I love Irish music, everything from Tin Pan Alley ("Peggy O'Neill," "My Wild Irish Rose," "When Irish Eyes Are Smilin'," etc.), to George M. Cohan, "Harrigan," "For It Was Mary,", to Hollywood, "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ra," to McCartney's "Give Ireland Back to the Irish," to "The Londonderry Air" (Danny Boy), to real Irish folk, "By the Risin' of the Moon," "Ach, Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye," (and more authentic Irish folk that I'm sure Rubrick could point us to), and more commercial Irish folk acts like The Cheiftains and The Clancy Brothers, to the new Irish folk-rock sounds of Blackthorne and Tempest (if you ain't heard Tempest's Surfing to Mecca CD, buy it tonight!.."Take You to the Well" a great song on it that I do).
And without getting a chance to put a set or two of Irish tunes out in public or casual company, it just doesn't seem like St. Patrick's Day for me!
And, so, I thought a good topic for some common ground Irish discussion from Oz to the Emerald Isle, and all stops beyond and between, would be "The Wild Colonial Boy," and the story behind it. From my own USn perspective...I love the song, I know the basic story behind it (and it's Irish-Australian tradition)...but, here, it's also the theme song for John Ford's brilliant movie, "The Quiet Man," (with John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Victor McLaglen, and Barry Fitzgerald), a movie that is as much a part of the St. Patrick's Day tradition with me as, say, Alistair Sim's "A Christmas Carol" is for Christmas...if we don't watch "The Quiet Man" in early March it just doesn't seem like St. Patrick's Day...the movie always stays fresh, too; never get tired of seeing it! But, again, there's "The Wild Colonial Boy" threading it all together. So maybe we can hear some of the Aussie (and Zildian), Irish, Brit, other Usn, and other takes on the story of the song?...and why not on "The Quiet Man" and Irish Music, too! Tomorrow, my favorite St. Patrick's Day party story (hint: I was living in New York City, and it started at 10:30 am and lasted till 3 the next morning).