[vibrant Irish folk music] - You're very welcome to TradFest, the Fingal Sessions.

We're coming to you from the medieval splendor of the Great Hall in Malahide Castle.

Our marvelous guests are Judy Collins with Tad Debragh on guitar and Stu Mindeman on keys.

Eddi Reader with John Douglas, and Seamie O'Dowd, Blanid and Aidan Connolly.

[vibrant Irish folk music] [all cheer] [host laughs] Judy, we are indeed in the presence of greatness with yourself And it's so wonderful to have you here in Dublin for TradFest.

- I'm thrilled to be here, it's so wonderful.

All this music and all this art and all this history.

- You've sung Irish songs.

You've been drawn to Irish music for years.

Where do you think that came from?

♪ Oh the songs and the Kerry dancers ♪ ♪ Oh the thrill of the pipers tune ♪ ♪ Oh for one of those hours of gladness ♪ ♪ Gone alas like our youth too soon ♪ [Judy chuckles] ♪ When the Kerry pipers ♪ Anyway, we will think about doing the whole song later.

- Was Irish music in in your home?

- Oh yes, well, my dad sang and played the piano and was a great entertainer and had a radio show for 30 years, so I learned everything from him about performing.

And he sang all the songs of the "Great American Songbook", which we used to call that, now we call it the Rod Stewart song book.

[group chuckles] And he was a genius, he was wonderful.

And I just loved what he did and I learned about how to do it from him.

- Amazing.

You have a new record coming, which is very exciting.

- Oh yes.

- "Spellbound".

- "Spellbound".

- Which, I can't believe, is the first record of your own original songs.

- Yes.

It's kind of stunning to me.

I think I was sort of accosted by it about three or four or five years ago.

Leonard Cohen asked me in 1966 when we met and he brought me his songs to show me his brand new songs.

And I recorded "Suzanne" and a couple of others.

He said, "I can't understand why you're not writing your own songs."

I was the only person probably in the village who did not write my songs.

But then when he asked me, he said, "I don't understand."

And so I went home and wrote my first song, and then I've written about 60 songs since then and put them on albums with different combinations of other people's songs.

But then about four years ago, I started working on these songs that have wound up on "Spellbound".

- Amazing, well, I think you're gonna give us one of those songs now.

- Yes, I am.

I can't wait to do that.

Thank you.

- Can't wait to hear it.

- All right, thanks.

- Take it away.

- Okay.

[nostalgic instrumental music] ♪ When I was a girl in Colorado ♪ ♪ Rivers danced the canyon walls ♪ ♪ Paintbrush nodded in the springtime ♪ ♪ I could hear the bluebirds call ♪ ♪ When I was a girl in Colorado ♪ ♪ Winter held me in its arms ♪ ♪ Summers rocked me like a lover ♪ ♪ I could never come to harm ♪ ♪ When I was a girl in Colorado ♪ ♪ I could conquer anything ♪ ♪ I could fly with wings of silver ♪ ♪ I could whisper ♪ ♪ I could sing ♪ ♪ Will you take me to the mountains ♪ ♪ Before another summer ends ♪ ♪ We can catch the outbound zephyr ♪ ♪ We can travel like the wind ♪ ♪ When I moved out to the desert ♪ ♪ Forty years to lose my soul ♪ ♪ Somewhere back there in her rivers ♪ ♪ Colorado made me whole ♪ ♪ When I go back to the mountains ♪ ♪ I always find a windy hill ♪ ♪ Watch the sunrise over Long's Peak ♪ ♪ Ski those slopes and feel the thrill ♪ ♪ Will you take me to the mountains ♪ ♪ Before another summer ends ♪ ♪ We can catch the outbound zephyr ♪ ♪ We can travel like the wind ♪ ♪ When I was a girl in Colorado ♪ ♪ I knew enough to fall in love ♪ ♪ Like the bluebirds in the pine trees ♪ ♪ Like the snowfall from above ♪ ♪ Will you take me to the mountains ♪ ♪ Before another summer ends ♪ ♪ We can catch the outbound zephyr ♪ ♪ We can travel like the wind ♪ ♪ Like the wind ♪ ♪ Like the wind ♪ ♪ Like the wind ♪ [sweeping instrumental music] [music fades slowly] - [Eddi] Wow.

[group claps] [Eddi cheers] [group claps] - [Judy] Thank you, thank you, thank you.

- What a beautiful, beautiful, evocative song.

