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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    • ^
    • v
    Brendan, somehow I missed this sad news. I was raised on the "Hearty and Hellish" album, and "The Boys Won't Leave the Girls Alone." What great part-sing The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem were. Genuine musicians, all of them. Must go put on a DVD now.
    • ^
    • v
    Sad news indeed. Luckily, there's plenty of Tommy and the boys on youtube!
    • ^
    • v
    Growing up Catholic in Philly the only thing I knew about Irish music was Ruby Murray and "If You're Irish Step into the Parlour". My friends and I, and by some trick of ethnography we were all of mostly Irish blood, somehow discovered the Clancys and Tommy Makem in our college days, and we played those albums to shreds.
    • ^
    • v
    Thanks for writing about Tommy Makem. He's not familiar to me, so your tribute is for me an introduction: his music survives.
    There's lots of Irish in my family but my parents didn't appreciate the music. Perhaps because their parents sang old Irish songs often.
    • ^
    • v
    There is an immense amount of Tommy Makem, with and without the Clancys, available on YouTube, Most notable of the solo clips are a photo montage of Tommy set to his singing of Four Green Fields, a piece that includes an interview with Tommy about singing Four Green Fields on the Bogside in July of 1969, and a version of Roddy McCorley. The best stuff with the Clancys are a series of clips all apparently from the reunion concert at Lincoln Center in the 80s, including The Irish Rover, The Wild Rover, and a terrific Brennan on the Moor, at the end of which there's a wonderful expression on Tommy's face as if he can't quite believe what he's just done himself. (The rest of us were never surprised at what you could do, Tommy, after the first time we heard you. Rest well.)
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