Obit: Liam Clancy RIP (1935-2009)

Subject: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST,A Ringer
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 12:37 PM

Sad to say, this is no hoax this time. Liam passed away in a Cork City hospital in Ireland at 1pm GMT today Friday 4th December 2009. His legend will live on through his music, writings and films. He is survived by his wife Kim, sons Eben and Dónal and a son in New York, whose name I don't know, daughters Áine, Siobhán and Fiona and his 7 grandchildren. RIP

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 12:51 PM

What a tremendous loss. Thank you for telling us.

Dan

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Folkiedave
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 12:55 PM

RIP. Great singer.

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 12:56 PM

how sad...

sympathies to his family, friends and fans.

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: olddude
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 12:59 PM

We lose all the greats
In my prayers Liam
thank you for the music

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Rabbi-Sol
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 01:06 PM

Truly of the the greats and perhaps the greatest Irish folk singer of all times. The end of an era.

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: gnu
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 01:06 PM

RIP... and thanks.

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Amos
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 01:11 PM

Gawd, what a light has gone out. Damn it.


A

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 01:13 PM

Devastated!

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Anne Lister
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 01:16 PM

So very sorry to hear this.

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: MartinRyan
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 01:20 PM

Confirmed, lest there be any doubt...

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: bgoodak
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 01:26 PM

May the bugles play the Last Post in chorus

Rest in peace

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 01:28 PM

I guess, due to my age, The Clancy Brothers I remember could not be here forever..... but such memories and music they left us with.

RIP all...........

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Amergin
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 01:30 PM

sigh...he's the reason I started listening to Irish music....another grand voice silenced.

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: ard mhacha
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 01:30 PM

Very sad news, a folk music legend,http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1204/clancyl.html

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 01:31 PM

Now there was a man who could sing. His recordings will live on to remind us. Celebrate what he gave.

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Alice
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 01:31 PM

Oh, this is sad news. Such a wonderful legacy. Rest in peace.


Alice

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: skarpi
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 01:54 PM

well this is the way we all go in the end of out time ....
RIP Liam , strange I was listen to Liam on youtupe just last night .

all the best Skarpi

Subject: RE: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: maeve
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 01:59 PM

He gave us many gifts; it is our task, of mingled joy and sorrow, to pass them along. Thank you.

maeve

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST,ajon
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 02:04 PM

the last and greatest link is gone farewell

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Maryrrf
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 02:05 PM

RIP Liam. I, like many others, came to 'discover' Irish music through the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. And I still love to listen to their recordings. I have some solo recordings by Liam that I treasure. He was a wonderful ballad singer, and a skilled entertainer. I remember how, at Milwaukee Irish Fest, he had thousands of us singing "Wild Mountain Thyme" together - it was a magical moment where we all felt like one big family. A great soul has passed on.

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Connacht Rambler
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 02:14 PM

Irish music has lost a great performer.

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Gavin Paterson
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 02:15 PM

Unfortunately my music tribute now has a sadder tone.

RIP, The Master.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwjxR6zxROY

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 02:16 PM

This is really sad. Thanks and may you find rest and peace.

kat

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST,Elmore
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 02:22 PM

Sad that he's gone.Glad to have seen him in concert many times.

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 02:53 PM

from RTE News (as linked above)

Liam Clancy dies aged 74
Friday, 4 December 2009 19:37

Legendary singer Liam Clancy has died aged 74.

The singer and musician was the last surviving member of the Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem, who were credited with bringing Irish traditional music to a world audience in the 1960s.

He died in hospital this afternoon, surrounded by his wife Kim and two of his children, daughters Siobhan and Fiona.

Mr Clancy had been ill for some time and was admitted to Bon Secours Hospital in Cork in recent weeks.

Born in Carrick on Suir, Liam Clancy was the youngest of 11 children.

As a young man he dreamed of life on the stage, but there was music in his blood too.

In his late teens he met and travelled Ireland with US song collector Diane Hamilton Guggenheim and eventually travelled to the US with her.

His brothers Paddy and Tom had emigrated before him - and along with renowned Armagh singer Tommy Makem - they began performing in New York.

