In a career dating back to the 1960s he has played with bands including Thin Lizzy, Colosseum II, Greg Lake and Skid Row as well as having a successful solo career.
Moore started performing from a young age and got his first good guitar at the age of 14. In a career lasting over 30 years he has demonstrated that he is a fine musician, and his unique style of playing has adapted to very different music genres, including jazz rock jazz, blues, electric blues, hard rock, celtic rock and heavy metal.
One of his most famous non-blues records is Wild Frontier, his first studio album after a trip back to his native Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1985, this album has several songs about Ireland and even the music itself is steeped in Celtic roots. The title track was intended to be sung by Phil Lynott, however Lynott's death in January 1986 prevented that. The album is dedicated to Lynott's memory, with the words "For Philip" on the rear cover.
Wild Frontier contains the hit "Over the Hills and Far Away", which reached #20 in the UK as well as a cover of the Australian band The Easybeats' hit of the middle of the 1960s, "Friday on My Mind". The Max Middleton-penned "The Loner" was originally recorded by Cozy Powell for his Over the Top album in 1979 (which Moore did perform on, albeit not on Powell's recording of "The Loner"), but was substantially altered by Moore for his own recording, thus he was credited as a co-writer.
For blues fans, Moore's best recorded, live performance on video is "LIVE BLUES" recorded in a small night club in London and was released in 1992 on VHS. It is now available on DVD as well. "LIVE BLUES" also features two songs with B.B. King appearing on stage with Moore. "The Thrill Is Gone" on this recording is probably the best version of this, complete with More's Midnight Horns, female backup singers and dueling guitars. Many of Moore's standard songs are on this 90 minute show and were mixed better than most of the studio versions of the same tunes for a very rich and full sound. Even Moore's voice sounds better than it usually does in the studio. Moore did not seem interested in touring the United States.
Connection with Peter Green
According to numerous interviews he has given to guitar magazines, he was the protege of British Blues pioneer Peter Green, whom he had always admired ever since the Bluesbreakers days. When Green quit Fleetwood Mac and the entire music scene, he sold his famous nasal-sounding 1959 Gibson Les Paul to Moore for the same price that Moore had managed to sell his then guitar (a Gibson SG) for. The nasal sound of the neck pickup on Green's guitar was not, as used to be believed, the result of the pickup having been turned backwards, but instead its two coils had been - perhaps accidentally - reconnected in parallel and out of phase, as per the "in between" positions of a Fender Stratocaster. Moore has used this guitar in the recordings of some songs of his albums Still Got The Blues, After Hours and Blues For Greeny. Green and Moore also reportedly had a disagreement regarding what guitar the former was playing in the song "Albatross". Moore insists it was the Les Paul, because the guitar tone was particularly warm and rich in the bass, while Peter Green maintains he was using a Strat, as the vibrato in that song was not finger vibrato, but subtle tremolo arm vibrato. Up to the day of his death, Green and Moore remained good friends.
Guitars used
Over the years Gary has used numerous guitars. These include: Peter Green's 1959 Gibson Les Paul, Peter Green's 1961 Fender Stratocaster and 1950s Gibson Les Paul Junior. He has also used guitars from Charvel, Ibanez, Hamer, Jackson and Heritage. Amplification has generally come from Marshall, though Soldanos and Fender have also been used, as well as transistor-driven Dean Markley units (especially in the studio). He also has used numerous effects over the years. these include; Delay units such as the Echoplex, Overdrive/Booster units such as the Boss DS-1, Ibanez Tubescreamer variants, Marshall Bluesbreaker and Guv'nor pedals as well as Wah-Wah pedals such as the Vox Wah. He appears nowadays to favour Gibson and Fender Guitars through Marshall amps with any of the above Overdrive pedals and Wah pedals to make his sound.
