My latest album, ‘Internationale’
We live in a world that in many aspects hasn’t changed for many years.
Peasants and Workers around the world are constantly being exploited by greedy people.
This album celebrates the spirit of the worker, past and present and the limits some are prepared to go to in order to bring about change for the better.
The time has come for people to start working for the benefit of all as opposed to working for the benefit of a chosen few.
The songs in this album cover a variety of subjects, love, race, wealth, poverty, dedication, sacrifice, tragedy, treachery, in life and death etc. Merely a few of the many aspects that make up this world in which we live.
At a time when hate is rife across the world, it does no harm to offer a little reminder of what good can be achieved if only we tried that bit harder.
To a better future.
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The Songs compiled on this album are as follows:
Lord Baker
A contemporary production of the old Irish traditional classic that tells the tale of an Irish Lord that travels the world and finds love in the strangest of places.
The Red Flag
A classic Irish workers anthem, originally written by Jim Connel from County Meath.
A Parcel of Rogues
My only accapella recording. Taken from a poem written by the legendary Robbie Burns about the Treaty of Union of 1707 which, in theory, abolished the independent parliaments of Scotland and England and created the parliament of the United Kingdom. In practice, it merely ended the autonomy of the Scots and reduced them to the status of a province of England.
The ‘Parcel of Rogues’ referred to were the bourgeoisie of the Scots parliament who were, quite literally, bribed into voting for the Treaty, completely abandoning all the principles of ‘The Declaration of Arbroath’.
Three Wise Reels
Patrick Martin and I get together to produce a contemporary blend of Uilleann pipes, Whistles, Guitar and ‘new age’ style percussion.
Joe Hill
I first heard this song sang by an ex prisoner/hunger striker by the name of John Nixon, from Armagh. A reminiscent workers’ song that keeps the spirit of Joe Hill alive and well.
Sacco and Vanzetti
Originally written by the legendary Woody Guthrie, this protest classic tells of the fate of two fine men. In 1926 they were sent to the electric chair, in a frame up that sent them down for an armed robbery they clearly didn’t commit. In 1976 the U.S. government were embarrassed into giving them a ‘Pardon’ , when details of their innocence were released from government archives. ‘I won’t forget those men who died, they taught poor people how to live.’
The Lakes of Ponchartrain
I don’t know the author of this song, it has lasted some time as part of the Irish tradition, but it’s origins lie in a post civil war situation in the deep southern state of New Orleans, in the U.S. A romantic piece that bridges the gap between black and white.
Connolly Was There
An old Irish workers song that celebrates the life of one of our finest working Class heroes. He was executed by a British firing squad after the Easter rising in 1916. Being wounded and too weak to stand, he was tied to a stretcher and leaned against a wall in Kilmainham Gaol before being shot.
If we don’t help them now
Originally released on my debut solo album in 2002, I felt then the need to remind the people of the world that the Hunger strike in Turkey isn’t over yet. 110 people have died as a result of the ongoing hunger strike against the harsh prison regime in Turkey.
Internationale
Written to celebrate the Paris Commune of March-May 1871 : the first time workers took state power into their own hands. They established in the Commune a form of government more democratic than ever seen before.
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