[lively folk music] [lively folk music continues] - On this episode of "TradFest: The Fingal Sessions," we're thrilled to be joined by Moya Brennan with her son Paul and her daughter Aisling, Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh, Ralph McTell, and Bridin.

[lively folk music] Woohoo!

You're very welcome to "TradFest: The Fingal Sessions."

We're coming to you from the Great Hall here in Malahide Castle on a joyful celebration of Irish identity through music.

We have so many legendary musical figures on tonight's show, including a man so beloved here in Ireland that he must have honorary citizenship at this stage.

Ralph McTell, you're very welcome to TradFest.

- Oh, thank you very much.

I'm glad to be here.

- It's great to see you.

- Glad to be here.

- It's uncanny, how, you know, so many people feel there's a real Irish-ness in some of your songs.

There's a real connection to here.

Where did that come from?

- It goes way back, I think.

I grew up with Irish people, and there was a big wave of Irish migration into England in the '50s when they were rebuilding the country, and that was when I was sort of first aware and the Irish accent meant something to me.

Then, when I was five or six, I had an accident, and when I came out of hospital after about six weeks, I had an Irish accent because of the nurse who looked after me, you know?

So I think it goes back then, and I, you know, had Irish friends, and- - "From Clare to Here," I mean, many people think that's actually an Irish traditional song.

- The best compliment I could ever have.

- Isn't that nice?

[group laughs] How great.

- A friend of mine said to me, it's in a book.

Apparently, it was written during the famine.

[group laughing] And, you know, so yeah.

- Yeah, yeah.

- I said, "Well, okay.

I'll take that.

I don't mind."

- You'll do it for us?

- I'll try and do it for you.

- Yeah.

- I should just tell you, actually, the story behind it.

- Please do.

- I was working on a building site, following the advice of Woody Guthrie, one of my heroes, and working in manual jobs, and I was working with a young fella and we were in a trench and I was trying to make conversation.

He was a very shy boy.

His name was Michael.

And I said, you know, in an effort to kind of break the ice, I sort of said, "It must be very strange for you, Michael, being here in England from where you come from."

And he was just, "It's a long way from Clare to here."

And it was a one-line poem, you know?

and when I came to write the song, ah, that's what I'm gonna use, that line.

So that's how it came about.

[solemn folk music] [solemn folk music continues] ♪ There's four who share this room ♪ ♪ And we work hard for the crack ♪ ♪ And sleeping late on Sundays, well, I never get to Mass ♪ ♪ It's a long way from Clare to here ♪ ♪ It's a long way from Clare to here ♪ ♪ It's a long, long way, and it gets further day by day ♪ ♪ It's a long way from Clare to here ♪ ♪ When Friday comes around, well, Terry's only into fighting ♪ ♪ My ma would like a letter home ♪ ♪ But I'm too tired for writing ♪ ♪ It's a long way from Clare to here ♪ ♪ It's a long way from Clare to here ♪ ♪ It's a long, long way, and it gets further day by day ♪ ♪ It's a long way from Clare to here ♪ ♪ And it almost breaks my heart when I think about Josephine ♪ ♪ I told her I'd be coming home ♪ ♪ With pockets full of green ♪ ♪ Oh, it's a long way from Clare to here ♪ ♪ It's a long way from Clare to here ♪ ♪ It's a long, long way, and it gets further day by day ♪ ♪ It's a long way from Clare ♪ ♪ And now the only time I feel all right ♪ ♪ Is when I'm into drinking ♪ ♪ It sort of eases the pain of it ♪ ♪ And it levels out my thinking ♪ ♪ It's a long way from Clare to here ♪ ♪ It's a long way from Clare to here ♪ ♪ It's a long, long way, and it gets further day by day ♪ ♪ It's a long way from Clare to here ♪ [solemn folk music] [solemn folk music continues] ♪ And I sometimes hear a fiddle play ♪ ♪ Or maybe it's a notion ♪ ♪ I dream I see white horses dance upon that other ocean ♪ ♪ It's a long way from Clare to here ♪ ♪ It's a long way from Clare to here ♪ ♪ It's a long, long way, and it gets further day by day ♪ ♪ It's a long way from Clare to here ♪ ♪ It's a long way ♪ ♪ From Clare to here ♪ [group applauds] - Gorgeous, Ralph.