Solo career
In 1973 he released his first solo album as the Gary Moore Band. In 1979 his solo career started again with help from Phil Lynott, the combination of Gary's blues based guitar and Phil's voice produced "Parisenne Walkways" which reached the UK Top Ten in April 1979 and the no.2 album 'Black Rose'. After a series of powerful rock records Gary returned to blues music with Still Got the Blues, with contributions from B. B. King, Albert King and Albert Collins the album was well received by fans and a huge success. Gary stayed with the blues format until 1997 when he decided to experiment with modern dance beats in Dark Days In Paradise; this left many fans as well as the music press confused. Back to the Blues saw Gary return to the tried and tested blues format.
Albums
* Grinding Stone, 1973
* Parisienne Walkways, 1977
* Back on the Streets, 1978
* Corridors of Power, 1982
* Live at the Marquee, 1983
* Rockin' Every Night - Live in Japan, 1983
* Victims of the Future, 1983
* Dirty Fingers, 1984
* We Want Moore, 1984
* Run for Cover, 1985
* Wild Frontier, 1987
* After the War, 1989
* Still Got the Blues, 1990
* After Hours, 1992
* Blues Alive, 1993
* Ballads & Blues 1982-1994, 1994
* Blues For Greeny, 1995
* Dark Days in Paradise, 1997
* Out in the Fields - The Very Best of Part 1, 1998
* Blood of Emeralds - The Very Best of Part 2, 1999
* A Different Beat, 1999
* Back to the Blues, 2001
* Power Of The Blues, 2004
* Old New Ballads Blues, 2006
* Close As You Get, 2007
* Bad For You Baby, 2008
Singles
* Parisienne Walkways
* Out in the Fields
* Empty Rooms
* Wild Frontier
* Still Got the Blues
The Future (2005-present)
Later on in 2006, Gary will support BB King on his 'Farewell UK Tour'. It unfortunately did not lead to a tour of the United States with BB King.
The studio album entitled 'Old New Ballads Blues' was a follow up of 2004's 'Power of the Blues' and it featured new material as well as new versions of fan favourites 'Midnight Blues' and 'All your Love'
Gary Moore has also sold his Les Paul that was given to him by Peter Green to a private owner.
On February 6th 2011, he died from a heart attack in his sleep while on holiday in Spain.
External links
* The Official Gary Moore World Wide Website: http://www.gary-moore.com/
* The Lord Of The Strings - World Wide Gary Moore Fansite: http://www.garymoore.hu/eng.htm Thanks for the music.
I Had a Dream
Gary Moore Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That you were my Queen
And I was your King
In the shadows of love
No one could see
How close we would be
Two lovers, you and me
In the shadows of love
I was a fool
To play by the rules
And I was a fool
To let you go
Oh through the night
When I held you so tight
Till the first morning light
But my eyes were closed
I had a dream
That you were my Queen
And I was your King
In the shadows of love.
The lyrics of Gary Moore's I Had A Dream are about a dream that the singer has had about a past relationship. In this dream, he imagines that the person he was with was his queen and he was her king, and they were together in the shadows of love. The lyrics express a sense of regret that he let the person go and played by the rules instead of following his heart. The lyrics are filled with images of passion and longing, which evoke a strong sense of emotion in the listener.
The overall theme of the song is love, and how it can be both beautiful and painful. The dream sequence functions as a metaphor for the relationship that the singer has lost, where he imagines how things could have been different if he had acted differently. The use of the words "shadows of love" and "in the shadows of love" highlight the idea of something hidden and secretive, suggesting that the relationship was not public or accepted by society. The imagery of being a king and queen adds a sense of grandeur and nobility to the relationship, emphasizing its importance to the singer.
In conclusion, Gary Moore's I Had A Dream is a nostalgic and emotional ballad about lost love. The lyrics describe a vivid dream sequence in which the singer imagines himself and his former partner as royalty, living in the shadows of love. The song conveys a deep sense of remorse for past actions and a longing for what could have been.
Line by Line Meaning
I had a dream
In my subconscious mind, I envisioned something that seemed unlikely to happen in reality.
