching on TV in Ireland, Australia and around the world.

Well I have to say I was really frightened. My poor heart was beating in my breast like a little bird trapped in a cage. I ran through the song about a million times in the days running up to it, but was still afraid that I would for some irrational reason, forget the words in the middle of it and mess up the whole thing. Anyway to cut a long story short, i did a good ol’ job of it in the end, I sang it out fine and strong! My old Gaelic being very respectable and all! And when it came to the end I raised it up and hurled the final line of the song up and out across the pitch like a big bolt of thunder, driving the crowd wild and spurring my country on to VICTORY! Yes we won the game! Fair play to us!

Had a great gig in the Clifton Hill Hotel in Melbourne!

Played two nights in the Irish Club in Mount Isa, the Capital of the Outback, a wild and desolate spot in the burning desert, with open cast mines, huge slag heaps, and smouldering piles of industrial mining equipment  - like something from a Mad Max movie, or Apocolypse Now. Very interesting place with many colorful and unusual characters - the biggest Irish Club in Australia. We were very well treated there.

I’ve been on the road with Fran Daly and Steve Lawler of Troubadour Music, Australia, who have put together an excellent tour, and we have had a good laugh.

Had a cracking gig in the Harp Bar in Sydney last night!

Off to Melbourne tomorrow to play the Spiegeltent, a double bill with Shane Howard, then me and Shane are gonna write and record a new song together, then I’m off to an Indiginous Music Festival called Tarrera. Can’t wait for that, to meet and play with the likes of Archie Roche and other great Aboriginal musicians.

Happy Days in the Hit Factory!

So Far So Good!

Rock On, Lads!

All the Best For Now!

John Spillane!
(Down Under)

Here is another great musical experience I had lately.

I am recording an album of Best Loved Gaelic Songs We Learned (Or Didn’t Learn) at School. I know people outside Ireland will not get this, like, but here are some of the songs I am talking about:

Oró Sé do Bheatha Abhaile
Báidín Fheilimí
Trasna na dTonnta
An Poc ar Buile
Cill Chais
Óró Mo Bháidín

Anyway, I decided to record a new version of An Poc Ar Buile (The Mad Puck Goat), a hilarious romp of a song. The original version was recorded in 1965 by Seán Ó Riada, Seán Ó Sé and Ceoltóirí Chualann and was a big hit at the time.

Anyway, I approached Seán Ó Sé, now in his mid seventies but still singing great, and had the nerve to ask him would he do a duet with me on it and he agreed. Then I asked Peadar Ó Riada to play the piano on it. It was his father the great composer Seán Ó Riada (RIP)who played on the original. Then I got Mel Mercier to play Bodhrán and Bones on it, as it was his father Peadar Mercier who played on the original as well.

Anyway, we all got together in Tony O’Flaherty’s studio in Killarney and recorded a cracking version of the song!  It was a brilliant musical event!

Seán Ó Sé was kind of handing me the torch which is the Poc Ar Buile!

Happy Days in the Hit Factory!

Another Ball in the Back of the Net!

John Spillane

Anyway … Christy Moore, the great Irish folk singer, got on to me and was really into the song, said it moved him deeply, and asked if I would be comfortable with him singing it. Well, I said, it would be a great honour for me and for my family if he sang that song.

Well, I invited Christy to visit the place and we met in the Colomane Bar and went up to visit the farm. We were met by three generations of women and had a lovely visit to the farmhouse. We had high tea. Then Aunty Mary played some tunes on the fiddle - “The Red River Valley”, some Waltzes and a Slide — then I sang Gortatagort in the kitchen at Gortatagort with the clock ticking away time on the wall. Then Aunty Chrissie cried inconsolably; then Christy Moore sang the Cliffs of Dooneen. Then I took Christy on a walk around the farm and showed him all the places in the song. It was a really lovely day.

Great excitement being in touch with Christy about this song. He really studied it deeply and was living and breathing it, walking around inside in my song. I love it.

This is the third song of mine that Christy Moore has done, the first two being “Johnny Don’t Go To Ballincollig” and “Magic Nights in the Lobby Bar”.

Happy days in the Hit Factory. Another ball in the back of the net!

Delighted!

John Spillane

Well now …

October 2007 and I have just returned from a 12 day MUSICAL VISIT to
SENEGAL, WEST AFRICA.

I was invited by TG4, Ireland’s Irish Language (Gaelic) TV station, to take part in a new TV series called CEOLCHUAIRT (Musical Visit).

They are sending various Irish musicians to different countries around the world to play music with, interact, and learn from local musicians.

We landed in DAKAR on October 11th, in intense heat. DAKAR is Senegal’s capital, and it is a bustling, very colourful, buzzing city full of the most beautiful people on earth, sheep, cattle, overcrowded multi-coloured buses and trucks, children everywhere.

It was the last day of Ramadan, and we were celebrating the festival of Korité. Well first I was presented with my BOOBOO, African dress, and then off to the Mosque with my new friend SOULEYMAN, and his sons, to take part in the chanting, prayers, and to listen to the Korité speech of the IMAM. Then we slaughtered a sheep in the back garden, cooked and ate it, while I visited with SOULEYMAN’S family, his 3 wives and various children.

That afternoon I played some of my own songs with a group of Guinean Drummers and Musicians, and sang songs with some of the kids of DAKAR.

Next day we visited well known SENEGALESE singer CHEIKH LO, a member of the BAYE FALL Brotherhood, Cheikh sports the long dreadlocks and huge belt that mark out that fraternity.

We played very well together and it just goes to show that music is a universal language!

Another day found us on the Isle de Goréé, the chief station for the deportation of slaves from West Africa to the Americas. A World Heritage Site and a museum to the appalling history of man’s inhumanity to man.

“If all the sea were ink, and all the sky were made of paper, There would not be enough ink or paper to write down the human suffering caused by the Slave Trade”

On Goréé I had the great pleasure of playing and singing with the great Fanta Mbacke Kouyaté, who had us all in tears with her rendition of a traditional song describing a family torn apart by the Slave Traders.

Our local musical guide Gabi Ba, a wonderful musician, took us up north to his home village of MBUMBA, where we experienced African village life, including the BAUDI LAMDA, gathering around the fire at night with crazy drumming and wrestling, also a visit to the GRIOTS OF PETET, local traditional musicians.

The trip culminated with a visit to the home of the great BAABA MAAL in PODOR. We were welcomed warmly by BAABA and I sang him a song I had written in his honour, in Irish, Gaelic and Pular. He rewarded me with a beautiful African painting, and then I played with BAABA and his band, including the great MANSOUR SECK, an African/ Irish mélange!

IT WAS BRILLIANT! WHAT A BUZZ!

Sincere thanks to TG4, Magamedia in an Spidéal, Paddy, Laura, Colm and Réamoinn.

HAPPY DAYS IN THE HIT FACTORY!

ROCK ON!

John Spillane