Thank you so much.

- [Ralph] My pleasure.

- Inspiration to be found on building sites.

There's no doubt about that.

- Well, yeah.

If you look around, you'll find something.

I never forgot young Michael.

I remember he was only about 15, I think, and he was lying about his age and working like a man, you know.

- [Fiachna] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Wasn't even shaving, you know?

He was that young.

- Yes, yeah, yeah.

- Yeah, I wonder what happened to him.

- Goodness me.

- Yeah.

- Amazing.

Well, thank you so much.

- Since those days.

- You're in a great voice.

You're in great voice.

You really are.

- Well, thank you.

- Sounds great.

Sounds great.

Bridin.

- Hello.

- Great to see you.

- You too.

- Great to see you.

Listen, you are playing a stormer at the moment, having a great time with your debut album now.

Congratulations.

- Yes, thank you so much.

- It's flying for you, isn't it?

- Thank you.

Yes.

I'm getting loads of great opportunities and I love getting opportunities to play with these amazing musicians and the likes.

It's great.

Yeah.

- Fantastic.

You first appeared on my radar through your collaboration with Clare Sands.

- Yes!

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

"Iontach Bheith Beo."

- [Fiachna] "Iontach Bheith Beo," which is- - Yeah, in Sligo.

- In Sligo, exactly.

[Bridin laughing] That's such a great song, such a celebratory song, but there's celebration in your music, I mean.

- Well, that song as well, she spent a week.

Like, we were all undertakers at home, so she spent a week with undertakers and wrote a song with me about it's good to be alive.

[group laughs] So, we couldn't help but be joyous, you know?

But that's where I would, I'd guess, you know, I find music is like an emotional outlet for me with my job, 'cause it can be quite heavy sometimes too.

So I kind of like to just go as far away into my own little world as I can.

- To hide away.

- To my hideaway.

- To your hideaway.

So, this is the opening track on your record?

- Yes, I thought this was a good introduction track to the album because it's about how I like to slip away into my own little world, and I also think the development of it as well, with the looping, so I'm using loop pedals and effects pedals, it kind of draws you in, I think.

- Yes.

- A bit more, yeah.

- Loop pedals.

I mean, it's like sorcery to me.

Mairead, you're into this loop pedal?

- Sorry, I can't even use my phone, so I don't know how.

[group chuckling] [group laughing drowns out Bridin] - I love the idea of it though.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- I mean, when I was starting to learn how to use it though, it nearly went out the window a lot of times.

- Right.

- Very frustrating at times, but it looks grand now, but it's very, when it goes wrong, it's wrong.

- [Fiachna] Right.

- Technology doesn't forgive you, so.

[Bridin chuckles] - Mairead, you're gonna join Bridin?

- Yes, I am.

- I'm so lucky.

- Help her loop.

- Help her loop.

Okay.

- I'm so lucky.

- I'm so privileged.

- Brilliant.

"Hideaway."

[gentle folk music] [gentle folk music continues] [gentle folk music continues] [gentle folk music continues] [gentle folk music continues] [gentle folk music continues] [gentle folk music continues] [Bridin vocalizing] [Bridin continues vocalizing] [Bridin continues vocalizing] [Bridin continues vocalizing] [Bridin continues vocalizing] [Bridin continues vocalizing] [Bridin continues vocalizing] ♪ I slip away, I slip away ♪ ♪ I slip away, I slip away ♪ ♪ I slip away ♪ ♪ I slip away, I slip away ♪ ♪ I slip away ♪ ♪ I slip away, I slip away ♪ ♪ To my hideaway ♪ ♪ To my hideaway ♪ ♪ To my hideaway ♪ ♪ To my hideaway ♪ ♪ To my hideaway ♪ [gentle folk music] [looped voice vocalizing] [gentle folk music continues] [gentle folk music continues] [gentle folk music continues] ♪ I slip away, I slip away ♪ ♪ I slip away ♪ ♪ I slip away, I slip away ♪ ♪ I slip away ♪ ♪ I slip away, I slip away ♪ ♪ I slip away ♪ ♪ I slip away, I slip away ♪ ♪ To my hideaway ♪ ♪ To my hideaway ♪ ♪ To my hideaway ♪ ♪ To my hideaway ♪ ♪ To my hideaway ♪ ♪ To my hideaway ♪ ♪ To my hideaway ♪ ♪ To my hideaway ♪ ♪ To my hideaway ♪ [gentle folk music] [looped voice vocalizes] [gentle folk music continues] [gentle folk music continues] [gentle folk music continues] - Wow.