With their trademark Aran jumpers - sent by Mrs Clancy to protect against the hard US winters - The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem played legendary venues such as the White Horse Tavern in New York.

They became international stars following a performance on the Ed Sullivan television show.

The band played a key role in the 60s folk revival - reworking traditional ballads for both an international and an Irish audience.

When the Clancy Brothers later went their separate ways, Liam pursued a solo career in Canada before reuniting with Tommy Makem to form the hugely popular duo Makem and Clancy.

The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem did play together again in the 1980s, and in later years Liam - by now living in Co Waterford - maintained a successful solo career.

The man that Bob Dylan called 'the best ballad singer I've ever heard' died in hospital in Cork early this afternoon.

He is survived by his wife Kim and four children.

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Severn
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 03:12 PM

I grew up on my oldest sister's Clancys records and saw them live many times. A favorite voice I still like to listen to. A great loss.

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: EnglishFolkfan
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 04:08 PM

Brothers in Song reunited

Reminders of living in late 50's Camden Town with Irish neighbours singing and records playing: Some of the music of my childhood.

Time to watch Folk Hibernia again.

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: kendall
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 04:30 PM

My Clancy Bros. LPs are even more precious now. RIP great one.

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: emjay
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 04:38 PM

So sad. It had begun to seem it would happen soon, but still so sad. I am thankful for all the recordings we have.

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 04:41 PM

Oh, shit.

Another of the greats gone.

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: artbrooks
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 05:25 PM

I'm another who was introduced to Irish music by the Clancys and Tommy Makem...and I just had one of their old albums on in the car. "Too bad" seems so very insufficient.

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 05:33 PM

I first heard the Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem through one of their first LP's, back in 1961. A young lady in a record shop in Tacoma, WA, was quite fond of them and had me listen. I had heard Irish music of various kinds, much of it the sentimental faux Irish "Hollywood" variety put out there by Pat O'Brien and others. The sheer energy and fun this group brought to their performances was astonishing and infectious. Before being singers, they were actors, after all.

If they were not doing much of their repetoire in the standard or historic Irish fashion - which was often much slower-paced and frequently sadder, they awakened an interest in the music of Ireland as no one had to that time. Along with the Chieftans, they came to represent The Emerald Isle to legions of people, many of whom had never heard from this treasure trove of song.

Years later I was able to learn more about these performers and, through Liam's writing, their lives before emigrating and the process that led them and others to the pinnacle of folk music in their time.
Now, all are gone. We are the sadder for it, but will always have the recorded joy they left for us. May God hold you - all of you - in the hollow of his hand.

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST,beachcomber
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 06:02 PM

No matter how expected, this news hits hard. When Liam was unable to attend a Gala showing of the documentary by Alan Gilsenan on his life in the local cinema (GSC Dungarvan, Co.Waterford) recently ,we began to worry in earnest.
God he lived life to the full as he readily admitted had he been "more careful" he might still be there to sing for us and weave his storytelling magic. But, sure he wouldn't have had half as good a life, would he ?
Heartfelt sympathy to his lovely wife Kim and to that marvellous musician, his son Donal.

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: EBarnacle
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 07:26 PM

This has been a very painful year. I hope he is the last we lose this year.

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Janie
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 08:00 PM

NPR's All Things Considered offered a nice retrospective and obituary this evening, and closed it by playing The Parting Glass

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 08:41 PM

Damn! All of them gone! But all that great music they left behind!!!

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 09:06 PM

Even though the sad news was not unexpected, it is still a wrench to hear that Liam Clancy has died. I adored his singing and the way he had of putting his heart and soul into every song that he sang, and into every line of poetry that he quoted. He had a wickedly funny sense of humour and was a wonderful storyteller as well.
I can't help smiling when I recall a marvellous impropmtu all-night session in in pub in Miltown Malbay, Co.Clare, many years ago, from which I emerged into the early morning with my ribs aching from laughing at his stories, and my soul enriched by his singing and musicianship. He lives on in the memories of all those whose lives he touched.
Hopefully he is now reunited with his brothers and Tommy Makem and singing up a storm in Heaven.
May he rest in peace. My heartfelt sympathy to his wife, children, and grandchildren on their sad loss.

