#liam clancy

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Liam Clancy - Band Played Waltzing Matilda

Mitch Sheehy

When I was a boy I loved the song Waltzing Matilda. I liked the Australian words, billabong, billy can, coolibah tree, jumbuck, and learned that Matilda was a word for a backpack frame. The song allowed me to travel to an exotic place. When I saw Eric Bogle's song, And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda, I thought I knew what I was going to hear. Instead hearing it I was gutted.

There are many great renditions of the song. Eric Bogle in an interview remarked:

A lot of people now think the song is traditional. And a lot of people think that I died in the war, and penned it in blood as I expired in the bottom of a trench. I never thought the song would outlast me, but I have decided now there's no doubt it will. For how long, I have no idea. Nothing lasts forever. Hopefully it'll be sung for quite a few years down the track, especially in this country. And hopefully it will get to the stage where everyone forgets who wrote it.[1]

THE BROAD MAJESTIC SHANNON (PERFORMED BY LIAM CLANCY)

The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem shot to fame after appearing with his brothers on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1961. Scheduled to perform two songs, they were forced to extend their appearance when the show’s headliner cancelled. The following year they sold out audiences. After the Clancy brothers stopped touring / broke up, Liam and Tommy Makem commenced touring as Makem and Clancy, became a…

Bob Dylan, “Long A-Growin’,” Carnegie Hall, November 4, 1961.

#OTD in 2009 – Death of actor and folk singer, Liam Clancy, from Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary.

‘The best ballad singer I ever heard in my life’ was Bob Dylan’s verdict on Liam Clancy, who died at age 74 on this date. He was the last remaining member of the best-known of all Irish folk groups, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, who made an impression that was strong enough for them to break through into the mainstream. The popularity of the quartet, comprising Liam, his older brothers Tom…

#OTD in 1935 – Birth of Liam Clancy, of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem fame.

The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem shot to fame after appearing with his brothers on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1961. Scheduled to perform two songs, they were forced to extend their appearance when the show’s headliner cancelled. The following year they sold out audiences. After the Clancy brothers stopped touring / broke up, Liam and Tommy Makem commenced touring as Makem and Clancy, became a…

#OTD in 2002 – Death of Bobby Clancy of the Clancy Brothers.

Bobby Clancy was a singer and musician best known as a member of The Clancy Brothers, one of the most successful and influential Irish folk groups. He accompanied his songs on five-string banjo, guitar, bodhrán, and harmonica. Bobby Clancy was born in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, to Robert J. Clancy and Johanna McGrath. He was the twin brother of Joan Clancy. Clancy left home in the late 1940s…