Planxty - 'P' Stands For Paddy, I Suppose

 #Planxty #Christy Moore #Andy Irvine #Irish folk #world music #Celtic folk #traditional #1970s

 Irish stalwarts Planxty begin Cold Blow and the Rainy Night -- their third record for Shanachie -- with a rousing version of the Scottish battlefield classic "Johnnie Cope." It's a fitting opening to a record that essentially rounded out their recording heyday as the members splintered off to form equally influential Celtic acts like the Bothy Band, Moving Hearts, and De Danann. Co-founder Dónal Lunny, despite contributing instrumentally to a few tracks and taking a seat in the production chair, left the group, allowing newest member Johnny Moynihan to take over bouzouki and -- along with Andy Irvine and Christy Moore -- vocal duties. The title track is one of the finest of their career, utilizing Liam O'Flynn's expert uillean pipes and the band's peerless harmonizing to a tee. Moore's gorgeous "Lakes of Pontchartrain" and Irvine's moving closer, "Green Fields of Canada," showcase the group's timeless mastery of balladry, a style that would greatly inform their later solo works. Cold Blow and the Rainy Night, along with The Well Below the Valley, and their legendary debut, are essential listening for those in love with, or merely intrigued with, the genre.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/album/cold-blow-and-the-rainy-night-mw0000206988

P Stands for Paddy / T Stands for Thomas

Planxty sang ‘P’ Stands for Paddy, I Suppose on their 1974 album Cold Blow and the Rainy Night. They noted: We first heard ‘P’ Stands for Paddy a long time ago from Joe Heaney but we didn't get the words until recently. These came from a recording of Colm Keene of Glinsk Co. Galway. The verses are a strange mixture as if made up from different songs and it has a fine air.

Lal and Norma Waterson sang T Stands for Thomas on the Watersons' 1975 album, For Pence and Spicy Ale, Norma Waterson sang it on the Holme Valley Tradition cassette Will's Barn, and Waterson/Carthy sang it live at the Beverley Folk Club in June 1992. A.L. Lloyd noted on the Watersons' original album: These B for Barney, P for Paddy, J for Jack songs are usually Irish in origin though common enough in the English countryside. Often the verses are just a string of floaters drifting in from other lyrical songs. So it is with this piece, which derives partly from a version collected by Cecil Sharp from a Gloucestershire gipsy, Kathleen Williams. Some of the verses are familiar from an As I Walked Out song sung to Vaughan Williams by an Essex woodcutter, Mr Broomfield. The verses about robbing the bird's nest recall The Verdant Braes of Skreen.

Peter and Barbara Snape sang T Stands for Thomas on their 2008 CD Take to the Green Fields. Barbara Snape noted: This particular version of the song is an Irish/English hybrid! I first heard it in Liverpool some time ago, sung by an Irish singer, Davy Brennan. Having never forgotten it, but never quite fully remembering it either, I have used the version published in The Wanton Seed to supplement the bits I had lost.

Niamh Boadle sang P Stands for Paddy in 2010 on her CD Wild Rose. She commented on this Irish traditional song: A conversation overheard and dwelt on to learn about love. Not a strictly orthodox method of teaching but there you go.

From: https://mainlynorfolk.info/watersons/songs/tstandsforthomas.html

Planxty - The Little Drummer

 #Planxty #Christy Moore #Andy Irvine #Irish folk #world music #traditional Celtic folk #1970s #Irish TV

