I remember the Clancys as the band that introduced me to Irish ballads when I was around 4 or 5. My elder brothers had loads of their records and I was always listening to them when they were out. First time I heard 'Blackwaterside' it was Liam Clancy singing it. I know it's cooler to say that you first heard it from Bert Jansch or Maggie Barry or Anne Briggs but there you go. I was never cool. I wouldn't be doing this if I was.

I finally saw them in 1985 at Cambridge on their reunion tour and they were bloody brilliant. The Pogues were on the same bill and the Clancys wiped their arses with them. Quite moving and emotional to finally hear them in the flesh.

Of course, they all originally went to America to become actors and that explains quite a lot about the act. This was only a few years after 'The Quiet Man' and being Irish in America was starting to get trendy. Hence the Aran jumpers. Yes, it was an act but no more so than the Waterboys tying bandanas round their necks or Van Morrison suddenly deciding he was a traditional singer.

No, they were great and they blazed a trail for a lot of people who came after them. Fair play.