A musical autobiographical obituary

Subject: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: chordstrangler
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 09:08 PM

Greetings to all Catters. I have suggested this thread because I find myself in a situation where I play my last public performance on St Paddy's Day which is just around the corner. It is my last public performance because unfortunately I find myself on the losing side of a 35-year battle with rhumathoid arthritis which means that I would prefer to quit rather than embark on a long slippery slide which would ultimately result in my musically embarassing myself any more than is necessary.

It has been a hell of a ride and I have enjoyed every minute of it. But there is a time to stop and, for me, this is it. So I have decided to end my final set with a musical autobiographical obituary. I'm putting it up here and would love to hear if any other Catters have found themselves in a similar position,

For the sake of those who live outside the area of the disUnited Kingdom's', the term BSA, refers to a British built motor-cycle. BSA stands for "Birmingham Small Arms". The motor-cycle in question was manufactured by an arms manufacturer which, in truth, was extremely apt and fitting.

That's because the motor-cycle they came up with was perhaps more effective at killing people than all the hardware they had produced before. I jest. They made good bikes, but lethal in the hands of young folksingers fuelled on controlled substances, lust, longing and and huge expectations. If you have ever ridden a raddled BSA down an Irish road laden with dope, lust and Guinness in the small hours of a morning, you will know what I mean!

Anyway....to the song, the title of which I stole from the late, great Harry Chapin.

THE LAST OF THE PROTEST SINGERS


I'm the last of the protest singers
I'm the last of the gallant band
Who over 30-year ago
took our guitars in hand
Because we called for Peace and Justice
and demanded an end to war
we put ourselves out of business
there's not good wars left anymore


It was easy in the fifties
when I was barely grown
and I cut my teeth on the Croppy Boy
and Sean South from Garryowen.
And I learned to whine like Dylan
and moan like Leonard Cohen
in dingy folk club basements
mouldy drunk and totally stoned.


So after seeing "Easy Rider"
I bought myself a BSA
and did wheelies around the Fermanagh roads
in my own peculiar way.
But recreational pharamecuticals
and motor-bikes don't mix
so I found myself most of the time
crawlin' out of a roadside ditch.


But when free lovin' came along
Man, it was good to be alive
for I only put on my trousers twice in 1965.
For I met with a Yankee beauty
as obliging as could be
to Tom and Dick and Harry and Joe
an' me and Bobby Magee
tra la la la la, to everybody
an' me and Bobby Magee.


Then wee girls in John Lennon glasses
and dressed in Army surplus clothes
fell victim to my passions
dreadful songs and deathly prose
But with my Japanese guitar
I struck the proper note
with my beard, long hair and sandals
bandy legs and an Afghan coat.


So for years I howled and gnashed my teeth
and vented all my spleen
on things I thought had happened
in lands I'd never seen.
And it didn't really matter
that I knew sweet damn all
for there was always the chance of the atom bomb
sailing over the Berlin Wall.


But now there's a gap in East Berlin
where the Wall it used to be
and the mealy-mouthed South Africans
have set Nelson Mandela free.
It's like being on the Titanic
and she's barely just afloat
when there's no more Commies left to hate
and the black man's got the vote.


So I'm the last of the protest singers
I'm the last of the gallant band
who over 30-years ago
took our guitars in hand.
But when I look back on my life
at its' triumphs, joys and tears
I've come to the conclusion
that I'm still crazy after all of these years
Yes, I'm still Crazy after All of These Years.


Mickey.

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 09:17 PM

Crazy Man! Even without the line breaks...

Find yourself an acolyte who can play for you. To turn the old saying round, if you can't bark, get yourself a dog that can.

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 10:48 PM

Mickey, I hope i got the line breaks right for you. Please let me know if I need to correct anything.

The summer Easy Rider came out, my older cousin rode his "Beezer" all the way from Virginia out to Colorado, so I was the pretty kewl kid who knew what a BSA was in our town. I am surprised he survived, then rode it all the way back! *bg*

I am sorry to hear that you are having to quit performing, but I can understand wanting to go out while you're still able. Thanks for sharing with us and all the best to you, with good thoughts for the next phase of your life,

kat

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 11:05 PM

Mickey, great song. I'll bet you rip it up in that last show, and I'd give an arm to be there and hoist a glass with you. A damn good thing we didn't know each other in them younger days...might not be around to fondly recall them!