- Great.

[group applauding] - [Bridin] Thank you.

[Bridin giggles] - I think we've all slipped away to your hideaway.

[group laughs] - [Moya] That was lovely.

- That was amazing.

- Thank you.

- Moya, the looping half.

- Wow.

- [Fiachna] It's something.

- It's so open for something like that when you think of harp and strings and everything, but, like, it's such an accomplishment.

It's fantastic, and your voice and everything, I really loved that.

That was great.

- Thank you so much.

That's such a huge compliment coming from you.

[group laughs] I'm, like, shaking.

- No, it was great.

I really enjoyed that - Moya and Mairead.

- Yes.

- Absolutely delightful to have the two.

[Fiachna speaks in Irish] Join our mass, the two queens of Gweedore here.

What an honor.

What are the chances that, you know, from one tiny pocket of Ireland, that we have, you know, you've created two groups who've enjoyed this incredible worldwide success with Clannad and with Alton.

It's an amazing thing.

- I followed her steps.

[group laughs] [group laughing drowns out speaker] - You know, was there something in the water?

What was it about the place from your upbringing?

- I think it's still there.

- [Fiachna] It's still there?

- Yeah.

- It's the Inisheer.

- There's a lot of musicians still there.

- Well, you've kind of made sure it's still there, Moya.

You know, you've always had a huge interest in passing on to the next generation.

- Yeah, I have an open stage up there in my father's pub that I like to sort of just, you know, Mairead does it in the trad and I kind of do it more in the folk world, or, you know.

It's one thing to rehearse and practice all you want.

You have to get on stage to really feel that.

- Yeah.

- Especially something like music that you don't have to, it's not a heavy thing to carry, and you can bring a lot of joy to people.

- Oh, it gets rid of heaviness.

You know?

[group laughs] Moya, you've got a song for us now that sort of celebrates the beauty of Gweedore.

- Oh, well, isn't there songs about everywhere in Ireland?

- [Fiachna] Yeah.

- Any rock or stone or anything, and they'll write a song about it, but this is, in my father's pub growing up, you know, and I would be serving there, whatever, but he'd have, there'd be a lot of singers that would come into the pub, and he'd always get them up singing, and so I heard some great songs, and this is one that I heard from a guy called Neddy Gallagher, but he was known as Neddy Mary Huey, Mary being his mother and then Huey being his grandfather on his mom's side.

That's how we knew him, but he used to sing this song and he gave it to me, and it's just a beautiful song, and it sort of describes the area of a place called Gaoith Barra, not far from Gweedore, and the poet that wrote this song, he describes the beauty of the place, but in the last verse, he prays to Conal and Padraig that, when he dies, his preference would be his soul to drift in a leaf through Gaoith Barra.

That would be his heaven, you know?

- Amazing.

- So, yeah.

- [Fiachna] Poetic.

- So, it's called "Gaoith Barra Na D'Tonn."

- "Gaoith Barra Na D'Tonn."

[Moya singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [Fiachna speaks in Irish] [group applauding] - You put a longing on me to go and visit your neck of the woods again.

The last time I was there was with you, and I haven't went since, and I have to go back.

- Have you got the visa?

- I know.

- Have you got the visa now?

- No.

I'm working on it.

- You have to get the visa to go over.

[Mairead speaks in Irish] - Can you help me with that?

- Well, talk to me properly now.

- I will talk to you.

[group laughs] - Let me play a tune.

- I'd love to play a tune with you.

You've asked me to play a tune.

Tell me, what are we gonna play together?

[group laughs] - I think you're introducing me.

[Mairead laughs] - I will, but you're introducing the tunes.

- Oh, yeah.

Well, "Beidh Aonach Amarach."

- [Fiachna] "Beidh Aonach Amarach."

"Beidh Aonach Amarach."

- Okay, right, so.

- But this is a different version, 'cause this is a song that I know from my childhood.