That you were my Queen
In this dream, I saw you as my female partner of the highest level of importance and power.
And I was your King
At the same time, I saw myself as the male partner holding the highest level of authority and power over our relationship.
In the shadows of love
These feelings of love were deeply ingrained in our lives, but were kept hidden from others.
No one could see
Our relationship was a secret and closed off from the world.
How close we would be
Our bond was so strong that no one could break it, and we were truly inseparable.
Two lovers, you and me
Together we were two people who were united through our love and affection for each other.
In the shadows of love
We kept our deep love for each other discreet and out of sight of others.
I was a fool
Despite experiencing this dream, I was foolish in reality in the way that I acted.
To play by the rules
By following conventions and social norms, I ignored my feelings of love and affection for you.
To let you go
In reality, I let go of our relationship and the intense love between us, for reasons that were not valid.
Oh through the night
At times, I experienced this dream so vividly that it felt like it was real and truly happening in my life.
When I held you so tight
In the dream, I was holding you tightly, indicating that I never wanted to let you go.
Till the first morning light
This dream continued until the dawn broke, signifying the end of the dream and the painful reality that awaited me.
But my eyes were closed
Although my subconscious was able to paint a dreamworld where we were happy and in love, I was blind to the reality of my own feelings when awake.
I had a dream
Again, in my subconscious mind, I dreamed of a better reality, where we were united by our love and affection for each other.
That you were my Queen
Once again, I saw you as my female partner of the highest level of importance and power.
And I was your King
And again, I saw myself as the one in the relationship holding the highest level of authority and power over our love and future together.
In the shadows of love
Sorrowfully, these feelings of love were still hidden from others and remained a secret, as before.
Contributed by David Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@hayabusa2880
I, had a dream
That you, were my Queen
And I, was your King
In the shadows of love
No one could see
How close, we would be
Two lovers, you and me
In the shadows of love
I was a fool
To play by the rules
And I was a fool
To let you go
Oh through the night
When I held you so tight
Till the first morning light
But my eyes were closed
I, had a dream
That you, were my Queen
And I, was your King
In the shadows of love
@papaldanondo
" Tuve un sueño "
Tuve un sueño
Que eras mi reina
Y yo estaba como un rey
En las sombras del amor.
Nadie podía ver
¿Qué tan cerca que sería
Dos amantes, tú y yo
En las sombras del amor.
Yo era un tonto
Para jugar con las reglas
y yo era un tonto
Para dejarte ir.
Oh, a través de la noche
Cuando tuve que tan apretado
'Hasta que la primera luz del alba
Pero mis ojos se cerraron.
Tuve un sueño
Que eras mi reina
Y les fue rey
En las sombras del amor.
@rogb3199
As a Gary Moore fan, I'm ashamed I never heard this song before tonight. But boy was it worth the wait. RIP and rest easy Mr Moore, you will live on in our hearts.
@richardmccollum7601
I’m with you just heard it for first time. Wow!
@rogb3199
@@richardmccollum7601 and never forgetting the amazing One Day. This outro solo! I was honoured to have a couple of hours with Gary, having a drink. I asked him if he practiced scales a lot. He looked me in the eye and said he had no idea about scales. I was never sure if he was winding me up🤣 https://youtu.be/HzPk07je20w
@deaaharba2465
@@rogb3199LUCKY MAN!!
@anoopkhatiwada4560
Rest in peace legend
@edoyster4120
Didn't know tat he was gone
@RandyMason-be2mw
This is the song that changed my life
@CHOEYGMUSIC
I just had my eyes closed for the entire song on full volume and the solo blew me into another dimension. I've heard it many times but this time I just felt like I was out of my body until the song was over and I was back on earth. Like Gary was playing to me from heaven.
@lynd4852
Beautifully said
@fernandoballeste6909
Tu comentario te salió del alma. Yo cada vez que lo escucho siento mí alma en el cielo.