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Catch the Wind
Lyrics by Scottish musician, songwriter, and record producer Donovan Phillips Leitch who has made Ireland his home for almost 40 years.
In memory of the days when real meaningful lyrics were written.
In the chilly hours and minutes of uncertainty,
I want to be in the warm hold of your loving mind,
To feel you all around me,
And to take your hand along the sand.
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind.
When sundown pales the sky,
I want to hide a while behind your smile,
And everywhere I’d look, your eyes I’d find.
For me to love you now, would be the sweetest thing.
T’would make me sing.
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind.
When rain has hung the leaves with tears,
I want you near, to kill my fears.
To help me to leave all my blues behind.
For standing in your heart is where I want to be,
And long to be.
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind.
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind.
End.
Multi award winning American singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn, who sadly passed away in her sleep, aged 90 years, at her home in Hurricane Mills, Humphreys County, Tennessee, United States, on October 4th, 2022, last; was buried on her Hurricane Mills ranch, beside her husband, Oliver Lynn, on October 7th, 2022.
Music tastes change as we age, with our teenage years consumed by more intense music, while our later early adulthood years, are inclined to seek out more contemporary tones, as we begin to search for closer relationships.
Perhaps today, younger Irish women fail to recognize fully, how Loretta Lynn, through her 160 songs, 60 albums and 16 No. 1 singles, established herself as an advocate for ordinary working-class women, often criticising upper-class feminism for ignoring the needs and concerns of the former.
In rejecting being labelled a feminist, she declared “I’m not a big fan of women’s liberation, but maybe it will help women stand up for the respect they’re due.”
At the height of her popularity, some of her songs were banned from radio airplay. Much of her chosen music discussed and highlighted many women’s issues; e.g. “Harper Valley P.T.A” (written by Tom T. Hall), “The Pill” (latter written by Lorene Allen, Don McHan, T. D. Bayless, and Loretta Lynn and banned on the radio) “One’s on the Way” (written by Shel Silverstein) “You Ain’t Woman Enough” (written by Loretta Lynn) and “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin‘ (written by Loretta Lynn and her sister Peggy Sue Wright)
The song “Dear Uncle Sam“, written by Loretta Lynn and released in 1966, during the Vietnam War, describes a wife’s anguish at the loss of a husband killed in war. It was later included in her live performances during the Iraq War.
Dear Uncle Sam.
[The name Uncle Sam remains a popular symbol of the U.S. government in American culture and a manifestation of patriotic emotion.]
Dear Uncle Sam I know you’re a busy man,
And tonight I write to you through tears with a trembling hand.
My darling answered when he got that call from you.
You said you really need him, but you don’t need him like I do.
Don’t misunderstand, I know he’s fighting for our land.
I really love my country, but I also love my man.
He proudly wears the colours of the old red white and blue,
While I wear a heartache, since he left me for you.
Dear Uncle Sam I just got your telegram.
And I can’t believe that this is me shaking like I am.
“For it said I’m sorry to inform you………”
Loretta Lynn always insisted that her music had no specific politics, rather an emphasis on what she believed to be morally right.
Proof, if proof was needed, she allowed ‘People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ (PETA) to freely use her song “I Wanna Be Free”, in a public service campaign to discourage the chaining of dogs outdoors, especially in winter weather conditions.
Not surprisingly, each of her songs that were banned, became chart toppers.
In ár gcroíthe go deo.
It was with great regret, today, that “Rock n’ Roll” followers learned of the death of possibly the world’s most influential pianists of the 20th century; Mr Jerry Lee Lewis.
Nicknamed ‘The Killer’; the American singer, songwriter, and pianist was born on September 29th, 1935 and came to be described as “Rock n’ Roll’s” first great wild man of Rock Music.
Lewis was born to parents Elmo Kidd Lewis (Senior) and Mary (Mamie) Herron Lewis, in Ferriday, Louisiana, and grew up a member of an impoverished farming family.
In his youth, he began playing the piano with two of his cousins, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart.
His parents mortgaged their farm to buy him his first piano, before his mother enrolled him at the Southwest Bible Institute in Waxahachie, Texas, in the hope he would sing evangelical songs exclusively.
When Lewis dared to play a boogie-woogie rendition of “My God Is Real” at a church assembly, it ended his association with the school the next morning, when the Dean of the school called Lewis into his office and expelled him.
He returned home and so began his career playing at clubs in and around Ferriday and Natchez, Mississippi; quickly becoming part of the new era Rock n’ Roll sound.
When Jerry Lee Lewis was 16 years old, he first married Ms Dorothy Barton, the daughter of a preacher.
His second marriage was in September 1953, to Jane Mitchum.
His career faltered somewhat, following his marriage to his 3rd wife, Ms Myra Gale Brown, his 13-year-old cousin, once removed. Lewis was aged 22 at the time and claimed Myra was actually 15 years old. Nevertheless, this publicity caused an uproar, and his tour was cancelled after only three concerts.