Subject: Obit: Liam Clancy
From: GUEST,Bill Dunlap
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 09:39 PM

Liam Clancy, the last of the Clancy Brothers, died today at age 74. Here is the link to his obituary in the Irish Times.
Click here

Subject: RE: Obit: LIAM CLANCY RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 09:53 PM

Here is a link to the National Public Radio presentation (text and pictures, as well as a listening option).

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: BK Lick
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 12:56 AM

And here's a link to a very lovely video of Liam singing Red is the Rose.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Genie
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 01:30 AM

Thanks for the link, Lick.   Such a wonderful singer!   So sad to see him cross over so soon.

I'd say "Rest inpeace," but what I really hope is that he's singing somewhere with those other wonderful voices and musicians that have gone on.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Ernest
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 02:13 AM

Sad news indeed.

Only heard him live once - introducing the cd "The wild and wasteful ocean" with his son Donal and Robbie O`Connell in a music shop in Dublin while there was a tall ships race going on. The harbour looked probably very much like in the 19th century with all the masts and sails, which added greatly to the atmosphere.

RIP - and blessings to his family.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: alison
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 02:50 AM

what a shame - a great singer and storyteller

Kagan, Kagan, Kagan,
Bring the dory home.

rest in peace Liam

alison

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: nager
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 03:03 AM

RIP Liam, so very sad to hear the news today.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: MartinRyan
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 04:06 AM

A few years ago I was at a singing session in Nenagh, Tipperary - run by George Henderson of this Mudcat parish, as it happens. Liam dropped in late in the night, on his way from a theatre show IIRC. Things were proceeding placidly enough until George and I started a run of shanties . Liam grinned across at me and said "Now you're talking!", joined in - and the session took off with a vengeance!

Regards

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: machree01
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 06:35 AM

The last of The Clancy brothers, a true balladeer and never short of a poem.I seen him and Tommy in concert in banbridge early eighties, it was a brilliant night, rest in peace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayOVvGZjZu8

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: sing4peace
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 07:33 AM

What a great life and what a great heart.
I first heard the Clancey Brothers when my Dad was learning some chanteys and songs for his repertoire at the Black Pearl in Newport, RI back in the sixties. Those songs were very important to our family.

I feel like I lost an uncle.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Ed Brown
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 07:37 AM

So sad to hear that Liam Clancy has died; so glad that Liam Clancy lived.

Thankful for my good fortune to experience his gifts of music and humor in live concert at least once with Tommy Makem ... in addition to the classic Clancy Brothers records that were part of the soundtrack of my college days.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Fiolar
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 08:13 AM

Sad. Ar Deis De Le na hAnam.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: scouse
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 08:42 AM

Oh, a great loss to us all. R.I.P. Liam and thanks for all those memories.
As Aye,

Phil.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: kendall
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 08:50 AM

"Too long, a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart...." who else could recite poetry like that? Only Tommy Makem. What a pair, what a loss.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Charley Noble
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 10:14 AM

It has been a hard year. Enough already!

I really haven't anything to add to what has been well said above.

I will always cherish the spirit and energy with which the Clancy brothers sang their songs.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Declan
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 11:29 AM

Very sad news indeed.

The Clancy's were the people who kick started what became known as the Ballad Boom in Ireland in the late 50's and early 60's. Their success in the US wakened up many Irish people at home to the Irish song tradition and they laid the foundation for the careers of most people who make a living out of Irish music today.

Liam was a great performer, musician and raconteur.

He will be badly missed.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Jeri
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 12:15 PM

I have an old vinyl album, The Lark in the Morning that features Makems (Sarah & Tommy) and some Clancys. I remember loving Liam's voice back then, but that voice was always an angel's. I won't talk about the 'heavenly choir' thing because I don't believe it, but I know what the standard would be if it existed.