- It was the last one that I wrote for this album.

Just popped out, you know?

- Right, one of those magic.

- You don't where they come from.

- Are you the girl from Colorado?

- I am, really.

Colorado always has entranced me ever since we moved there when I was nine, and the mountains always do something to me.

Probably it's the altitude, but I- [both chuckle] But they do, they do.

I feel differently when I'm there.

And I mean, I'm feeling extremely Irish right now sitting here.

- Yeah, but you've taken us on this trip with that song to the canyons and the river and those wide open spaces, and the song really feels like that wide open space.

It's beautiful.

- I'm glad, I'm glad.

People love it and it's, you know, it's a very simple song, really.

I mean, it's very basic.

It's very ballad-like, it's kind of old-fashioned.

I think that goes along with my own feeling about this music that I fell into in when I was 15.

Well, my, my dad always sang ♪ Oh Danny boy the pipes the pipes are calling ♪ ♪ From glen to glen and down the mountain side ♪ ♪ The summer's gone and all the leaves are falling ♪ ♪ It's you it's you must go and I must bide ♪ He sang that along with Rodgers and Hart and it went down very well.

- Yeah, as it as it has done just now too.

- That's my daddy's song, thank you, Judy.

- Is that your daddy's song?

- That's my daddy's song.

He's Danny and that's what they sung to him every new year, They were singing that.

- Amazing, Eddi, it's great to see you.

- Nice to see you.

Nice to see you.

- Yeah, you're here and John's with you.

- Yes.

- Good to see you, John.

- Good to see you, great to be here.

- And Seamie.

- Seamie O'Dowd.

- [Host] You brought Seamie in.

- I just asked him last this morning actually.

I said, "Would you come down and and play with us?"

- Look at me, I know you feel at home here in Ireland, right?

- Well, yes, my home is just like this.

[group laughs] - You've got all this kind of art in your house.

[group laughs] - I have all this stuff.

No, I love coming here and I'm very connected to it.

Very, very connected to it.

In spirit, you know, more than anything.

And musically as well, just like the tunes and the way we all sing together.

That's something I was brought up with, you know?

- [Host] Yeah, yeah.

And you brought your Trashcan Sinatra with you.

- Yes.

- They were playing the Trashcan Sinatras on the radio.

Every time I play the Trashcan Sinatras, there's a volley of texts coming in, going "What a great band".

- Oh, fantastic.

- So you have lots of people listening to Irish radio and listening to music here that are hugely fond.

- Oh, I'm glad to hear that.

I mean, we come over here and play, after the show one of the things that I enjoy is listening to the late night radio, so if we're part of that, I'm a happy man.

- Oh yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

Eddi, what are you gonna share?

- Well, we're gonna show you "Deirdre's Farewell to Scotland", which I found in in my great-uncle's collection of music.

And I had no idea that there was an old song about an Irish person singing about their love for Scotland.

And I was talking to John Spillane and he said, "That's 'Deirdre of the Sorrows', that story."

She goes to Scotland to hide from the king because she was the most beautiful woman in the world and the king wanted her, and he was old with nay and nay hair.

And she was with her lover Naoise who was one of his cavaliers, or Red Branch Brigade soldiers, I think the Fianna.

And she goes to Argyle over in Scotland and hides from him, and in the song she's telling everybody how beautiful it was to have sanctuary.

And just recently we've had people talk about refugees.

It seems very pertinent, you know.

We all need sanctuary and I was so glad to sing this song because it it felt like, well, there were somebody who got sanctuary from my home and she was glad of it.

It didn't end very well for her because the king came over by on the boat.

And she heard a cuckoo in the tree and she knew that was their signal that they had found them, and so they killed her boyfriend and they grabbed her and she had to go back and live with this old dude.

[Eddi chuckles] - Tough old time.

- Tough old times.

Brutal it was, brutal.

So we're gonna do, well, I love this song 'cause I saw it in a piece of parchment and it's only two chords.

And I thought, this is so beautiful.

Before I knew it was "Deirdre of the Sorrows" we recorded it, so we'll have a wee go.

- It's beautiful.

