The line-up of this band has changed on numerous occasions but the original founder members continue to write and record material. The band have released two self-financed albums to date and a third is being worked on for a tentative release set for late summer 2006.
History:
The band evolved from a recording project called 'Mischief' which had been started by guitarist Dave Morrissey and Bassist/Vocalist Dave Boylan. Throughout most of 1997 the two musicians wrote and recorded numerous tracks which were recorded using the minimum of resources available. By late Autumn they decided to expand the project into a full group.
Over the course of the next five years the band recorded two albums with both being completely self-financed and produced. The debut album Celtic Legacy was a highly experimental affair with several styles of music in evidence although the emphasis was clearly biased towards a hard rock sound. Highlights of the album included Lost Soul, Glen Corr - The Spirit Of The Vagabond and the epic title track itself which clocked in at over 12 minutes. Another high point of this album was its closing track Waterfront which featured fiddle player Ciara Roe to full effect.
After the album's release, the line-up began to fall apart. Within six months singer Tom Branagan had left and a re-think was required. In 1999 Dave Boylan took over vocals for a 6-song demo which featured new tracks some of which would eventually surface on the next album.
The following year Legacy returned with a revamped line-up which even featured a female vocalist Mel Shields. They recorded another demo which had a heavier feel than earlier material and pointed the way to the style the follow up album would take. This line up also foundered however when objections from a prospective record label to a female vocalist make the band's position very fragile. Undaunted, Celtic Legacy involved themselves with an album entitled The Spirit Of The Black Rose - A Tribute To Philip Parris Lynott and contributed 2 songs to the double CD set: Glen Corr - The Spirit Of The Vagabond and a cover of Thin Lizzy's Vagabonds Of The Western World. Guitarists Dave Morrissey, a graphic artist by trade was asked to design the album cover by Philomena Lynott, which he did for free. The album was released in April 2001 on the Record Heaven Label.
Following the release of this album Legacy went into hibernation until February 2003 when fan power from Germany brought it back to life. One fan in particular, Vladimir Hrubik undertook a campaign to raise the recording funds for a new album, doing so incredibly within only four months. A new line-up was put together and they recorded and released Resurrection which was released in November of that year.
A huge improvement over the debut album, Resurrection received incredible reviews upon its release and was widely regarded as one of the best Irish albums ever. However due to it being released independently and without any record label muscle, the success of the album would never go past the underground cult status it achieved. In the wake of the album's release another fragmentation of the line-up followed and by July 2004 only the founder members remained once again.
Plans to record a third album in 2005 were shelved when ongoing problems with replacements as well as increased pressure on the band's domestic lives led to the founder members deciding to take 12 months off to consider their options and concentrate on their personal time.
At the time of writing, a new line-up has come together and writing has continued for the next album which will be called Guardian Of Eternity which should surface sometime in 2007.
Current Line-Up:
Dave Morrissey - Guitars, Keyboards
Dave Boylan - Bass, Vocals
Ciaran Ennis - Vocals
Keith Hendley - Guitars, Vocals
Conor Gillen - Drums, Tin Whistle
forgive me
Celtic Legacy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The world is so small I said
Tomorrow's just hours away
But fate has dealt this hand to play
I've realised that time has passed me by
Now all I've got is a faded memory etched into my mind
There's no more fight another day
I'm sorry but it's got to be this way
Forgive me, forgive me
My life flashes across the sky
I'll never know the reason why
I never got a chance to say goodbye
Forgive me, forgive me
Sun sets upon my life
The distance goes further by
So many I haven't seen
Or never will, as fate has sealed
the deal
In Celtic Legacy's song Forgive Me, the lyrics express a sense of nostalgia and regret for the things that have been left unsaid and undone. The opening lines "We'll meet again my friend, The world is so small I said, Tomorrow's just hours away" suggest that the singer is reminiscing about past times and the inevitability of reunions in the future, implying that there is hope for reconciliation somewhere down the line. However, the following line "But fate has dealt this hand to play" suggests that the present moment is unalterable and the time for making amends has passed.
As the song continues, the singer reflects on his life and realizes that time has flown by and all that remains are fading memories etched in his mind. The line "I've realised that time has passed me by, Now all I've got is a faded memory etched into my mind" suggests a sense of longing for a time long gone, a time of youthful vitality and possibility. However, the present reality is that the singer is now faced with death and is pleading for forgiveness.
The chorus emphasizes the theme of regret and the wish to make amends before it is too late. The lines "Guardian wipe my tears away, There's no more fight another day, I'm sorry but it's got to be this way, Forgive me, forgive me" suggest a sense of acceptance of one's fate and the hope for absolution of past transgressions. The final verse "Sun sets upon my life, The distance goes further by, So many I haven't seen, Or never will, as fate has sealed the deal" emphasizes the theme of death and the finality of life.
Line by Line Meaning
We'll meet again my friend
We will see each other again, my friend.
The world is so small I said
I remarked that the world is small.
Tomorrow's just hours away
Tomorrow is almost here, time is fleeting.
But fate has dealt this hand to play
However, fate has given us this situation to deal with.
I've realised that time has passed me by
I have come to understand that time has gone by.
Now all I've got is a faded memory etched into my mind
All I have are blurry memories that I can't forget.
Guardian wipe my tears away
I ask my guardian to comfort me and dry my tears.
There's no more fight another day
I cannot fight anymore, not today, not another day.
I'm sorry but it's got to be this way
I regret that it has to be this way, but I have no other choice.
Forgive me, forgive me
I plead for forgiveness.
My life flashes across the sky
As I face my mortality, my life seems to pass by in an instant.
I'll never know the reason why
I will never know why things happened the way they did.
I never got a chance to say goodbye
I never had the opportunity to say farewell.
Forgive me, forgive me
I beg for pardon.
Sun sets upon my life
As my life comes to an end, the sun sets on it.
The distance goes further by
The distance between me and my loved ones continues to increase.
So many I haven't seen
There are many people I haven't seen in a long time.
Or never will, as fate has sealed
And I will never see them again, as destiny has decided so.
Contributed by Jordyn S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
kostas mpakos
..amazing