Condolences to his family,
                            and thanks.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 12:38 PM

Last night I put on some later Clancy Bros. (with Lou Killen and with Robbie O'Connell) as I worked to clear out our loft last night. Great music for working and singing along. It brought back memories of traveling with my Dad -- Clancys on the 8-track. Fine old stuff and obviously huge in influence.

So sad to see the generations pass.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 12:39 PM

What the HELL!

~S~

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: JohnB
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 12:52 PM

May the Road Rise up to meet you man!
JohnB.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST,mick treacy
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 01:03 PM

Liam, his brothers and tommy makem showed us what we had and what we could do with it they will never be forgotten. I thank you all.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Stringsinger
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 01:46 PM

One of the best songs he did was "Lang A-Growin'".

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 02:05 PM

So sorry to hear this sad news.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 03:44 PM

Sad indeed. RIP, Liam.
But I prefer to look on the bright side:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem Reunited! Again!

Seamus

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST,jeffncarol--fla
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 04:45 PM

so sorry to learn of Liam..our condolences to the fam..

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Gweltas
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 04:54 PM

Apologies.... the "GUEST" that posted on Dec 4th at 9.06 pm was ME , minus my cookie. I hadn't realised that I'd "mislaid" my cookie, till I was looking at subsequent posts tonight. Thanks for not deleting me!!
Anne XX

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: ard mhacha
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 04:56 PM

Surely this will be sung at Liam`s funeral, very appropriate,

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: ard mhacha
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 04:57 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1se8_-fcxZs

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: ard mhacha
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 04:58 PM

The parting glass for a true legend.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: akenaton
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 07:35 PM

Liam was a wonderful singer and communicator.
I treasure the DVD you sent me ard mhacha, of Liam and a group of young musicians performing the "Loch Tay Boatsong".

I think his version of "The Dutchman" was my favourite for its beauty and emotional content.
I wish all Liams family well.....Ake

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: gnu
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 07:57 PM

ard.... indeed... many are sorry for his going away. Good night and joy be with Liam.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: michaelr
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 10:07 PM

He was a giant among men
We will not see his like again

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Jim Lad
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 12:41 AM

R.I.P. Liam!

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: stallion
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 06:04 AM

The Clancy brothers music informed my early teenage years, I remember sitting in my room with Jim McF, the Clancy brothers LP's on the Dansette, sloshed on cider and singing our heads off with the records. Apart from me, Liam was the last one left of our "group". I would liked to have thanked everyone who inspired me to do what I do but it would be a tall ask and the list is still growing but if I were to ask myself how it all started it was in that room with Jim McF, the dansette and the Clancy brothers, thank you. RIP
Pete

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Mick Tems
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 08:58 AM

I'll gently rise and softly call
Good night and joy be with you all

Rest in peace, Liam.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 09:38 AM

If a tear was not already in my eye Jerrox's tribute would have placed one there!
My singing idols grow fewer and fewer on this Earth and Liam was a giant among them! Rest in peace, wild rover!

Wild Rover

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: bubblyrat
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 09:52 AM

A great loss indeed,and I always liked him,as a singer,the best.And The Clancy Brothers were a great source of inspiration to many of us back in the early 'sixties ; such a great shame that some of their musical activities in New York might ( I say might) have been to raise money for terrorists ( the IRA ),if indeed they were.....there were certainly rumours.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 10:00 AM

Please don't flame this thread!

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Stringsinger
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 11:08 AM

Some called them the "lads". We called them the "boys". They sang their hearts out wherever they went. I followed them around and even had them to dinner in Chicago, one night.
I remember making a table to serve them out of a door from the hardware store.

One party in Madison Park where I lived, they were singing lively with beer in hand sans shirts. Severin Darden, the enfant terrible of the Second City Comedy Club was there and slinked off into a corner when a couple emerged together from the shower wrapped in bath towels. Severin couldn't follow that act, but the Clancys could and did.

We did an album together at the Gate of Horn. I was accompanist with one of my favorite guitarists, Bruce Langhorne and the now-forgotten lovely bass player, Bill Lee (Spike's father). "Hearty and Hellish" was the album.