[gentle guitar music] ♪ Dearest Alba land o'er yonder ♪ ♪ Thou dear land of wood and wave ♪ ♪ Sore my heart is I must leave thee ♪ ♪ But 'tis Naoise I may not leave ♪ ♪ O Glen Eite O Glen Eite, ♪ ♪ Where they builded my bridal home ♪ ♪ Beauteous glen in early morning ♪ ♪ Flocks of sunbeams surround thy fort ♪ [Eddi hums gently] [wistful guitar music] ♪ Glendaruel Glendaruel ♪ ♪ My love on all whose mother thou ♪ ♪ From a cliff tree calls a cuckoo ♪ ♪ And methinks I hear him now ♪ [Eddi hums gently] [Eddi hums gently] [Eddi hums gently] ♪ Glendaruel ♪ ♪ Glendaruel ♪ [music fades slowly] - Oh, how beautiful, oh my.

- It's so sweet, though.

- Spectacular and gorgeous to hear you sing, and the playing.

- They all knew it.

They all knew that song.

- Yes.

- Definitely.

- Gorgeous.

- Gorgeous.

Aidan, I'll come to you.

You've traveled the shortest distance be with us today.

- I have indeed, the M50 is a little bit blocked up though.

- Is it?

So it took you a while.

Took you a while.

- I believe it's that [speaks in foreign language] sound is what kind of captured your imagination, your musical thinking.

- Definitely, yeah.

My mother is from that area, down the Cork-Kerry border area.

And I would've learned music from her originally from the age of seven or eight and- - What would you think there is about that?

What is it about that particular area?

- It's just such a rich history, I suppose, in terms of not only music, but poetry and dance as well.

Going back centuries, it's a real hive of just sort of a cultural store there, you know?

- You're gonna give us a couple of [speaks in foreign language] jigs, I believe.

- Yeah, yeah, we're gonna play three jigs.

The first one is actually "Off to California" which is very old hornpipe that's very well known.

But there was a traveling fiddle teacher called Tom Billy Murphy.

He was actually blind, used to go around on a donkey to different houses.

An itinerant teacher, suppose the turn of 20th century.

But anyway, he had a jig version of this old hornpipe.

And then after that, then this one from Padraig O'Keeffe, another itinerant teacher from the following generation, so he died in the '60s.

And the last one then is Willie O'Connell, who was a student of Padraig who's actually nearly three generations of Sligo fiddle players represented in this set.

- Ah, what a great thing.

Thanks a million.

[bright lilting folk music] [bright lilting folk music continues] [bright lilting folk music continues] [moves to vibrant folk music] [vibrant folk music continues] [vibrant folk music continues] [vibrant folk music continues] [moves to warm folk music] [warm folk music continues] [warm folk music continues] [music fades] - [Host] Oh, magic!

[group claps] - Wonderful!

- Beautiful.

My goodness.

Three generations of tunes.

That's a gorgeous touch in each one of them and the way they go from the one to the next one, beautiful.

- I wasn't paying at all, it's automatic.

- It's automatic.

[group laughs] - Put in a coin, it just does everything, - And thanks, John and Seamie as well.

That's fantastic.

Blanid, I'm gonna turn to you.

You're very welcome.

Rumor has it that you have a song that's inspired by one of the all-time greatest movies ever made.

- Yes.

- "Airplane II".

- That's absolutely correct [laughs].

I went through a phase during the pandemic of getting really into '80s comedy films.

And the "Airplane" ones just grabbed my heart.

And yeah, so, in "Airplane II" specifically there's a moment where the main character's looking out the window and they're in space for this one, 'cause they needed to amp it up a level for the sequel.

- Okay.

- And he sees two pilots of the spacecraft who have been ejected out and they're dead, and he sees them start doing a waltz.

The moment is obviously meant to be funny and I did laugh, but it did strike me, the image.

I find it quite, quite terrifying, actually.

- Right.

- And I just thought, I need to write a song about that at some point, and the more I thought about it, the more I thought this kind of applies to relationships and that feeling of kind of two people still going through the rigmarole of the dance, even though they're so clearly- - Dead in the water.

- Well, quite yes, exactly.

Exactly [laughs].

- And it's called "Dead Men Dancing".

- It is.

- Beautiful, well.