- So this is "Beidh Aonach Amarach," which means there's a fair tomorrow in the County Clare, and everybody in the country knows this song from school, but I got this version from a neighbor of mine called Brian Danny Minnie O Domhnaill, and he's a gorgeous singer, and it has a few different verses, but the story is wild.

It's about this mother trying to kind of tell her daughter, "Well, you're not allowed to go to the fair because you fancy the cobbler," and she's saying, "Well, you know, I do."

You know, but so the mother says, "I know you're too young."

[Mairead speaks in Irish] "You're only 10 or 11."

[Mairead speaks in Irish] "So when you're 13, you're old enough."

[group laughs] [Fiachna indistinctly mutters] - Where was that going?

- Where was that going, indeed.

- So, I'll sing it.

- Okay.

- You follow me.

- I will.

I will.

[lively folk music] [Mairead and Fiachna singing in Irish] [Mairead and Fiachna continue singing in Irish] [Mairead and Fiachna continue singing in Irish] [Mairead and Fiachna continue singing in Irish] [Mairead and Fiachna continue singing in Irish] [Mairead and Fiachna continue singing in Irish] [Mairead continues singing in Irish] [Mairead and Fiachna continue singing in Irish] [lively folk music] [lively folk music continues] [Mairead singing in Irish] [Mairead and Fiachna continue singing in Irish] [Mairead continues singing in Irish] [Mairead continues singing in Irish] [group singing in Irish] [lively folk music] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [singer scatting] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [group applauds] [Mairead laughs] [Fiachna indistinctly mutters] [Mairead speaks in Irish] - Thanks, everybody, for joining in on that.

- [Mairead] Yes.

Thank you.

Giving me a bit of dig out for sure.

- Thanks, Aisling.

I appreciate it.

Oh.

Ralph, you have a song that is inspired by Bob Dylan or a Bob Dylan sleeve?

- Yeah.

- Which is it?

[Fiachna laughs] - It's, well, Bob, of course.

I mean, where would we be?

First of all, they weren't anything like this before Bob.

- [Host] Before Bob, yeah, yeah.

- I remember sitting, I was in my mom's kitchen, with a harmonica wedged in the kitchen drawer, and she walked, came, and looked at me and went, "Oh," and just walked out again.

[group laughs] So I made one out of a coat hanger, which nearly blinded me, but, in the end, these things came out, and then I was traveling the same sort of path as Bob.

I'd written to Woody Guthrie and all that and playing those songs, and I bought his first album when I was 17, and then, in 1963, the second album came out, and on the front cover was a picture of Bob walking down a street, which I now know is West 4th Street and Jones in New York City, and he had a beautiful girl on his arm, and I've read the whole history of this photograph.

You know, you could write a whole essay on it, but, basically, it was just so full of optimism, and, in 1963, the world was changing.

It was gonna be our world, it was gonna be our turn, and that picture sums it up for me, and it's sort of an icon, I think, and I was musing on it fairly recently, and I came up with this song.

I called it "West 4th Street and Jones."

- Oh, great.

[idyllic folk music] [idyllic folk music continues] [idyllic folk music continues] ♪ February '63, the cold would chill your bones ♪ ♪ There's a couple walking down the road ♪ ♪ West 4th Street and Jones ♪ ♪ Shoulders hunched against the cold ♪ ♪ They walk through melting snow ♪ ♪ She smiles for the camera ♪ ♪ He affected not to know ♪ [idyllic folk music] ♪ His hands deep in his pockets, his head was slightly bowed ♪ ♪ All the studied nonchalance that the weather would allow ♪ ♪ Her arms wrapped round him like a shawl ♪ ♪ To keep him from the cold ♪ ♪ Love so warm can melt away ♪ ♪ What once she had to hold ♪ [idyllic folk music] [idyllic folk music continues] ♪ Spring came late in '63, it faded like a kiss ♪ ♪ Winter came in early and landed like a fist ♪ ♪ When Kennedy got shot ♪ ♪ In that Lincoln limousine ♪ ♪ Drenched us all in blood and splintered bone ♪ ♪ Right on our TV screen ♪ [idyllic folk music] [idyllic folk music continues] ♪ When I kissed my girl on Gower Street, how was I to know ♪ ♪ That we'd begun to drift apart as I stumbled through Soho ♪ ♪ In the unforgiving neon light ♪ ♪ The words she couldn't speak ♪ ♪ Were written in her mascara ♪ ♪ That dried upon my cheek ♪ [idyllic folk music] [idyllic folk music continues] ♪ But the world will keep on turning ♪ ♪ Young lovers drift apart ♪ ♪ Bob and Suze's rhyming steps ♪ ♪ Leave their footprints on the heart ♪ ♪ In the jingle jangle morning ♪ ♪ Dylan and Rotolo ♪ ♪ In a freeze frame photograph ♪ ♪ Eternally, tomorrow ♪ [idyllic folk music] [idyllic folk music continues] - What a great song, Ralph.

