Welcome to Jimmy’s Blog
Posted on Sep 7, 2010 in Blog |
Over the coming weeks and months we will be posting articles by Jimmy on songwriting and music. Join us on Facebook by liking his fan page to receive each post automatically on your profile.
‘Hey Ho Believe’ Jimmy MacCarthy new album
Now over the last eighteen months following a five year sabbatical Jimmy has returned to stage , and stage craft with nothing less than a stunning rejuvenation. Jimmy will now be performing upcoming concerts, with legendary musician Donal Lunny, and on keyboard Graham Henderson these include; National Concert Hall Dublin on the 29th of November, and the Cork opera house on December the 5th.
With a new album under his belt ‘Hey Ho Believe’ has eleven previously unrecorded works, produced by ace producer Donal Lunny. Musicians feature a dream wish list of Irish studio players on bass: Eoghan O’Neill, guitars: Anthony Drennan, drums: Liam Bradley, Keyboards: Graham Henderson, and the musical enigma that is Donal Lunny. With the Thukolo gospel choir (Kilkenny) featured on Begin again (an anti-war song), That chants ‘Begin again and never gonna be enough blood’.
’Hey ho believe ’, I see the switch blade flashing as it slits a young man’s throat, to threading ashes and ’throwing doves ’ from the heart to with compassion forgiveness love and understanding ’From tears to Picardy ’ and for an exiled lullaby ’The pyramids at Sneem ’ to the theatrical ’Switzerland and snow ’ facing the Everest on the Eiger face to in the age of disposable talent, ’by the drum’ is forever ’ and still you can ask me ’what we came here for ’ to ’the Heart of the man ’ still crawling but will stand, and I will see you in the moon all of my life, too late I’m ’lonelier than any man ’ and tongues of fire and hearts of stone no reply on the ’Christian telephone ’. These are the title and tags which Jimmy sees as by far his best work and recording to date ‘Hey Ho Believe’ ! available now via www.jimmymaccarthy.net and at record stores .
The Bright Blue Rose
I skimmed across black water
Without once submerging
On to the banks of an urban morning
That hungers first light much ,much more
Than mountains ever do
And she,like a ghost beside me
Goes down with the ease of a dolphin
And awakens unlearned, unashamed, unharmed
For she is a perfect creature
Natural in every feature
And I am the geek with the alchemist’s stone
Chorus
For all of you who must discover
For all who seek to understand
For having left the paths of others
You find a very special hand
And it is a holy thing
And it is a precious time
And it is the only way
Forget -me-nots among the snow
it’s always been and so it goes
To ponder his death and his life eternally
Chorus
For all of you who must discover
For all who seek to understand
For having left the paths of others
You find a very special hand
And it is a holy thing
And it is a precious time
And it is the only way
Forget-me-nots among the snow
It’s always been and so it goes
To ponder his death and his life eternally
One bright blue rose outlives all those
Two thousand years and still it goes
To ponder his death and his life eternally
On returning to Switzerland, I wrote like a man possessed. Something had changed in me. I just did not feel easy, I was lost in a deep pool and waiting for the river to rise,writing page after page of subconscious flow, with no idea what it meant. I returned home to my parents house and my health gave in. It was nothing life threatening; I was suffering from a condition that was the result of being run down. Still, I felt desperately ill and was in need of a reasonably simple medical procedure, so a hospital bed was booked.
This was during the notorious hospital cutbacks of that time in the 1980s. On arrival, the overnight bed was not available , and the surgical procedure was carried out on a trolley in a small storeroom, half full with cardboard boxes of medical supplies. An hour later, I was given a cup of tea and was told I could go. As I walked through Accident and Emergency towards the door, I felt faint and collapsed, but finding my feet as quickly as possible , I made my way to the reception nearby expecting to be whisked to care. They called for a taxi.
During the following week of recuperation, a songwriter friend, Martin Egan from Dingle, came to stay with us for a few days. On Good Friday morning he moved on, and on that same day, I had words with my father. I had been trying to shape my litany into a verse and was like a hair trigger.
After my disagreement with my father , I decided to head for Kenmare to some celebration or other but by Saturday evening in the Kenmare Bay Hotel I felt very ill, so I booked a room and checked in. Then a woman a healer who shall remain nameless, approached me and said ‘you look very unwell let me give you a blast’. We went to my room where she asked me to sit on a chair and take my shirt off. I felt unbelievable heat coming from her hands onto my back, even though she wasnt making any physical contact with me. Within twenty minutes or so I got a surge of energy. I returned to the celebrations where I sang four or five songs with Chris Meehan and his Red-Neck friends, if my memory serves me well. Before going to bed , this healer gave me one last blast and I awoke on Easter Sunday morning totally recovered. From the bedside locker , I picked up my ever-present notepad with the work in progress, and wrote the completing lines: ‘One bright blue rose outlives all those/Two thousand years and still it goes/to ponder his death and his life eternally’. I generally regard a chorus as a logical conclusion so picking up my guitar, I sang the chorus which came to me spontaneously, put it on paper and said, ‘Yes, there is a god and thanks be to God’
I sang it to the girls who came to do the room, and sang it at least another dozen times during the same day, sometimes accompanied by Joe Thoma on fiddle. I could dissect aspects of ‘The Bright Blue Rose’ and wax lyrical about its creation until the cows come home, but it happened exactly as i have described. It is a mysterious piece and nothing I could disclose would let you know any thing more about it, but I can honestly say, you will be glad when you sing it.
Ride on in Song and Story/ Town House and country house/23:127-130.