[gentle guitar music] ♪ Dead men dancing in space ♪ ♪ Hung amongst stars ♪ ♪ Where have they come from ♪ ♪ Will they go very far ♪ ♪ Watch out the window ♪ ♪ Watch as they spin ♪ ♪ One two three one two three one ♪ ♪ Clasped in embrace ♪ ♪ Tie upon tie ♪ ♪ Suit jacket straightened ♪ ♪ Glassy eye to glassy eye ♪ ♪ Take a breath in ♪ ♪ Hold it forever ♪ ♪ One two three one two three one ♪ [guitar music builds] ♪ Dead men ♪ ♪ Dancing forever ♪ ♪ Oh dead men ♪ ♪ Do you see heaven ♪ ♪ Ah dead men ♪ ♪ Teach me to dance like you ♪ ♪ Oh dead men ♪ ♪ Dance at your leisure ♪ ♪ For dead men ♪ ♪ Time holds no pressure ♪ ♪ Ah dead men ♪ ♪ Teach me to one two three too ♪ ♪ Tell me you love me ♪ ♪ Tell me you're tired ♪ ♪ Tell me you like it ♪ ♪ So close to the wire ♪ ♪ Betrayed me in some way ♪ ♪ Haven't yet worked out how ♪ ♪ One two three one two three one ♪ ♪ What's left of a waltz when the heartbeat is gone ♪ ♪ What's left of a song when no one sings along ♪ ♪ And how am I frozen so close to the sun ♪ ♪ Are we spinning and spinning ♪ ♪ and spinning and spinning ♪ [Blanid hums wistfully] [Blanid hums wistfully] ♪ Dead men dancing in space ♪ ♪ Clinging to stars ♪ ♪ I know where you've come from ♪ ♪ Will you go very far ♪ ♪ Watch out the window ♪ ♪ Watch as they spin ♪ ♪ One two three one two three one ♪ [guitar music builds] ♪ Dead men ♪ ♪ Dancing forever ♪ ♪ Oh dead men ♪ ♪ Tell me do you see heaven ♪ ♪ Ah dead men ♪ ♪ Teach me to dance like you ♪ ♪ Oh dead men ♪ ♪ You can dance at your leisure ♪ ♪ For dead men ♪ ♪ Our time holds no pressure ♪ ♪ Ah dead men ♪ ♪ Teach me to one two three too ♪ ♪ Teach me to one two three too ♪ ♪ Teach me to one two three ♪ [music fades] Wow!

[Judy chuckles] - [Eddi] Lovely.

- [Host] "Dead Men Dancing", that's so beautiful.

[group claps] Dead man entrancing.

That's gorgeous.

- Thank you very much.

- It's proof, isn't it, that you can find inspiration in anything.

[Blanid laughs] And kind of alchemize it into a thing of beauty like that.

That's gorgeous, thank you.

- Thank you so much.

- Thank you.

Judy, I'm gonna come back to you.

I believe you're gonna do a song for us that pulls no punches at all, but that remains a beautiful song as well.

A song from your new record about, I think it's subject matter that's clearly close to your heart.

- Yes, you know, my father was born on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation in Idaho.

And he wasn't a Nez Perce Indian, but he had a tremendous heartache for what was going on with the Indians.

And he always talked a lot about Chief Joseph.

You know, how could you not see what was going on in our country with the Indian tribes?

I wanted to bring something out of myself that could express the way I feel about it.

- "Prairie Dream".

- "Prairie Dream".

- Okay.

- Thank you.

- Let's take this.

- Thank you.

- Thanks so much, Judy.

- [Judy] Thank you.

[dramatic instrumental music] ♪ The thunder of the hooves of Indian ponies ♪ ♪ Wild with running beautiful as light ♪ ♪ Flash into my dreams along the prairie ♪ ♪ The hero Sioux the spirits of the night ♪ ♪ With buffalo who used to roam the mountains ♪ ♪ Through the canyons through the wind-blown grass ♪ ♪ Hooves that beat past swiftly running rivers ♪ ♪ And sounds of centuries like breaking glass ♪ ♪ Shot from trains and shot from painted horses ♪ ♪ Shot down running in their murdered fear ♪ ♪ Gone before the quarter of the century ♪ ♪ Leaving nothing but the sound of tears ♪ ♪ Starving in their trails of blood and sorrow ♪ ♪ Ancient creatures innocent of crime ♪ ♪ Manifest in destiny they flounder ♪ ♪ Like the wandering footsteps of the blind ♪ ♪ Sundown ♪ ♪ Sunrise ♪ ♪ Sundown ♪ ♪ Sunrise ♪ ♪ All the sainted tribes and missionaries ♪ ♪ All the wagon trains of yearning hearts ♪ ♪ Testify to madness and to bloodshed ♪ ♪ Among those buffalo as time departs ♪ ♪ Alas for murdering the dreams of warriors ♪ ♪ Women children sleep in innocence ♪ ♪ Fires raged across the burning deserts ♪ ♪ Let the tears of history commence ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Sundown ♪ ♪ Sunrise ♪ ♪ Sundown ♪ ♪ Sunrise ♪ ♪ May the pioneers plant in their gardens ♪ ♪ Among the bones of dreamers by the creek ♪ ♪ Where they somehow found the peace of silence ♪ ♪ With no maddening secrets they could keep ♪ ♪ The thunder of the hooves of Indian ponies ♪ ♪ Wild with running beautiful as light ♪ ♪ Flash into my dreams along the prairie ♪ ♪ The hero Sioux the Comanches of the night ♪ ♪ The Arapahoe the Nez Perce of the night ♪ ♪ The Cherokee spirits of the night ♪ ♪ Sundown ♪ ♪ Sunrise ♪ ♪ Sundown ♪ ♪ Sunrise ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ [wistful instrumental music] [music slowly fades] Okay.