[group applauds] - Great photograph.

- That's right.

- Yeah.

- It is a great photograph.

I know that, Suze Rotolo, he used her her lipstick as a slide on one of the- - Yeah, that's right.

On the first album, yeah.

All those image-making things, you know, and- - But what a beautiful song.

That's a recent song.

- Well, everything's recent, I mean.

[group laughs] It's about five years old, but it's one of the newer ones.

Put it that way.

- Is it on your recent record?

- It's on the new album, yeah.

Yeah.

We did a live version of it, actually.

I tried it in the studio, but, you know, sometimes, you can be too nitpicky, and we took a song off of a live show and did it and it was fine.

- The guitar, harmonica, and voice.

It's perfect like that.

Well, it's fun to play and I love it, and Bob got to hear it, and he wrote and told me he liked it.

He wrote and he said, "Tell Ralph he made an old man cry."

- Oh.

- Which I thought was rather nice.

- That's amazing.

Amazing, amazing.

- Yeah.

[Fiachna indistinctly murmurs] - Bridin.

- You're back to me.

- Speaking of cry.

[group laughs] You have a heartbreaking song inspired by your grandfather.

- My granddad, yeah.

My best bud.

- [Fiachna] Uh-huh?

- He's the best.

He lost his wife, my Granny Bridie, when she was just 50, and I've always grown up with this sadness for him, you know, because he'd always have a tear in his eye, thinking about her, and, you know, they were just pure dotes and played music together and it was just so lovely, and to lose her at such a young age was just devastating.

I was then born on her birthday.

That's why they called me Bridin.

- Nice.

- And she's Bridie Mhaoldomhnaigh, but this is all about how, you know, his house, nothing has changed one single bit since she died.

You know, the wallpaper hanging off the wall.

That's the wallpaper Bridie wanted, you know?

- Yeah.

- And everything is where it was exactly, and when I was putting the album together, this song just would not leave my head, and I was like, "If I just write it, I can put it away and focus on the album."

[Bridin chuckles] - Okay.

Wow.

- And then I finished it, and I was like, "Oh, I love it," so.

- It's gotta be on the album.

- Gotta be on the album.

Yeah.

So, he has dementia now, so he didn't get to hear it, unfortunately, but I definitely still have loads of fun playing with him and everything, so.

- Ah, amazing, and Mairead, you're gonna join in this as well?

- I'll try.

I'll try.

- I'm going to nab her for this one as well.

- [Fiachna] You're gonna nab her for this as well.

- It's called "Will We Meet Again."

- This is the beauty of being in this room.

- Yes, we can play away.

- What is it called again?

Sorry, Bridin.

- "Will We Meet Again."

- [Fiachna] "Will We Meet Again."

- So, I can be quite spiritual as well, so I believe that there is a spiritual world, so there's that in it too.

- Cool.

