Go Raibh Maith Agat, Tommy
In the year of our Lord eighteen-hundred and six
we set sail from the cold quay of Cork
We were sailing away with a cargo of bricks
for the Grand City Hall in New York
The scene is a smoke filled room, men - old to my 3 year old eyes- stand around a pool table, whiskeys in hand, waiting their turn at the eight ball.
The women sit circled around a round glass table. There’s an idle dart board on one paneled wood wall.
In the background, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem rejoice over the words
I’m a weaver, a Calton weaver
I’m a rash and a roving blade
I’ve got silver in my pocket
And I follow the roving trade
Whiskey, whiskey, Nancy Whiskey
Whiskey, whiskey, Nancy-o
This is one of my earliest memories, and a scene repeated over and over again while my role changed over the years from child observer to one standing round the felt-top with a cue in hand. The constant was the music. Mostly the Clancy Brothers. Sometimes the Irish Rovers; there were others.
Music I’d always simply known as eternal. Music I loved then, and grew to love more as I passed it on to my children. The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.
Tommy Maken came to Amerikay as a young man determined to act in American cinema. A teetotaler (!) never afraid of work, he did what was necessary to survive as an aspiring actor must do. One dark and stormy night, he crashed into fate: he was asked to sing a few songs at a tavern. He did so and found he liked it.
Timing helped. He entered the scene a capable young man at a time when the music was hot.
But he was one of the best. Multi-instrumental, he could play what was needed. He had a deep sensitivity as both player and singer that translated. Audiences loved listening to him.
When he wept, you wept. When he laughed, you laughed. While he never considered himself a songwriter (and had a very low opinon of his own works) his “Four Green Fields” is one of the most beautiful laments ever written for the troubled country he came from.
What have I now, said the fine old woman
What have I now, this proud old woman did say
I have four green fields, one of them’s in bondage
In stranger’s hands, that tried to take it from me
But my sons had sons, as brave as were their fathers
My fourth green field will bloom once again said she
And let’s be real. Nobody could make a comical McScat like
ay-diddley-idelum-diddley-doodleyidelum-di-diddley-di-dddley-eye-ay
actually sound like lyrics.
He was a compelling stage presence. He was a raw, captivating singer, and whether live or on disc, always made you feel like you were sitting at the stage-side table. The lilt in his voice was a smile, so rare seen, so rare heard.
Alas, Tommy, we must share a parting glass, and say farewell and Godspeed to a great friend.
As he himself sang in “Tipperary So Far Away”:
In the kingdom of love may your deal soul rest
are the words we fervently pray
That we’ll all meet above, the old friends we love
In Tipperary so far away
He was born in Keady, County Armagh, on November 4, 1932.
He died Thursday, August 1, 2007 in Dover NH.
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