Lewis’s piano style had become synonymous with rock and roll; often played with his fists, elbows, feet, and his backside, often climbing on top of his piano during gigs.
His fourth marriage was to Jaren Elizabeth Gunn Pate.
His fifth marriage was to Shawn Stephens, and same lasted only 77 days. His sixth marriage was to Kerrie McCarver, with same lasting a total of 21 years
In 1993, Lewis moved to live in Foxrock, Co. Dublin, with his family in what was suggested to be a move to avoid issues he was having with the American Internal Revenue Service.
Lewis married his seventh wife Judith Lewis (née Brown, the ex-wife of the brother of his 3rd wife Myra Gale Brown)
These seven marriages during his career included bigamous marriages (still legally married to someone else) and resulted in his fathering of 6 children.
However, following the uproar caused by his 3rd marriage, his career would ignited once again in the late 1960s and 1970s, when he topped the country-western charts, with 30 songs reaching the Top 10 on the Billboard Country and Western Chart, including “To Make Love Sweeter for You”; “There Must Be More to Love Than This” and “Would You Take Another Chance on Me”, all hitting the No.1 spot.
Winner of four Grammy Awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and two Grammy Hall of Fame Awards; Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
He sadly died today, October 28th, 2022, at his home in DeSoto County, Mississippi, US, aged 87 years.
In ár gcroíthe go deo.
“Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover”, written By Stephen Hamilton, is the latest new single from that very talented Tipperary vocalist Ms Molly O’Connell.
The fast rising Co. Tipperary country singing star, began singing on stage first at the age of 6 years; winning her first Munster Final Fleadh at the tender age of 8 years and her first All-Ireland in Scór at the age of 14 years.
She has continued to wow audiences over the years, with her renditions of Country, Folk, Ballad and Traditional songs.
Molly hails from Kilcommon village, Thurles, County Tipperary and developed her passion of performing, from her now sadly deceased father Denis, who played the button accordion and sang in a well-known band, “The Mellow Tones.”
The youngest daughter of a family of five siblings; music and song were an integral part of “The O’Connell Family”, and growing up in such a musical home enabled her to become familiar with all the songs performed by the greatest and most famous of all time Country Singers.
“Boxty on the griddle, Boxty in your pan, if you can’t make good Boxty, sure you’ll never get a man,” ~ Old Irish aphorism.
Boxty
Boxty; pronounced ‘bacstaí,’ was also known as ‘arán bocht tí,’, (Irish meaning ~ “poor-house bread”), or cáca bacstaí (Irish meaning ~ “boxty cake,”), same a traditional Irish potato pancake dish.
The dish is mostly associated with the North West and Midlands of Ireland.
Colcannon
Colcannon; (Irish: ‘cál ceannann,’, meaning “white-headed cabbage”), is a traditional Irish dish made up of mashed potatoes mixed with cabbage or kale.
A now dying Irish Halloween tradition, was to serve colcannon with a ring, hidden in the mix; superstition declaring that whoever found it, was next to marry; or a hidden thimble, meaning you would remain a spinster for the coming year.
Other hidden prizes included small coins, such as a threepenny bit or a sixpenny bit; both indicating good fortune or you were about to come into sudden wealth.
Other items could also include a small stick indicating unhappiness in future marriage, or a small piece of rag denoting future poverty.
Suffice is to say that both dishes warranted the writing of songs in praise of the distinctive taste and delightful flavour of both Irish dishes.
‘Little Skillet Pot’ or ‘Colcannon’.
Written by Sean Nolan.
Well did you ever make colcannon
Made with lovely pickled cream,
With the greens & scallions mingled,
Like a pitcher in a dream.
Did you ever make a hole on top,
To hold the melting flake,
Or the creamy flavoured butter,
That our mother’s used to make.
Chorus:
Oh you did, so you did,
So did he and so did I.
And the more I think about it,
Sure the nearer I’m to cry.
Oh weren’t them the happy days,
When troubles we knew not.
And our mother made colcannon,
In the little skillet pot.
Well, did you ever take potato cake
And boxty to the school.
Tucked underneath your oxter,
With your books, your slate and rule.
And when teacher wasn’t looking,
Sure a great big bite you’d take,
Of the creamy flavoured soft and melting,
Sweet potato cake.
Repeat Chorus.
Well did you ever go a courting boys,
When the evening sun went down,
And the moon began a peeping,
From behind the Hill O’ Down.
And you wandered down the boreen,
Where the Clúrachán* was seen,
And you whispered loving praises,
To your own dear sweet cáilín*,
Repeat Chorus
End
* ‘Clúrachán’ ~ A mischievous fairy in Irish folklore.
* ‘Cáilín’ ~ girl.
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