LEJ

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: Willie-O
Date: 04 Mar 01 - 02:42 PM

More Brit motorcycle trivia: what are the three types of bikes Richard Thompson thinks "don't have the soul of a Vincent '52?"

There's one in the list I can't make out...

And good luck on yer final show and retirement. Good on yer for having been there and done it all with no regrets.

Best
Willie-O

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: Sorcha
Date: 04 Mar 01 - 03:25 PM

I understand about getting out before you embarass yourself and others, because I've played with them that didin't, but hell, man, Artur Itis doesn't affect your singing does it?

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: Amergin
Date: 04 Mar 01 - 03:35 PM

This has to be a heartbreaking time for you, Mickey....my heart goes out to you....if the time came where I could not write anymore...I'm not sure I could survive that....as it is I'm seriously thinking of quitting the cigarettes.....just to preserve what little singing ability I possess.....Take care, and here's a pint raised in your honour...

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: Art Thieme
Date: 04 Mar 01 - 04:04 PM

Mickey,

I definitely equate and empathize with your situation, After 20 years with MS being diagnosed as everything but that, I found real liberation in knowing what I had. My musical "gifts" had declined markedly--voice too. Being a solo for nearly 4 decades, I never did well with backing from others and needed to not do it any more. Friends and fans didn't/don't understand. But I can see that you do understand. And I understand you I'm pretty sure. If you need to "cybertalk" send me a personal message. Sure, it's a bitch---but on we go. There's always Mudcat as a place to share what little we have been priviledged to've learned.

Art Thieme Peru, Illinois

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 04 Mar 01 - 05:00 PM

Hi Mickey. Tough decision...but the RIGHT one. I echo what Art says...but let me throw one fly into the ointment. Perhaps you don't want to play IN THE SAME WAY that you have been. Consider that there may be some very positive options available to you. Options that don't involve lugging sound-systems and dealing with "dollars are the bottom line" folks. I don't know what your playing situations have been, but for many of us, trying to earn a buck meant a huge amount of neccessary compromise. I threw in the towel 14 years ago (at age 40) and decided to play only where folks "knew" what I was doin', and to teach, not only chords and notes, but what I'd learned from a lifetime's involvement with folk music. It's been worth it...in spades.

You obviously have, along with your vast experience, a great sense of humour and an invaluable take on the history of the "folk revival". Once you start "passing it on", you'll find a lot of folks who want to learn.

You're welcome to PM me, as well as Art, for a chat. Bet you've got a few stories!

Rick

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: Big Mick
Date: 04 Mar 01 - 08:34 PM

Mickey, (love that name......Grandma used to call me that!!)

I hope that I exhibit as much wisdom as you have shown us. I just hope that you aren't getting out too early. I loved the lyrics.......unfortunately I could relate to the whole damn thing. Thanks for reminding me.

Good luck on the next leg of the journey. Sure wish I could be there with ya..........but you may rest assured that I will toast you from the stage at my gig on St. Pat's.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: SINSULL
Date: 04 Mar 01 - 09:49 PM

But not before you sing this for us just once. And who were the "Famous Five"?

ENID BLYTON
Dear old Enid Blyton, I thought of you today
as I helped my eldest kid to put her books and toys away. For there upon the bookshelf, I could scarce believe my eyes were dozens of adventure books about your Famous Five. And it swept me backwards through the years for I had read them too and marvelled at their bravery and deeds of derring-do But nowadays its just as well that your'e not still alive to see what time and life have done unto your Famous Five.

Now Julian was the leader with a good staunch British heart he got a scholarship to Oxford where he studied rather hard. He took law and criminology until one fateful day he suddenly discovered that crime does really pay. So he opened massage parlours in Bradford, York and Leeds where fat old men and Swedish girls do foul and filthy deeds. Now he peddles dirty movies, plastic macs and whips and chains Oh Enid love I'm not surprised you hang your head in shame.

