The trip to Cooleycall

There are few placenames that have a more poetic ring than Cooleycall. Cooleycall is near Bridgetown,Co. Wexford and it boasts a recording studio. What a setting for a nice relaxed afternoon of music.

In or around 1983 Phil Murphy dropped me a line saying he had booked Cooleycall for a recording session.He said he would come to Athlone for a rehearsal as he had a whistler who wanted me to back a tune on the tape.

Bhi go maith agus ni raibh go holc,they duly arrived and I was introduced to Sean White.
After the tea and biscuit I said "Well, get your instrument and we'll make a start". They looked at me in amazement. Of course I had assumed that by "whistler"they meant-tin whistle player-. What a shock! NO! Sean White was the all-Ireland whistling champion,as in whistling with his mouth/lips. You could have knocked me down with a feather.
The problem with whistling a tune was that it was in a slightly different key each time-so-a nightmare for a not-so -hot guitarist.

We arrived at Cooleycall early on a Saturday morning and Phil Murphy went to the boot of his car and introduced a bottle of whiskey to calm the nerves and start the day on a jolly note. The recording started and things were going well.Phil,John and Pips were very well rehearsed so no problem there. The first track was being played back when someone noticed a strange sound in the mix.Roof windows had been wide open and a bloody crow was picked up by the sensitive microphones.So we had to endure the heat for the rest of the day.

I've just played the tape and it has stood the test of time.
Phil,John and Pips Murphy played mouth organs as only they could do.
Sean Stafford,Pips father in law,played accordion. Sean White whistled.Leo Carthy sang two songsand Pip's wife,Catherine, sang "The Fairy Boy".
Joe Monaghan sang "Gallipoli"and I sang"The Bonny Irish Maid",a song Phil Callery and myself had cobbled together from various sources.I think Phil came up with most of the song.

We played in Loftus Hall that night and drank success to "Traditional Music and Song from South Wexford"
Someone should convert it to C.D. format and re-issue it without delay.


The Bonny Irish Maid


As I roved out one morning fair,so early as I strayed
It being all in the month of June,the birds sang in the shade
The sun shone down right merrily,and the water did gently glide
Where Primroses and Daisies grow down by Blackwater side


I had not gone but half an hour when there by chance I spied
Two lovers talking as they walked down by Blackwater side
And as he embraced her in his arms these words to her he said
When I'm in America I'll be true to my Bonny Irish Maid


Oh when you're in America the Yankee girls you'll find
And you'll have sweethearts of your own, more pleasing to your mind
But do not forget the promises and the vows to me you made
Oh stay at home and do not roam from your Bonny Irish Maid


When I'm in America the Yankee girls I'll see
But they must be very handsome to remind me love of thee
For there's not a flower in yonder grove or a bloom in yonder glade
That can remind me love of you my Bonny Irish Maid



There's manys the foolish youth she said that has gone to a distant shore
Leaving his own true love behind,perhaps to see no more
It's in crossing of the Atlantic's waves sometimes their graves are made
So stay at home and do not roam from your Bonny Irish Maid



And then these sweethearts together so fondly did embrace
Like honey drops upon the dew the tears ran down her face
Saying there's not a day while you're away but I'll visit still these glades
Until you do return again to your Bonny Irish Maid.