[tender folk music] [tender folk music continues] ♪ Will we meet again in the clouds and the stars ♪ ♪ Or is that just a thought we think 'til we die ♪ ♪ We don't have much time, when you think of it too ♪ ♪ But I loved the time that I spent with you ♪ ♪ Ooh, ah ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Oh, I wish you could stay ♪ ♪ Ooh, ah ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ But I know you're okay ♪ ♪ Now I'm in your room and I feel lost in time ♪ ♪ 'Cause I can't move a thing you put your hands on ♪ ♪ And I know you would laugh if you saw me too ♪ ♪ Protecting these objects like a statue of you ♪ ♪ Ooh, ah ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Oh, I wish you could stay ♪ ♪ Ooh, ah ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ But I know you're okay ♪ ♪ Now that you're gone, I feel so lost inside ♪ ♪ Guess we hadn't accounted for this change in our lives ♪ ♪ Will I ever feel like me without you ♪ ♪ Please help me along, like I would help you ♪ ♪ Ooh, ah ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Oh, I wish you could stay ♪ ♪ Ooh, ah ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ But I know you're okay ♪ ♪ Ooh, ah ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ah ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Will we meet again in the clouds and the stars ♪ ♪ Or is that just a thought we think 'til we die ♪ ♪ We don't have much time, when you think of it too ♪ ♪ But I loved the time that I spent with you ♪ [tender folk music] [tender folk music continues] [tender folk music continues] [group applauds] - Gorgeous.

[Bridin giggles] Gorgeous.

Moya, you have a song that is kind of written in memoriam sort of as well, haven't you?

- Yeah, and I suppose, you know, when you go to do albums and everything, you don't go on thinking that you're gonna write a song about somebody that has passed away, but, you know, I was making this album with Aisling and Paul, and Padraig, a member of Clannad, who's an uncle only three years older than me, but we grew up basically in the same area.

[Moya speaks in Irish] And, when I was making this album, Paul had lovely kind of moments and things made out on keys, and it just sort of, I started to think about, not what we did together, but just the memories of growing up when we were young.

- [Fiachna] Yeah.

- You know, making our own fishing rods and going up the mountain to fish in the little streams, and there's a mountain right behind us, and running up the mountains and just listening, you know, to the radio, to the new songs, you know, and, you know, trying to tune into Radio Caroline or Radio Luxembourg and just all the lovely memories, and I suppose with Padraig having passed six years ago, you know, it's funny calling them uncle, they're more brothers, but his twin brother Noel left, just passed away there in October, and it really is the same for me, because I did the same thing with the two of them.

They were really a couplet.

They were really twins and they just did everything together.

So, it's called "Nuair a Bhi Og," - [Fiachna] "Nuair a Bhi Og."

- Which is "When We Were Young."

- Of course, they were your musical band mates as well since the beginning.

- Yeah, yeah.

Two of the Clannad are now gone, so, yeah.

Sad, but that's the way the world.

- "Nuair a Bhi Og."

- "Nuair a Bhi Og."

[solemn folk music] [solemn folk music continues] [solemn folk music continues] [solemn folk music continues] [solemn folk music continues] [Moya singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [group continues singing in Irish] [group continues singing in Irish] [group continues singing in Irish] [solemn folk music continues] [solemn folk music continues] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [Moya continues singing in Irish] [group continues singing in Irish] [group continues singing in Irish] [group continues singing in Irish] [group continues singing in Irish] [singers vocalizing] [singers continue vocalizing] [singers continue vocalizing] [singers continue vocalizing] [Moya singing in Irish] [group continues singing in Irish] [group continues singing in Irish] [group continues singing in Irish] [group continues singing in Irish] - [Ralph] That was really well done.

[Fiachna speaks in Irish] - [Moya] Thank you.

[group applauds] - That was gorgeous.

- [Mairead] Beautiful.

- Yeah.

- Beautiful.

[Fiachna speaks in Irish] - [Moya] Yeah.

- Did the three of you write that together?

- Yeah.

- What an amazing thing.

Beautiful.

It's great to hear that gorgeous circular piano thing.

Is that what kicked you off, Moya?

- It was that.

- Yeah.

- It was that vibe, the feeling of that kind of made you feel what you did.

- Yeah, no.

Absolutely.

It was great writing with them, because, you know, having made 19 albums with Clannad and nine of my own and some with Cormac, it was just, you know, I am who I am, as far as, you know, I'll always be my style and that.

- [Fiachna] Yeah.

- But because they're different influences, it's just nice for them to kind of bring something new to me.

- That's beautiful.

- So, that was what was interesting, and great working with them as well.

- Oh, that's gorgeous.

Thank you.

- It's a pleasure.

- Mairead, rumor has it you have a few more reels for us.

- Okay.

[group laughs] Well, see, I'm from Donegal and I play Highland as well.

- Oh, yeah?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- The reel is called "The Red Crow," and it's a reel I composed about 15 years ago.