(alternate first verse to be sung with great caution)

Now Julian was the leader with a good staunch British heart He got a scholarship to Sandhurst where he studied mighty hard When he joined the British Army it wasn't hard to guess that he'd end up being commissioned into the SAS. When they sent him down to South Armagh, poor Julian was fooled for he didn't know the Paddies don't play Enid Blyton's rules. And when the smoke had cleared away, few remains were to be seen so they buried him in Amsterdam, New York and Aberdeen.

Georgina hated being a girl and that's why, I suppose she told everyone to call her "George" and dressed up in men's clothes. But in our youthful innocence in those far-off distant days we never realised that brave Georgina was a Gay. She came out of the closet when she met a girl named Jill who is now her live-in lover in a flat in Notting Hill And she says she's very happy, says its great to be alive the odds seemed much against it when she joined the Famous Five.

Now Anne, she was the quiet one who lived in mortal dread of smugglers and jewel thieves and foreigners with beards. Her nerves got taut as fiddle strings from all the stress and strain so they put her in a madhouse for the criminally insane. And Tim, the faithful terrier at last ran out of luck when he bared his teeth and argued with a forty-three-ton truck. Poor Tim found out the hard way what is meant by overdrive Farewell four-footed, furry, faithful, foolish,flattened, F........k'd up Phantom Famous Five.

Poor Dick could never settle after all the things he'd seen he was into booze and Evostick by the time he was thirteen. He had been dried out three dozen times when he reached twenty-two so he went off to South Africa like all the losers do. And I'm not surprised he's happy there, in fact it is his right. don't all the bad guys dress in black and the good guys dress in white. If he stays away from black wimmen and white rum, he might survive in that spirit of peace and freedom much beloved by Famous Five.

outro... For the Five stood for integrity, the Five fought the good fight in the days the bad guys dressed in black and the good guys dressed in white So Enid love its just as well that your'e not still alive to see what time and life has done unto your Famous Five.

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: SINSULL
Date: 04 Mar 01 - 09:58 PM

Tr again:

ENID BLYTON

Dear old Enid Blyton, I thought of you today
as I helped my eldest kid to put her books and toys away
For there upon the bookshelf, I could scarce believe my eyes
were dozens of adventure books about your Famous Five.
And it swept me backwards through the years for I had read them too
and marvelled at their bravery and deeds of derring-do
But nowadays its just as well that your'e not still alive
to see what time and life have done unto your Famous Five.

Now Julian was the leader with a good staunch British heart
he got a scholarship to Oxford where he studied rather hard.
He took law and criminology until one fateful day
he suddenly discovered that crime does really pay.
So he opened massage parlours in Bradford, York and Leeds
where fat old men and Swedish girls do foul and filthy deeds.
Now he peddles dirty movies, plastic macs and whips and chains
Oh Enid love I'm not surprised you hang your head in shame.

(alternate first verse to be sung with great caution)

Now Julian was the leader with a good staunch British heart
He got a scholarship to Sandhurst where he studied mighty hard
When he joined the British Army it wasn't hard to guess
that he'd end up being commissioned into the SAS.
When they sent him down to South Armagh, poor Julian was fooled
for he didn't know the Paddies don't play Enid Blyton's rules.
And when the smoke had cleared away, few remains were to be seen
so they buried him in Amsterdam, New York and Aberdeen.

Georgina hated being a girl and that's why, I suppose
she told everyone to call her "George" and dressed up in men's clothes.
But in our youthful innocence in those far-off distant days
we never realised that brave Georgina was a Gay.
She came out of the closet when she met a girl named Jill
who is now her live-in lover in a flat in Notting Hill
And she says she's very happy, says its great to be alive
the odds seemed much against it when she joined the Famous Five.

Now Anne, she was the quiet one who lived in mortal dread
of smugglers and jewel thieves and foreigners with beards.
Her nerves got taut as fiddle strings from all the stress and strain
so they put her in a madhouse for the criminally insane.
And Tim, the faithful terrier at last ran out of luck
when he bared his teeth and argued with a forty-three-ton truck.
Poor Tim found out the hard way what is meant by overdrive
Farewell four-footed, furry, faithful, foolish,flattened, F........k'd up Phantom Famous Five.