Planxty was an Irish folk music band consisting of soon-to-be-legendary musicians Christy Moore (vocals, acoustic guitar, bodhrán), Dónal Lunny (bouzouki, guitars), Andy Irvine (mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, hurdy-gurdy, harmonica), and Liam O'Flynn (uilleann pipes, tin whistle). The band was formed in 1972, and quickly revolutionized and popularized Irish folk music, touring and recording to great acclaim. The band broke up twice; first in 1975 and again in 1983. The band re-united again in 2004. Their final performance (to date) was in 2005.
In 1972 Christy Moore released his second album Prosperous, which he recorded with his old schoolmates, Lunny, Irvine, and O'Flynn. After recording Prosperous, they formed Planxty. The group's first major performance, opening for Donovan in Galway, was a great success. Neither the audience nor the band knowing what to expect, both were pleasantly surprised. Irvine, unable to see the audience through the lighting, was worried that the crowd was on the verge of rioting. It took him several minutes to realize what he was hearing was enthusiasm.
A formative influence on Planxty and, in particular, on Christy Moore was the singing of Irish Traveller John "Jacko" Reilly who hailed from Boyle, Co. Roscommon. It was from Reilly that Moore learned "The Raggle Taggle Gypsy", which was recorded on the first Planxty album, in addition to "The Well Below the Valley" and "As I Roved Out", which appeared on The Well Below the Valley. Christy later dipped into Reilly's songbook again for an updated version of the lengthy ballad "Lord Baker", which was featured on Planxty's 1983 album Words & Music.
Planxty released the highly acclaimed single, "The Cliffs of Dooneen, after which they were promptly signed to an exclusive contract in conjunction with Polydor Records. The band members, inexperienced in the world of business, signed a contract for £30,000, but for six albums, and with a low royalty percentage. (They were never to make much money from album sales, and were substantially in debt by the time the group dissolved.) The group became very popular in the next few years in Ireland, Britain and Europe, and they recorded two more albums in the following two years. After that they split up, and a compilation called The Planxty Collection was released. As time passed, the personnel changed - Johnny Moynihan replaced Dónal Lunny in July of 1973, and Paul Brady stepped in for Christy Moore in 1974. Christy, Andy, Dónal, and Liam, the original lineup, reformed Planxty in 1979. They recorded three albums, and made several changes and additions to their lineup, most notably the joining of Matt Molloy, flautist from the Bothy Band, later with The Chieftains.  
In 1983, Dónal Lunny and Christy Moore left to concentrate on Moving Hearts, and Andy and Liam started pursuing solo careers (the former in the band Patrick Street). The band broke up for the final time, or so it seemed. A low-key gig in Lisdoonvarna led to gigs in Dublin and County Clare in 2004, and the release of Live 2004 on DVD and CD. It remains to be seen if this is a new lease of life. Broadcaster and journalist Leagues O'Toole documented the band in the biography The Humours of Planxty, which was published by Hodder Headline in 2006.  From: https://sonichits.com/video/Planxty/The_Irish_March

Planxty - The Rambling Siuler

 #Planxty #Christy Moore #Andy Irvine #Irish folk #world music #Celtic folk #traditional #1970s

Veritable supergroup of Irish traditionalists that helped spark an Celtic folk renaissance in the 1970s. Along with groups like the Bothy Band, Planxty helped to usher in a new era for modern Celtic music. While their sound remained rooted to traditional music, the band's virtuosic musicianship and high-energy delivery reflected modern influences, while their unique vocal harmonies and instrumental counterpoint were unprecedented in Irish music. The founding members of Planxty - Christy Moore, Donal Lunny, Liam O'Flynn, and Andy Irvine - initially came together to provide instrumental accompaniment for Irish singer/songwriter Christy Moore's 1973 album, Prosperous. The sessions proved so inspiring that the musicians agreed to continue working together. With the release of their debut single, "Cliffs of Dooneen," the new band attracted international attention. An equally memorable, self-titled album, affectionately known as the "Black Album," followed shortly afterwards. Despite its success, Planxty was plagued by a series of personnel changes. Following the release of the band's second album, The Well Below the Valley, Lunny departed for the Bothy Band and was replaced by Johnny Moynihan, who had previously played with Irvine in Sweeney's Men. Moore followed after the release of the band's third album, Cold Blow and the Rainy Night to resume his solo career, and was replaced by singer/songwriter Paul Brady. The loss of Moore and Lunny was devastating and, shortly after releasing their fifth album, The Woman I Loved So Well, Planxty disbanded in 1981.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/planxty-mn0000852842/biography

The Rambling Sailor
It was Cecil Sharp's opinion that early broadsides were about a soldier. There is an argument that the original was an Irish, particularly Ulster song, according to Sam Henry, the greatest collector of Ulster folk songs. The Irish song was called The Rambling Suiler (suiler translated as beggarman, which, indeed, still provides a metaphor for movement, fluidity and lack of fixity). Another suggestion is that ‘The Rambling Suiler' refers to the amorous encounters of James V of Scotland, who roamed his kingdom in disguise and may have written the song about himself or had it written about him. Whether of Gaelic origin, and whomsoever the subject, the anglicised versions of this song are many, using different place names. Nevertheless, the key points are well illustrated. Detaching himself from authority and beoming mobile earns the subject his liberty as an English man. As was frequently the case, 'rambling' was a metaphor for sexual liberty or libertinism. The story of the woman who went to sea inverts several aspects of 'The Rambling Sailor'. Instead of being universalised by being given a name which could apply to any English man - a young man, the son of John - the woman is particularised - Rebecca Young of Gravesend. She is loyal to the memory of her 'true love', a pressed seaman who had drowned, and it was to honour him that she went to sea. She too, drowned, but was undaunted, and in death 'anchored', rather than mobile.  From: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/projects/english_folk/EFS/Ramblingsailor.html