[group claps] - "Prairie Dream".

- Thank you.

- Come sit down, come sit down.

- Thank you, thank you.

- Another beauty, Another beauty.

- Thank you.

- That is fabulous, thanks so much.

- You're welcome.

- Eddi.

- Hey.

- I'm gonna come to another gorgeous song.

I'm gonna ask them, "Wild Mountainside".

- Yeah, it's John's.

- It's John's song.

- So he might wanna tell you about it.

- It's John's song for you if I'm not mistaken.

- Yeah, he wrote, it's probably the only guy in the world that wrote me a love song.

Thanks very much [chuckles].

And it was a good one.

- It's a beaut, I mean, we know.

It's become a classic.

John, talk to me a bit about when did it come?

- Well, we were sort of- - Careful there.

- We'd known each other for a while, but there was, you know, the foot was getting on the gas, you know.

The things were looking a little, you know, just to improve a little, I suppose of the phrase.

And I'm always sort of writing songs and I found myself up late one night with Mr.

Port and Mr.

Brandy.

[John chuckles] - Aha, yes, yes.

- Old friends, old friends.

- And the thoughts of the day tend to permeate and they arrive and this tune arrived.

And had a little cassette player and I would turn it on and just, you know, just play away.

And I knew something had arrived, so I played it back and the sort of verse and melody of this had arrived.

And it was, you know, it was only a couple of days later I realized it was it was about what was about to happen, you know.

Were sort of falling for each other and something great was just around the corner.

It's a song of hope, really, and turns out the hope came to fruition.

- Yeah, and I was up with, you know, Phil Cunningham then?

- [Host] Yeah.

- He was living up in near Inverness, Beauly.

And I was talking to him on the phone box.

There's only one phone box up there.

It was like "Local Hero", the film.

- Right, yeah.

- You'll know of that if you're watching the old '80s films.

But "Local Hero", so there's this phone box and Phil's in the house and his phone.

Was he working or something?

So I went out and I wanted some privacy anyways to talk to John.

- Yes.

- And he played it to me down the phone in Beauly.

And that was 20 years ago and then, this Christmas John phoned up this shop in Beauly and got me this lovely jerkin as a kind of- - No way, amazing.

- I know!

I saw it up there in Beauly and he found it and he got me it, so it's kept me warm in these freezing days.

- Indeed, yes, yes.

- So we're gonna try to sing.

I think you're gonna sing it with me, are you?

- Yeah, I'll sing with you.

- [Host] You'll warm us up with it.

- Okay.

Sonny and Cher mark two, here we go [chuckles].

[tender guitar music] ♪ Beauty is within grasp ♪ ♪ Hear the highlands call ♪ ♪ The last mile is upon us ♪ ♪ I'll carry you if you fall ♪ ♪ I know the armor's heavy now ♪ ♪ I know the heart inside ♪ ♪ It's beautiful let's go over ♪ ♪ The wild mountainside ♪ ♪ Snow is falling all over ♪ ♪ Out of clear blue skies ♪ ♪ Crow is flying high over ♪ ♪ You and I are gonna wander ♪ ♪ High up where the air is rare ♪ ♪ Wild horses ride ♪ ♪ It's beautiful just over ♪ ♪ The wild mountainside ♪ ♪ Wild and free ♪ ♪ We roam ♪ ♪ Only a mile ♪ ♪ To go ♪ [nostalgic guitar music] [nostalgic guitar music continues] Ah Seamie, brilliant too.