Poor Dick could never settle after all the things he'd seen
he was into booze and Evostick by the time he was thirteen.
He had been dried out three dozen times when he reached twenty-two
so he went off to South Africa like all the losers do.
And I'm not surprised he's happy there, in fact it is his right.
don't all the bad guys dress in black and the good guys dress in white.
If he stays away from black wimmen and white rum, he might survive
in that spirit of peace and freedom much beloved by Famous Five.

outro... For the Five stood for integrity, the Five fought the good fight
in the days the bad guys dressed in black and the good guys dressed in white
So Enid love its just as well that your'e not still alive
to see what time and life has done unto your Famous Five.

Hope I got it right this time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: Art Thieme
Date: 04 Mar 01 - 11:36 PM

SINSULL,

I've got the Monty Python documentary (A & E) on the TV behind me as I read your song. You've got me falling on the floor in stitches. And that's no good 'cause in my shape now I can't begin to get up. And that's making me laugh even harder. You've captured 90% of my posts here at Mudcat in your creation

And now they're singin', "I'm a lumberjack and I'm O.K...."

Ain't this life grand and hilarious in spite o' stuff hittin' the fan???

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: Night Owl
Date: 05 Mar 01 - 02:42 AM

Mickey,Art, Rick........some of us out here are HUNGRY to listen to you. I think lots of us read the "Walt" thread but didn't post to it because we didn't want to interrupt the wonderful flow of the conversation. AND....maybe some of the talented members here, thinking, wondering about launching careers in playing music would be interested in hearing how you each first began your careers, adventures, problems along the way..the humour....etc. Others of us with less talent, are JUST interested in hearing your perspectives, remembering, political climates of the times...it's part of the reason we hang out here...to listen/learn. I want to ask you guys to please continue parts of your discussion here in the forum, so we can listen in. Being selfish here I know, Mickey.....must be a tough, difficult time for you...transitions....

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: alison
Date: 05 Mar 01 - 02:47 AM

I think you are very brave in the decision you have made,it must have been a difficult decision ..... but as others have pointed out it doesn't have to be the end.. there are other ways to keep sharing your knowledge and skill....

I agree with what Night Owl just said you have lots to offer us........

I look forward to reading more

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Mar 01 - 09:28 AM

Please? Thank you, Night Owl, for asking for more...there are many of us who wold love to hear, please guys?

Thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: chordstrangler
Date: 05 Mar 01 - 05:34 PM

I have to say that I'm both delighted and touched by the response to the thread. A sincere thanks for all the concern and good wishes. It is sorta like attending my own funeral.

But far from being self-pitying, I have to admit that I'm secretly delighted that I have arrived at this point with the tattered remains of my musical dignity more of less intact. Like they say, when its' time to go, its' time to go.

A particular thanks to Rick and Art and to all of you who promised to celebrate St Paddy's Day and my imminent departure in a suitably rip-roaring alcoholic haze. It is comforting to know that the stage will be in good hands.

Thanks Kat for making sense – more or less – of the song. There are a couple of lines gone awry, so for the sake of accuracy, perhaps I will post the two damaged verses.

And when free lovin' came along
It was good to be alive
For I only put on my trousers twice
In nineteen Sixty-Five.
For I'd met with a Yankee beauty
As obliging as could be
To Tom and Dick and Harry and Joe
And me and Bobby Magee.
Tra la la la la la la to everybody
An' me and Bobby Magee.

And the other one……..

But now there's a gap in East Berlin
Where the wall it used to be
And the mealy-mouthed South Africans
Have set Nelson Mandela free.
Its' like being on the Titanic
And she's barely still afloat
When there's no more Commies left to hate
And the black man's got the vote

Sinsull, thanks for posting The Famous Five. That particular gang were the creation of British childrens' writer, Enid Blyton, a matronly harridan who wrote thousands of works involving horrible snotty middle-class children who spent their time luring ordinary decent criminals – smugglers, spies, secret agents and suchlike- to their doom in bottomless bogs or underground caverns before going home for afternoon tea. They truly were an obnoxious bunch and were the favoured reading of my generation and, sad to say, of later generations. I wrote the song to try to lighten an album which I thought was getting a bit too serious and heavy and, happily, it seemed to strike a common chord on this side of the pond.