- Okay.

So, it's in A minor, so please join in, anyone.

It's an A minor chord, so please join in.

[lively folk music] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] - [Bridin] I can't believe it.

- My God, Thank you.

[group applauds] - Ralph McTell, you have another song now that is pretty much considered to be, you know, an anthem here in Ireland, like almost as big as the Irish national anthem.

- Oh my goodness.

I didn't know that.

- And you were 22 when you wrote this song?

- Well, I was 22 when I started it, I think.

No, actually, I was younger than that, because I was in Paris in 1965, and I wanted to write a song about the people that were sleeping out over the hot air gratings, you know?

I'd seen all over Paris, and then there's already a piece of music called "The Poor People of Paris," so when I started working, I just changed it around to London.

So it didn't get finished for quite a few years, and it was actually ready for my first album, but I'd gone off it by then.

I offered to a folk singer, and he said, "Oh, it's too sad, mate," and I'm like, "Oh, yeah, absolutely, isn't it?"

But I put it on the second one.

- Okay.

- And the rest is history.

- The rest is history.

- Yeah.

- Amazing.

So, you would like me to play it?

If you follow it and you want to sing along, that would be nice.

- Okay.

- Especially the choruses.

So, this is it.

[gentle folk music] [gentle folk music continues] ♪ Have you seen the old man ♪ ♪ In the closed down market ♪ ♪ Kicking up the papers ♪ ♪ With his worn-out shoes ♪ ♪ In his eyes, you see no pride ♪ ♪ Hand held loosely at his side ♪ ♪ Yesterday's paper ♪ ♪ Telling yesterday's news ♪ ♪ So, how can you tell me you're lonely ♪ ♪ And you say for you that the sun don't shine ♪ ♪ Let me take you by the hand ♪ ♪ And lead you through the streets of London ♪ ♪ And I'll show you something to make you change your mind ♪ [gentle folk music] ♪ Have you seen the old gal ♪ ♪ Who walks the streets of London ♪ ♪ Dirt in her hair ♪ ♪ And her clothes in rags ♪ ♪ She's no time for talking ♪ ♪ She just keeps right on walking ♪ ♪ Carrying her home ♪ ♪ In two carrier bags ♪ ♪ So, how can you tell me that you're lonely ♪ ♪ And you say for you that the sun don't shine ♪ ♪ Let me take you by the hand ♪ ♪ And lead you through the streets of London ♪ ♪ And I'll show you something to make you change your mind ♪ [gentle folk music] [gentle folk music continues] ♪ In the all-night cafe ♪ ♪ At a quarter past 11 ♪ ♪ That same old man ♪ ♪ Sitting there on his own ♪ ♪ Looking at the world ♪ ♪ Over the rim of his tea cup ♪ ♪ And each tea lasts an hour ♪ ♪ And he wanders home alone ♪ ♪ So, how can you tell me you're lonely ♪ ♪ Don't say for you that the sun don't shine ♪ ♪ Let me take you by the hand ♪ ♪ And lead you through the streets of London ♪ ♪ I'll show you something to make you change your mind ♪ [gentle folk music] ♪ Have you seen the old man ♪ ♪ Outside the seaman's mission ♪ ♪ Memory fading with ♪ ♪ The medal ribbons that he wears ♪ ♪ In our winter city ♪ ♪ The rain cries a little pity ♪ ♪ For one more forgotten hero ♪ ♪ And a world that doesn't care ♪ ♪ So, how can you tell me that you're lonely ♪ ♪ And you say for you that the sun don't shine ♪ ♪ Let me take you by the hand ♪ ♪ And lead you through the streets of London ♪ ♪ I'll show you something ♪ ♪ To make you change your mind ♪ - Wow.

- The end.

- Thank you very much.

[group applauds] - Thank you for singing.

- What a pleasure to be sitting beside you as you're singing that great song.

- Thank you very much.

- So great.

- Thanks for singing.

[Fiachna speaks in Irish] For watching "TradFest: The Fingal Sessions," coming to you from the Great Hall in Malahide with Moya Brennan and her son Paul and her daughter Aisling, and Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh, and Ralph McTell, and Bridin.

We'll see you soon.

[Fiachna speaks in Irish] [no audio] [no audio] [no audio] [no audio]