♪ Wild and free we roam ♪ ♪ Only a mile ♪ ♪ To go ♪ Come on, John.

♪ Beauty is within grasp ♪ ♪ Hear the highlands call ♪ ♪ The last mile is upon us ♪ ♪ I'll carry you if you fall ♪ ♪ I know the armor's heavy now ♪ ♪ I know the heart inside ♪ ♪ It's beautiful let's go over ♪ ♪ The wild mountainside ♪ ♪ It's beautiful let's go over ♪ ♪ The wild mountainside ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Let's go round the mountain ♪ ♪ Wee mile to go ♪ [speaks in foreign language] [nostalgic guitar music] I'm okay, I'm okay.

Happily [indistinct].

♪ Yeah ooh ♪ That's me copying Judy.

[Judy chuckles] Inspired by.

[nostalgic guitar music] - [Judy] Gorgeous, gorgeous.

[music fades gently] - Ah, so special.

[group claps] So special - So special.

Oh my God.

- Beautiful.

What a- - It's a lovely story.

- pleasure and it's a beautiful song.

- How can I not marry him?

That's all it took was a verse and a chorus, I'm that easy.

- But how gorgeous to be sat a couple of feet away from you when you're singing that together?

Really, really beautiful.

Thank you so much.

And Seamie, beautiful playing there.

- We're in love.

- You're feeling the love, weaving the spell.

Fantastic.

Blanid, you have another song for us?

- I do indeed.

The song's called "Hollow".

- [Host] Okay.

[gentle guitar strumming] ♪ Hollow ♪ ♪ Swallow your fear ♪ ♪ Shout out louder you'll heal ♪ ♪ Don't you fall before your time ♪ ♪ Oh come to me put your hand in mine ♪ ♪ Together we can walk the line ♪ [warm guitar music] ♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Open smoke in your eyes ♪ ♪ Can't you see their disguise ♪ ♪ Smiles are fake when writing talks ♪ ♪ [indistinct] Tears of the heart or not ♪ ♪ Made it start can't make it stop ♪ ♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ So take off ♪ ♪ Make for the sky ♪ ♪ See how high you can fly ♪ ♪ Soar up above the clouds ♪ ♪ It's time to leap ♪ ♪ Not a time to bow ♪ ♪ Do it now ♪ ♪ You know you know how ♪ ♪ Don't you worry now my love ♪ ♪ You will fly miles above ♪ ♪ Don't you worry now my love ♪ ♪ You will fly above our eyes ♪ ♪ Hollow ♪ ♪ Swallow your fear ♪ ♪ Shout out louder you'll heal ♪ ♪ Don't you fall before your time ♪ ♪ Oh come to me put in your hand in mine ♪ ♪ Together we can walk the line ♪ - [Eddi] Oh wow.

[group claps] - A star, a star is born [chuckles].

- Thank you.

- Tell us about that, that's so beautiful.

- Thanks very much.

Yeah, it's, it's kind of an amalgamation of different things, I suppose.

I started thinking about all the advice that my parents had given me over the years and that I'd given to my friends and they'd given to me.

And I was thinking one day about, you know, my life and advice I would give my former self.

And so I took all those wonderful things that people had said to me and tried to make something uplifting and positive out of it, so I hope it does that.

- Oh, it's gorgeous.

- Lovely, it's lovely.

- It's gorgeous.

Well, speaking of uplifting and positive, Eddi.

- Yeah.

- Robbie Burns.

- Well, you've got a song called "Curragh of Kildare", which you know.

But I know it as Robert Burns' "The Winter It Is Passed".

And Robert Burns, well, he's what?

1780-something it would've been written.

I don't know what came first.

If Robert Burns heard "Curragh of Kildare" and then stole it and made "The Winter It Is Passed".

- Adapted, adapted.

- Or the other way, or adapt, the other way, whatever.

Whatever they did.

[host laughs] So I'm gonna put the both verses in anyway.

They're both using the same verses, except for the livery I will wear verse and then, except for Robert Burns' her love or his love is like the sun or the moon, you know, whatever.

So my love is like the sun, his love is like the moon.

It wanders up and doon.

We'll have a wee go at it anyway, so.