I would be delighted, if other Catters wish, to take a ramble down memory lane with a bunch of you to talk of the early days. It would probably require the attentions of a bevy of eagle-eyed censors, but, what the Hell, I'm prepared to give it a shot if I find good company.

Like I said at the start of this thread, it has been a hell of a ride and I have enjoyed every minute of it – even the bad times were good. For the sake of those starting off down a similar road, can I give you a bit of encouragement that comes from my personal experience.

In a way it was the worst thing that could possibly happen, but then, in another way it wasn't. Let me explain.

I had the misfortune to write my most successful song first. It wasn't my best song by any stretch of the imagination, but for some reason it caught the public mood and took off like a runaway fire. Before I knew it, it had been recorded in Ireland, Britain, America, Australia, Germany, Austria, and even some poor lonesome sod up in Iceland took it on. Here I have to hang my head in embarrassed shame and admit to the fact that even James Last and his Orchestra took it to their hearts and put out an instrumental version.

The unfortunate fact was that I had to spend the rest of my songwriting life playing catch-up. I think that I made as good a job of it as I possibly could, but then again, who am I to judge.

But the fact remains that it is ordinary people like you and I who write the songs that can just every once in a while take off and change our lives. It might even end up as your pension plan.

Like we say – in bog latin –around here, "Nolle illegiti carborondum" which loosely translated means "Don't let the bastards grind you down". Keep writing the songs folks. When they work it makes everything worthwhile.

Mickey.

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: chordstrangler
Date: 05 Mar 01 - 05:36 PM

Hell, that looks terrible and I don't know how to fix it. I promise you, I was a lot better at music than I am at computers.

M.

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: gnu
Date: 05 Mar 01 - 05:47 PM

Kat said : Please? Thank you, Night Owl, for asking for more...there are many of us who wold love to hear, please guys?

Count me in !!!

gnu

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Mar 01 - 07:13 PM

Mickey, thanks for reposting those. Sorry I didn't get a couple of them right in the first batch. I've redone the line breaks for you; just changed your "bk" to a "br" at the end of each. Again, please let me know if I've mucked it up any.

Now, thank you SO much for sharing more with us and please carry on! No censors necessary at the Mudcat, you know. I've only one question, which may seem incredibly stupid or forward, please ignore it if you wish: May those of who don't know you have the name of your first song? Thank you.

Art, Rick and you others with grand tales and lots of experience, please join Mickey...we are all ears....:-)And, thanks to Night Owl for her gentle prompting.

luvyakat

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: chordstrangler
Date: 05 Mar 01 - 08:16 PM

Ahh, Kat, my gentle Guardian Angel. What would I do without you? Thanks yet once again.

The name of the song was "Only Our Rivers Run Free". I wrote it in about half an hour when I was a callow lad of 18-years old or so. That was back in 1965, so I will let you do your own mental arithmetic.

The strange thing was that the song was written at a time long before the first of the Civil Rights marches in the North of Ireland. Then when the whole place went to hell in a handbasket, the political climate changed.

Christy Moore recorded the song with a group called "Planxty" in 1971. Because of the changed political atmosphere, the song took on a life of its' own. It was soon regarded as an anthem of the dispossessed and has, by now, gone into the tradition - the greatest compliment any song can get.

The point I'm trying to make - badly - is that you can write something that grows "just like Topsy". People saw something in the song; it meant something to them that was not particularly in my mind when I first coined it.

It triggered off my songwriting life and I followed it up with a number of others which gained some minor international acclaim. The Tinkerman's Daughter - naked theft from the poetry of Sigerson Clifford - and a few others.

If it happened to me it can happen to anybody so it is important to keep writing.

Time to blush modestly and sign off.

Mickey

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: Big Mick
Date: 05 Mar 01 - 09:44 PM

Damn, Mickey!!!! That song is one of the most requested songs I do. Especially when they crowd includes a lot of ex-pat Irish folk. It is a marvelous bit of wordsmithery and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing it.

All the best,

Big Mick

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: mkebenn
Date: 05 Mar 01 - 11:05 PM

Now my refrain will forever change to "Art and Micky, WRITE THE BOOK".. Mike

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Mar 01 - 12:07 AM

Yeah, Mike!