Bill Lee graced Odetta's recordings as well.

The "lads" or the "boys" will not be forgotten and Liam sang his way into our hearts.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST,beachcomber
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 12:06 PM

I remember my delight on seeing the names of famous performers like Pete Seeger, Bruce Langhorn and Frank Hamilton as "side men" on those Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem LPs of the 60s. It seemed to confirm , for me anyway, that Irish songs were "acceptable" in the wider international folk-revival that had begun. I rem too the pride I felt on hearing Irish music and song , (Incl some popularised by Liam and co.) so highly acclaimed in places like Cecil Sharpe House.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: MartinRyan
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 12:32 PM

About ten years ago How My Heart Sings, a biography of jazz pianist Bill Evans, contained a story by English jazz fan and promoter, Brian Hennessy, about his first encounter with Evans, in spring 1962 in New York.


…. The Village Vanguard was offering the Bill Evans Trio that week and, not long after checking into the hotel, I took a cab to Greenwich Village. On arrival outside the Vanguard, I observed a long queue waiting to get in and soon discovered that it mostly consisted of Irish Americans who were there to hear the main act of the evening, the Clancy Brothers. To them, the Bill Evans Trio was merely an interval filler. After the Clancys first set, the audience evaporated (the beer was cheaper around the corner) but huddled around the piano in what appeared to be a state of worship were a dozen studious devotees….

Parallel worlds, I guess.

Regards

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Mrrzy
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 09:57 PM

How did I miss this? That means they are all dead, now! Aaargh!

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 11:11 PM

The Legend

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Hrothgar
Date: 07 Dec 09 - 02:15 AM

I have always admired the work he did solo and with Tommy Makem, but somehow the loss of the last of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem is what takes away a part of my youth.

Rest in peace.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Gweltas
Date: 07 Dec 09 - 03:06 AM

To Sandy Mc Lean:
Thanks for posting the link, Sandy. I didn't know this film existed till now and I am about to go find myself a copy !
Best regards,
Anne XX

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: ard mhacha
Date: 07 Dec 09 - 05:53 AM

Liam at his poetic best in thid beautiful Irish song,

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: ard mhacha
Date: 07 Dec 09 - 05:55 AM

Sorry try this from You Tube,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayOVvGZjZu8&feature=PlayList&p=C42125735B446733&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=60

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 07 Dec 09 - 06:59 AM

2009 has been a bloody awful year, hasn't it, for deaths of folkies ?

RIP, Liam - the world is a sadder, gloomier place today.

There was time, before I learned that there is such a thing as English folk song, when I would sing the Clancys' recorded canon. Not that I'm denigrating the latter, you understand.

Without the Clancys and Tommy Makem, it is conceivable that the likes of the Chieftains, Planxty, Boys of the Lough, etc. might have had a harder time.

The Clancys and Tommy Makem laid the foundations, as it were.

Please let this sad passing be the last one for 2009.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST,Tiger
Date: 07 Dec 09 - 08:50 AM

Yes, very sad. Now, they're all gone.

I've had the delight of a number of their performances, and will treasure my recordings.

The thing I will remember most about Liam was his wonderful poetry readings. It was always riveting when he got into one of these - he put you immediately into the scene, to be part of the feeling and the emotion.

Of these, my favorite was from his 1992 performances at the Olympia theater in Dublin. He read Patrick Kavanaugh's "Pegasus", a great work even without Liam, but his reading simply blows me away.

"Pegasus" by Patrick Kavanaugh

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Barbara
Date: 07 Dec 09 - 11:52 PM

"Isn't it grand, boys, to be bloody well dead?
Let's not have a sniffle, let's have a bloody good cry,
And always remember the longer you live,
The sooner you bloody well die."