[warm guitar music] ♪ Aye the winter it is past ♪ ♪ And the summer's come at last ♪ ♪ And the small birds are singing in the trees ♪ ♪ Their little hearts are glad ♪ ♪ Oh but mine is very sad ♪ ♪ For my true love has parted from me ♪ ♪ And all you who are in love ♪ ♪ And cannot it remove ♪ ♪ I pity all the pain that you endure ♪ ♪ For experience lets me know ♪ ♪ That your hearts are full of woe ♪ ♪ It's a woe that no mortal can cure ♪ [uplifting guitar music] ♪ Oh livery I will wear ♪ ♪ And I'll comb back my yellow hair ♪ ♪ And in velvet so green I will appear ♪ ♪ And straight I will repair ♪ ♪ To the Curragh of Kildare ♪ ♪ For its there I'll find tidings of my dear ♪ ♪ My love is like the sun ♪ ♪ And the firmament does run ♪ ♪ Is ever constant and true ♪ ♪ But his is like the moon ♪ ♪ Aye it wanders up and doon ♪ ♪ And is every month ♪ ♪ Changing changing ♪ [uplifting guitar music] [uplifting guitar music continues] - Come on, Seamie.

♪ Ah the winter it is past ♪ ♪ And the summer's come at last ♪ ♪ And the small birds are singing in the trees ♪ ♪ Their little hearts are blest ♪ ♪ Aye their little lives at rest ♪ ♪ But my true love ♪ ♪ Is parted away from me ♪ ♪ Aye the winter it is past ♪ [music fades gently] [group laughs] - [Host] Gorgeous!

[group claps] Ah, it's just beautiful.

Great.

Well, Judy, what an absolute pleasure it has been to have you in in the room with us here.

- Oh my God, I am the one.

I am the one who is privileged to be here.

This is amazing, it's amazing.

It lifts me up, you know, and takes me back [chuckles].

It's wonderful.

- We're gonna maybe sing a song that- - Okay.

- means a lot to you.

Do you wanna?

- I will, I'll tell you about it.

People don't necessarily know this about the song.

It was written by a man named John Newton, and when I recorded it in 1969, I didn't know anything about John Newton.

I knew the song from childhood and I sang it at a gathering of a group of people that I was doing kind of uplifting gathering with.

And they said, "Why don't you sing a song?'

And I sang this because I know it from childhood and it calmed everybody down.

People were having problems getting along together.

So I sang this song and then a few years later and it became a big hit around the country, not only, in fact, it started here in England.

And then it was four years later that I got a package in the mail from a guy named Steve Turner.

And Steve Turner was sending me a manuscript and he said, "I want you to write the introduction to this song."

And it was called "The Life of John Newton".

Well, I didn't know who John Newton was.

- Okay.

- I didn't know the history.

So he said, "I want you to write the introduction because you opened the song up again to the world."

It was kind of dropping out of the hymnals and it kind of was disappearing.

And so then I found out about John Newton who was a slave trader.

He was a captain of a slave ship and he was a very bad guy.

He had a shipwreck off the coast of Derry.

He changed his life, went to only started writing hymns, and this was his first song, "Amazing Grace".

- [Host] Amazing.

- You want me to sing a little?

- Yeah, I would love you to, and I wanna say thanks as well to to Tad and to Stu, who are wonderful musicians.

- Oh yes, Tad and Stu.

[group claps] They're so fabulous.

And you're all so fabulous.

Thank you, thank you for, oh my God, touching and gorgeous music, and thank you.

- Thank you.

[tender piano music] ♪ Amazing grace ♪ ♪ How sweet the sound ♪ ♪ That saved me a wretch like me ♪ ♪ I once was lost ♪ ♪ But now I'm found ♪ ♪ Was blind but now I see ♪ I would like you to sing along with me.

♪ When we've been here ten thousand years ♪ ♪ Bright shining as the sun ♪ ♪ We've no less days ♪ ♪ To sing God's praise ♪ ♪ Than when we first begun ♪ Amazing grace.

♪ Amazing grace ♪ ♪ How sweet the sound ♪ ♪ That saved a wretch like me ♪ ♪ I once was lost ♪ ♪ But now I'm found ♪ ♪ Was blind but now I see ♪ [soulful piano music] - Ah, beautiful!

[groups claps] Judy, you're the best.

[host speaking in foreign language] for watching TradFest, the Fingal Sessions.

Judy Collins, Eddi Reader, Blanid, and Aidan Connolly.

See you soon.

[host speaking in foreign language] [no audio] [no audio]