Mickey, thank you so much for letting us know about your song and who you are! WOW! Anything I can do to further your postings here, I would be honoured and more than willing.

Your encouragement of others speaks well of your heart and experience and is greatly appreciated.

Now that we have got you started...Art, Rick, Sandy? More from you, Mickey?

What a wonderful thing the Mudcat is...new discoveries everyday!

luvyakat

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 06 Mar 01 - 09:12 AM

Best of luck for the 17th, Mickey. That Famous Five song had me in stitches.
Even if you're not playing in public after Paddy's Day you'll still be writing, won't you?

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: SINSULL
Date: 06 Mar 01 - 09:36 AM

Art,
So happy to see you rolling on the floor with glee. But I only posted chordstrangler's creation hoping it would inspire him to sing if not play. Your reaction proves me right. Arthritis or no, we need the old guy around here. I was watching Monty Python too. The German version of the lumberjack song had me in tears. I used to think that they were funny because they were British - the conflict between the staid stiff upper lip prototype and the hilarious clowns. Now I just think they're funny because they are.

chordstrangler - 56? and retiring? AND OLD??? Serve you right if you live to be 100. You are just coming into your prime. You are walking away just when the young girls find you attractive again. Foolish man.

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: Art Thieme
Date: 06 Mar 01 - 09:55 AM

Any book I do will most likely be taken from things posted here at Mudcat. It'll need a Boswell to run with the ball as I'm just not enough into anything I've done to even begin to think of a book. I was lucky to come along at a moment in folk history where there were people like ED Denson at Kicking Mule Records and Sandy Paton at Folk Legacy Records who came to me and asked that I make records for them. It was a time when record labels did that----like publishers and editors like Maxwell Perkins did that same sort of thing with Ernest Hemmingway, Scott Fitzgerald and especially THOMAS WOLFE-----not that I'd ever equate my doings with those writers. But I'd really like to thank Sandy and ED for doing that. I wasn't one to do it myself---especially back then. Now I'm disabled and did a recent CD myself to try to get some airplay. (None of the earlier things were on CDs---the only format played these days by mod folk DJs.)

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: Art Thieme
Date: 06 Mar 01 - 10:03 AM

I will be 60 in July. (Feel like 80 some of the time, but not when I'm listening to music by you folks.)

Art

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 06 Mar 01 - 02:15 PM

Holy shit! It's Mickey McConnell! One of my musical heroes! I'm very glad you asked me that.. Only our Rivers..and many more. Mickey please don't stop writing and singing. There are hundreds of musicians who would love to play backup for you in gigs or in the studio. At least, use session men for more albums. Please.

With admiration and affestion.

Seamus

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: Big Mick
Date: 07 Mar 01 - 12:09 AM

I am absolutely with my friend Seamus on this one, Mickey. If you can't play, please write and/or record. And please don't abandon The Mudcat. You have much to give and many of us are eager to have you do so.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 08 Mar 01 - 12:27 AM

Mickey, very few songwriters have the gift that you have. After I posted here last night, I went and took out your album with Do You Remember, The Man Who was The Boy, The Famous Five, Judy Garland, Red-Headed Ann, Peter Pan and Me, Sandcastles, Scarecrows and The Leaving Cert, and played it again. Every song is a gem! If you can't play guitar for physical reasons, please keep writing and recording. Your gift is too precious and important to be allowed to wither and die. I look forward to your next recording with anticipation. Respectfully yours.

Seamus Kennedy

Subject: RE: A musical autobiographical obituary
From: chordstrangler
Date: 08 Mar 01 - 09:16 PM

Dammit Seamus, take it a bit easy on the compliments! I'm a conceited enough git as it is without you making my already large head even larger. But thanks for the nice words about the album. I released another one - my second and last - about a month ago. It is on the same record label and should be available wherever you got the last one. It's called "Joined Up Writing" on the basis that when you can do joined up writing you are a big boy and have managed to crack part, at least, of the secret joinery of growing up. Thanks to all the rest of you Catters for the good wishes. Of course, just because I'm stopping playing in public doesn't mean that I have also stopped writing. I have equipped myself with a home studio in a spare room and intend to keep chasing the right one. That's the one I've heard in my head for years but never quite managed to capture. Mickey.