They pulled me into the world of folk and Irish song back in the 60s, Irish songs I am singing today as we perform an Irish revel here in Portland Oregon.
Thanks for it all, good night and God be with you all.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST,George Henderson
Date: 08 Dec 09 - 07:10 AM

Martin Ryan, I remember that night so well Martin. But it was crowned by the informal session we had the following afternoon. What a character. He hyrnotised the entire crowd that came into Derek browne's that day. A brilliant performer aadded to by very intelligent and observant comments. Geat company to be in. See my comments under memotires of Liam Clancy.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST,beachcomber
Date: 08 Dec 09 - 11:59 AM

Yesterday I attended Liam's funeral. Shay Healy's eulogy was perfect , I have never heard one better, he caught the essence of Liam ,and all the Clancy brothers and their era, very well indeed. Later, as we all stood around Liam's last resting place a full, bright rainbow formed above his grave, arching across the sky . Everyone was delighted and we sang "The Parting Glass" and Donal shouted "Have ye any homes to go to ?" and we dispersed.
But not to our homes, because the music in Mooney's Pub nearby, went on long into the night. It was lovely to see a son of Tommy Makem's there singing his heart out, among all of Liam and Kim's talented brood as well as the sisters and the cousins and the aunts. My only regret is that I'm too old and feeble now to last the pace with these vigourous young people.
God bless them all, they could well be still singing for all I know.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: ard mhacha
Date: 08 Dec 09 - 01:57 PM

Thanks Beachcomber for a brilliant account, appreciated by mise.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: gnu
Date: 08 Dec 09 - 03:55 PM

beachcomber... tears to my eyes.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: black walnut
Date: 08 Dec 09 - 04:47 PM

Red is the rose....it doesn't get better than this. Clancy was top 'o the ladder.

~b.w.

Subject: Obit: Liam Clancy
From: Fidjit
Date: 09 Dec 09 - 04:41 AM

Commiserations!

last week Liam Clancy died. He played the English Concertina.
I met Liam in Oslo, Oh, must be 10 years ago or so. Great man. Glad I met at least one of the Clancy's. Hero's!

Chas

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Gavin Paterson
Date: 09 Dec 09 - 08:13 AM

Beachcomber - I was in the Mooney's Session. At the height of it, there were three sessions on the go at the same time!

As you say, it was great to have some Makem there too. Rory, Tommy's son and Tom, his nephew (playing tin whistle and a Vega) helped to make it full-on.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST,Derek Schofield
Date: 09 Dec 09 - 03:49 PM

The four broadsheet newspapers in the UK have published obituaries:
The Times www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/
Daily Telegraph www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/
The Guardian www.guardian.co.uk/tone/obituaries
The Independent www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/
but I can't do the blue clicky thing ...
Derek

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 11 Dec 09 - 11:00 AM

Just thought you might want to know that there's in item on the late Liam Clancy on the 'Last Word' on BBC Radio 4 today at 4pm. If you miss it you can catch it on the BBC iPlayer.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST,beachcomber
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 11:24 AM

Jorrox, you mean to tell me that I was "rubbing shoulders" with you all unbeknowing last Monday evening. Of course if you only arrived after midnight I didn't stay much longer. My "ride home" had a Christmas Art & Craft Fair in their shop which required an early start the next morning.
Was that Tommy Makem's nephew with the broad brimmed hat, playing a tenor banjo then ?
The sessions were great, did you play too ?
[I thought I heard a "bum note" once or twice :-)]

beachcomber.

(Hoping other readers will forgive me for personal remarks)

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Gavin Paterson
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 11:46 AM

Beachcomber, I'll message you.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Fidjit
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 05:06 PM

I'm sure the Clancy's with Tommy Maken influenced a lot of us from the Fiffty's onwards.

Chas

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 07:53 PM

I assume that Tommy's nephew Tom would have been Tom Sweeney of Barley Bree.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST,Jim Martin
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 06:58 AM

Here's The Guardian one anyway:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/dec/04/liam-clancy-dies-obituary

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST,beachcomber
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 07:36 AM

Jorox, how has you intended to get through ?? I can't put up my own e-address ???

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 08:59 PM

Muireann NicAmhlaoibhs words said it all.

R.I.P.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 11:49 PM

The stark message title on Cyberpluckers, "Rest in peace, liam clancy" was the first I learned of the death of one of my favorite performers, someone for whom you could be forgiven for trotting out the cliche, "It's the end of an era."

