They Never Sing Dry

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30802, 14 July 1965, Page 7

They Never Sing Dry

(Specially written for “Th* Press’' by DON GRADY.) Four roisterous Irish folk singers, with pleasing Irish voices, are not aware of any great difference between singing songs about demon grog and acting Shakespearean plays. \ Most of the good writers, says Tommy Makem, the non Clancy member of the quartet go back to “the folk.” It is amazing, he says, how much folk music is in Shakespeare’s plays. Pat, Tom, and Liam Clancy, with Tommy Makem, were all professional actors, who acted “large chunks of Shakespeare,” in Ireland, England and the United States until they took up singing professionally.

“There seems to be more music in Ireland, than perhaps anywhere in the world,” said Liam Clancy. “In one family, you find they have a daughter who plays the fiddle —they like music around the house.

NEVER HUNGRY “You go around any town in Ireland and start singing in the street, and you would never go hungry.”

Liam recalls travelling around Dublin. Neither he, nor his brothers ever wanted for food, shelter or drink. They knew that if they got into town before 11.30 p.m. (pub closing time), they would never have to pay for anything. “We arrived one night going on 11.20,” he said. “The boys got up to some shenanigans. We did not have to order a drink.” Many a time the Clancy’s and Makem arrived at a pub, with five minutes to spare, with a banjo under their arms.

DRINKING SONGS Life for the Clancys seems like one big carousal, whether on or off the stage. Many of their songs are drinking songs.

Asked why so much singing revolved around alcohol, Pat Clancy countered with: “What singing doesn’t?” He sipped a scotch and water in a hotel before their single Christchurch concert and spoke of the extreme sophistication of New York Jewish audiences. On one proud occasion, the boys had 2000 fur-clad Jewish women chanting four-letter words to

provide them with a beat for their shanty. That could only happen in New York, he said. CLANCY PUB The Irish boys, as fine a quartet of Irish drinkers as have left Ireland, find it difficult to leave the booze alone. This particularly applies to Liam Clancy, who is half owner of a pub in Kilkenny, where the cats come from. Bobby, another Clancy brother, runs the pub. He sings there to attract customers while Liam sings on the stage to get some more capital for the pub. The Clancy brothers’ idea of a holiday is to stay in the Clancy pub. Such is the fame of their voices in Ireland that patrons converge on the bar from a radius of 50 miles. “She can be a wild town on a Saturday night,” said Liam. “Singing with drinking is good for the bank book in Ireland.”

Like many a son of the Emerald Isle, the Clancy’s and Makem, are not averse to turning a dollar, or even a British pound. The wonder of it all is that not one of the four has ever had any voice training. They just belt out Irish songs as they like ’em.