In the early Sixties, while a college student, I was also stage managing the Living Theatre's off-Broadway production, "The Connection". We'd close the theater around eleven or eleven thirty each evening. That was too early to go to go home so I'd often head for the White Horse Tavern. I'd started going there because it was a kind of literary hangout. Brendan Behan (who I nearly had to physically eject from a Living Theater audience one night because he'd insisted on bringing his cigar in with him) was a regular there. Another writer, Dylan Thomas had also been an habitue. Thomas, a heavy drinker, actually had his last whiskey there. At a tavern table, he'd fallen into a coma from which he'd never recovered and had died not long after.

I always looked forward to the singing at the White Horse bar, people just breaking into song. The best was when a quartet whom I soon gathered were professionals and actually had made paid appearances around town, were there. I really enjoyed them. Even so, there was a woman upstairs who used to complain about the noise late in the evening when these guys were hitting their stride with vigorous renditions of Belle of Belfast City, Brennan on the Moor and the like. We all got to join in the choruses so it could get pretty boisterous. Of course, the quartet was the three Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.

I was lucky enough to be at a number of these informal performances. I remember vividly sitting just a few feet from Tommy Makem when he pulled out a bar stool, sat down, and sang "The Cobbler". He was so intense. His miming of the cobbler at work at his bench seemed perfect. It was more than a song, it was a moving theatrical experience.

Standing so close, I could hear the banter between the four of them. It was witty, really funny. I think it was out of these sessions that many bits that started extemporaneously later were honed and became a part of their act.

My favorite episode though had nothing to do with their music, at least not directly. The woman upstairs who had called repeatedly over the past months again called one evening when the Clancys were singing. Instead of complaining, though, she had a question. "Are they the men who were on the Ed Sullivan Show last Sunday?" The bartender told her that they were. That was the last time she called!

Over the past four decades since that time, I have been an unabashed Clancy fan. I've bought their records, then their CDs, I've leaped at the chance to go to any of their performances and I've learned many of their songs. I've been nurtured by the vitality of their music. I feel a deep disappointment that now I can never hear any of them again.

This afternoon when I was leaving to play at a river festival here in Petaluma, I decided to wear my Aran sweater and with feelings of Gaelic gaiety mixed with the sadness of the finality signified by Liam Clancy's death, I sang two of my favorite Clancy songs, Belle of Belfast City and William Bloat.

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Sourdough
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 10:20 AM

Arrgh - I lost my cookie and didn't notice until after I'd posted the above message.

Sourdough

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Apr 10 - 10:03 PM

This message is to the gentleman who hung at the White Horse. I am writing a series of poems on the White Horse. Would you be willing to share any other antedotes you recall of those days, my friend?

please email me at [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 21 Apr 10 - 10:57 PM

Poems about poisonings, perhaps?

Subject: RE: Obit: Liam Clancy RIP 4 Dec 2009
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Apr 10 - 02:22 AM

Ha! great alliteration in that line ," poems about poisonings, perhpas" !well, that's not exactly what I'm writing about- though Dylan Thomas did take his final swigs of drink at the White Horse. So, yes, perhpas one poem about poisoning. I'm in a poetry seminar at Monmouth University. We had to pick a topic to research and write a series of poems about during the semester. I choose the White Horse as a two-part homage- 1)to my uncle who owns the bar (and was friends with the Clancy bros. and 2)to the many great performers, artists, and writers ( Anais Nin, Norman Mailer, Bob Dylan, Dylan Thomas, Jack Kerouac, Helen Weaver, Allen Ginsberg, Dan Wakefield, Delmore Schwartz, Michael Harrington, Dorothy Day, and of course the Clancy Bro's... many more... the waitresses, the regulars, and the history are included in the poems) - who spent their nights there.

The portfolio is due tomorrow.. but as I sit here at 2a.m. still writing and researching with multiple unwritten poems on my mind- I am certain I will continue this work throughout the summer. So, if you sir, or anyone has stories (or photos) please send them my way!

Thank you!

Truly,
Chelsea
[e-mail]